Husband and wife duo Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, who performed and recorded through most of their career with their group The Clinch Mountain Clan, had their roots in the gospel, folk and hillbilly musical traditions of the Appalachian mountain country of their native West Virginia. They stayed true to their unalloyed country style, making few concessions to the commercial honky-tonk and New Nashville developments during the 1950s, but as stalwarts on West Virginia’s rival to the Grand Ole Opry “The WWVA Jamboree, still managed to achieve a run of hits in the late 1950s and into the early ‘60s, defying the trends in the wider pop music market. This great-value 58-track 2-CD set comprises at least one side from most of their releases on the Rich-R-Tone and Columbia labels, along with most of their A & B sides from their singles for the Hickory label from this era, and features all their career chart entries, including the Top 10 country hits “Come Walk With Me”, “Big Midnight Special”, “There’s A Big Wheel” and “Wreck On The Highway”, plus their Top 20 country hits with country/pop crossover songs like “Johnny My Love” and “This Ole House”. They were a highly distinctive act, occupying a particular niche on the country scene, and this selection of their recordings is a worthy showcase for their style.
