The King of Country Soul / More Country Soul / Dottie and Don / Sings All Time Country Gold

The four albums featured in this collection, recorded in 1968 and 1969, come from Don Gibson’s final days with RCA. All four albums appear on CD for the first time. They reveal his skills as both a singer and songwriter. His distinctive vocal styling living up to the ‘Country Soul’ album titles alongside the “sad poet” nickname given to him as many of his songs were about loneliness and heartbreak.

The third album is a duet collection, always popular with Country fans. Here, Gibson was teamed with the fellow RCA recording artist, Dottie West. All-Time Country Gold included new recordings of his originals ‘Oh, Lonesome Me’ and ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ alongside standards like ‘Half As Much’, ‘Tennessee Waltz’, ‘Four Walls’ and ‘Am I That Easy To Forget’.

It took Don Gibson almost 10 years to achieve “overnight success” as a major recording artist. ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ and ‘Oh, Lonesome Me’ catapulted him from Country success to the far greater realms of International pop stardom. Both songs were written one afternoon when the very despondent Gibson was living in a Knoxville trailer park.

Born Donald Eugene Gibson into a poor share-cropping family in Shelby, North Carolina on 3rd April 1928. He died on 17th November 2003. His success was recognized by induction into the Nashville Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 1973 and 18 years later, into both the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame and Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame, the last being Country Music’s highest honor.