For years, Germany's venerable Bear Family label has been curating large box sets focusing on country, pop and early rock-n-roll.  These vast collections offer up a complete look at an artist's recordings during a specific period.  The label is continuing in this tradition by compiling a box set to coincide with the 60th anniversary of this artist's biggest hit.  On September 25, 2015, Tennessee Ernie Ford: Portrait of An American Singer (1949-1960) will be released in the U.S., marking the six decades since "Sixteen Tons" became a #1 smash.

Born Ernest Jennings Ford, Tennessee Ernie Ford began his career in radio in his native Bristol, Tennessee.  After serving in World War II, Ford moved to California where he got a job as a disc jockey in San Bernardino.  This is where he created the nickname "Tennessee Ernie."  He eventually moved to a station in Pasadena and began to perform locally.  This is where he came to the attention of Capitol Records.  After signing with them, he released numerous singles in the early 1950s.  He had several hits including "Mule Train," "The Shotgun Boogie," "I'll Never Be Free" (with Kay Starr), "Mr. and Mississippi" and "The Ballad of Davy Crockett."  His biggest hit was, of course, "Sixteen Tons," released in 1955.  Originally written and recorded in 1946 by Merle Travis, Ford's version was initially a B-side.  However, the single was quickly flipped over and "Sixteen Tons" spent 10 weeks atop the country charts and another eight atop the regular Billboard chart.  It was inducted this year into the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.

After this success, ironically, Ford didn't fare as well on the country and pop charts, although he did have some smaller hits and recorded into the mid-1980s.  He had much more success on the gospel charts after the release of 1956's Hymns and also became the host of several television programs in the '50s and '60s.  Ford was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984 and inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1990.  He passed away in 1991.

The new Bear Family box set presents 154 of Ford's secular recordings across five discs.  As is Bear Family's standard, the set also features a 124-page hardcover book containing essays and a discography.  The set book is written by the set's producer, Ted Olson.  We've got the press release below with a few more details and also the complete tracklisting.  We've also got the pre-order links from Amazon (the set is available now as an import and we will update with domestic-release links when they are live) if you'd like to explore Tennessee Ernie's Ford's hit period beyond "Sixteen Tons."  The set is due on September 25!

VOLLERSODE, Germany -- Inarguably a major recording act, Tennessee Ernie Ford (1919-1991) sold an estimated 90 million albums worldwide, and charted 17 Top Ten country singles and four Top Ten pop singles over a 35-year recording career. And he played significant -- and pioneering -- roles in radio and television broadcasting.

On September 25, 2015, Bear Family Records will release Tennessee Ernie Ford: Portrait of an American Singer (1949-1960). The deluxe 12x12x1.5-inch box set contains 154 tracks on five CDs including all of the secular-themed studio recordings from the first dozen years in the career of one of the most important crossover acts in the history of American popular music. The package also contains a 124-page hardcover book with newly written essays, track-by-track album notes, a discography, label scans, and many rare photographs and illustrations. The book was authored by three-time Grammy Award-nominated music historian Ted Olson, Ph.D., from the department of Appalachian Studies/Bluegrass, Old-Time and Country Music Studies Program at East Tennessee State University. Olson also produced the reissue.

The set contains early country hits including the chart-topping "Mule Train" (1949) and the pioneering "hillbilly boogie" smash "The Shotgun Boogie" (1950), as well as Ford's first major crossover hit, the 1950 duet (with Kay Starr) "I'll Never Be Free." There are classics such as "Rock City Boogie" (with the Dinning Sisters, 1951) and "Blackberry Boogie" (1952) as well as such overlooked delights as the train song "Tennessee Local" (1952), and Ford's 1953 interpretation of Willie Mabon's R&B hit "I Don't Know."

This boxed set includes a never-before-released song ("Slow Down"), numerous singles and album tracks not previously reissued on CD, and several rarities, including Ford's 1955 recitations of Davy Crockett tales, as well as his 1958 public service jingles to promote the U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots charitable program.

Ford's hit "hillbilly boogie" singles from 1949 to 1953 -- including "Smokey Mountain Boogie" (1949), "The Shotgun Boogie" (1950), "Rock City Boogie" (1951), and "Blackberry Boogie" (1952) -- blended black and white stylistic influences and are widely considered to have been pioneering rock 'n' roll records.

In the early months of 1955, Ford's version of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" was a top five hit on the country chart as well as on the pop chart, foreshadowing the artist's ultimate crossover achievement. Also that year, his hit "Give Me Your Word" was the #1 pop single in the U.K. And toward the end of '55, Ford's smash single "Sixteen Tons" topped both charts simultaneously, and rose to #1 in the U.K., selling more than four million copies and proving to be one of the most influential singles of the 1950s, reaching #1 on the country chart for ten weeks, and #1 on the pop chart for eight weeks. Long considered Ford's signature song, "Sixteen Tons" was eventually inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame and into the National Recording Registry.

This boxed set provides a thorough exploration of Ford's first dozen years (1949-1960) as a recording act, and listeners today can marvel at the range of his repertoire and (considering that for much of that period he was a musician part-time and a television host full-time) at the extent of his productivity.

Although he spent his career in California, Ford was from Bristol, Tennessee, which has been called "The Birthplace of Country Music" for its role is hosting the legendary 1927 recording sessions in which Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family were first recorded. (Bear Family Records released the definitive version of the so-called Bristol Sessions in 2011.)

In 1984 Ford became the first country artist to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest governmental award given to a civilian. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1990 and into the Gospel Music Association's Gospel Hall of Fame in 1994.

