VARIOUS ARTISTS: “Fifty Years of Country Music From Mercury”, Mercury **

This three-disc set traces the history of the label’s country division, from the first recording session in 1945 (Sheriff Tom Owen and His Cowboys’ “A New Ten Gallon Heart”) through such current stars as Billy Ray Cyrus and Shania Twain. Along the way, we hear a few great artists (Flatt and Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers to George Jones and Jerry Lee Lewis), but it’s just for one song each and there is way too much here that is marginal to make the set noteworthy except to cult members and collectors.

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