Over the last sixty-odd years Dolly Parton has written almost every major hit she has ever had (and quite a few minor ones, too). Her brilliant songs are covered here by everyone from Betty LaVette and Percy Sledge to Ru Paul and Nana Mouskouri. The booklet has some lovely, rare photos, and rich, track-by-track notes.

Harry Smith’s monument.

The civil rights anthem turned Northern floorfiller.
‘The world needs more people like Barbara, someone who is willing to follow her conscience. She is, if the term must be used, a hero’ (Bob Dylan).

His gone, meditative 1965 debut, already steeped in Eastern modalities and Indian mysticism. The opener is based on a Ravi Shankar raga; Bardo Blues is a musical rendition of the Tibetan Book Of The Dead.

His only solo album, from 1968, when he was on the Greenwich Village circuit, plaiting together blues and Eastern styles in the same neck of the woods as Fahey, Basho et al, but in his own way.

Classic banjo-fiddle-guitar-vocals combos, plus instrumentals featuring twin-fiddle and piano. All the Highlanders gear with Roy Harvey, Lucy Terry, and twin-fiddlers Lonnie Austin and Odell Smith.

From the Tree Person’s solo album Real Life And Fiction: a punky-folk drone with chimes; disconsolate cheer-leading on the flip.

Whistling, raving, and beating out his ‘fundamental music’ on an empty oil drum. Recorded on the streets of San Antonio in 1969.
A stone classic, marvellous. Hotly recommended.

Hard-core Bakersfield honky-tonk, in the manner of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.
TC’s third and best LP.