Elvis Costello was at his height of popularity and had the courage to explore his personal favorites and bring them to his New Wave audience. Unfortunately, his audience was so influenced by the Stalinistic "Year Zero"/scorched earth attitudes of the Class of '77 punk that they pretty much rejected this amazing sampler of heartfelt Country soul. (Although I do recall Los Angeles' KROQ Rodney on Roq giving the aggro version of Hank Williams "Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used to Do?" quite a few spins at the time).

In their defense, one must recall that country at that time was as uncool as you could get, with the charts dominated by the likes of super groups like Alabama and the syrupy, John Travolta (!) "Urban Cowboy" soundtrack ad nauseum.  Costello, however, tried to redirect the spotlight on the good stuff, the hearty, Celtic-rooted mournful stuff.

It is worth noting that only country lyrics share Costello's boy-loses-girl themes (as opposed to the inane posturing of late 70's Prog Rock fantasies, 1980's hair bands, and today's macho, uber-consumerist hip hop).  Country had the reality of a life that touches all people at all times, not bling.  Fast forward 20+ years to fellow Celts The Thrills covering a similar genre, the late Johnny Cash having an enormous amount of street cred post-Rick Rubin's AMERICAN series and a general love fest of all things Gram Parsons (including this decade's biggest concert draw- Parsons' bastard offspring band -The Eagles). Country/Roots/Alt.Country/Americana is cool in a way that Garth/Shania can never be. 

Costello covered not one but TWO Parsons' tunes ("How Much I Lied" and "I'm Your Toy'/'Hot Burrito #2") as well as taking us on a trip through George Jones, Merle Haggard , and Hank Williams' greats (all the stuff that soccer-mom country radio refuses to play).

Costello did a brave thing recording and releasing this, and radio/critics of the day were caught flat footed.  Expecting another "New Lace Sleeves" or "Alison" they got "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down" and "Sittin and a Thinkin."  Surprisingly, the much pilloried disc gave Costello one of his biggest UK hits and is a concert staple in "Good Year for the Roses."

So much of today's new/'alternative" music owes a direct debt to this album. The SF Bay Area's great Dave Gleason and Wasted Days, Los Angeles' Beechwood Sparks, the Irish band the Thrills all flow from this river of rootsy goodness. Superb!

The "warning" label in the liner notes says it all:  "...(C)ontains Country & Western music and may produce radical reaction in narrow minded people."