The wide range of artists who have specifically cited Ford as a formative influence on their own music include American musicians such as Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, The Everly Brothers, Glen Campbell, Micky Dolenz, Odetta, Della Reese, Dolly Parton, Tom Waits, Steve Young, Tom Petty, Meat Loaf, and the bands ZZ Top and They Might Be Giants, as well as British musicians including John Lennon, Eric Burdon, Tom Jones, Jeff Beck, Billy Fury, Elton John, Nick Lowe, and the Clash.

Ford made innovative and influential recordings, all of which can be heard in Portrait of An American Singer. 

According to producer Olson, "In recent years Tennessee Ernie Ford has been primarily remembered for his mid-1950s crossover smash hit 'Sixteen Tons' and for some of his gospel records. But the singer made many other exciting recordings, and Bear Family Records and I decided it was time to showcase Ford's influential early studio recordings in order to make a case for his enduring significance as a compelling popular recording artist. Presenting all of Ford's secular-themed recordings from the most influential period (1949-1960) of his long career while providing a written and illustrated narrative of his varied and pioneering roles in the entertainment industry, this new box set, we hope, will help people realize that Ford was not only a figure of historical importance but also an inimitable American singer who left us many timeless and delightful recordings."

Listen now to a previously unreleased Tennessee Ernie Ford track via The Wall Street Journal's SpeakEasy: http://on.wsj.com/1IXqgEk

Tennessee Ernie Ford, Tennessee Ernie Ford: Portrait of an American Singer (1949-1960) (Bear Family Records, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

CD 1

1. I've Got The Milk 'Em In The Morning Blues
2. Tennessee Border
3. Philadelphia Lawyer
4. Country Junction
5. Smokey Mountain Boogie
6. You'll Find Her Name Written There
7. Put Your Arms Around Me
8. Anticipation Blues
9. Blues Stay Away From Me
10. Philosophy
11. Mule Train
12. The Donkey Serenade
13. The Cry Of The Wild Goose
14. My Hobby
15. I've Got The Feed 'Em In The Mornin' (Change 'Em) Feed 'Em In The Evenin' Blues
16. Slow Down
17. I'll Never Be Free
18. Ain't Nobody's Business But My Own
19. The Lord's Lariat
20. What This Country Needs (Is A Good Old Fashioned Talk With The Lord)
21. Bright Lights And Blonde Haired Women
22. I Ain't Gona Let It Happen No More
23. The Shotgun Boogie
24. The Blue Canadian Rockies
25. It's The Talk Of The Town
26. Cincinnati Dancing Pig
27. Leetle Juan Pedro
28. Tailor Made Woman
29. Stack-O-Lee
30. I'm A Bad Man
31. You Can Tell A Texan Everytime
32. The Strange Little Girl
33. Kentucky Waltz

CD 2

1. She's My Baby
2. Mister And Mississippi
3. Christmas Dinner
4. Rootin' Tootin' Santa Claus
5. Oceans Of Tears
6. You're My Sugar
7. Rock City Boogie
8. Streamlined Cannonball
9. Kissin' Bug Boogie
10. Woman Is A Five Letter Word
11. Hey, Good Lookin'
12. Cool, Cool Kisses
13. Hambone
14. The Gandy Dancer's Ball
15. Everybody's Got A Girl But Me
16. Fatback, Louisiana, USA
17. Snow Shoe Thompson
18. I'm Hog Tied Over You
19. False Hearted Girl
20. Tennessee Local
21. Blackberry Boogie
22. I Don't Know
23. Sweet Temptation
24. Don't Courtin' In A Hot Rod
25. We're A' Growin' Up
26. Hey! Mr Cotton Picker
27. Three Things (A Man Should Do)
28. Celebratin'
29. Kiss Me Big

CD 3

1. Catfish Boogie
2. This Must Be The Place!
3. The Honeymoon's Over
4. There Is Beauty In Everything
5. Somebody Bigger Than You And I
6. Have You Seen Her
7. Give Me Your Word
8. River Of No Return
9. Eins, Zwei, Drei
10. Losing You
11. The Ballad Of Davy Crockett
12. Farewell
13. The Death Hug / The Ballad Of Davy Crockett / A Sensible Varmint
14. Crockett's Opinion Of A Thunderstorm / Farewell
15. I Am A Pilgrim
16. His Hands
17. Sixteen Tons
18. You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry
19. Nine Pound Hammer
20. Trouble In Mind
21. That's All
22. John Henry
23. Chicken Road
24. Dark As A Dungeon
25. I Gave My Love A Cherry
26. Gaily The Troubadour
27. The Rovin' Gambler
28. The Last Lette
29. Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet

CD 4

1. False Hearted Girl
2. In The Pines
3. Bright Lights And Blonde Haired Women
4. The Rock, Roll Boogie
5. Call Me Darlin', Call Me Sweetheart, Call Me Dear
6. First Born
7. Have You Seen Her
8. One Suit
9. The Watermelon Song
10. The Lonely Man
11. Blackberry Boogie
12. She's My Baby
13. Kiss Me Big
14. Catfish Boogie
15. Smokey Mountain Boogie
16. Anticipation Blues
17. Shotgun Boogie
18. I've Got The Milk 'Em In The Morning Blues
19. Ain't Nobody's Business Taylor But My Own
20. I Ain't Gonna Let It Happen No More
21. Country Junction
22. The Lord's Lariat
23. In The Middle Of An Island
24. Ivy League
25. Down Deep
26. Bless Your Pea Pickin' Heart
27. A-Sleepin' At The Foot Of The Bed
28. Love Makes The World Go Round
29. Sunday Barbecue
30. Glad Rags 31 Toys For Tots (short version)
31. Toys For Tots (long version)

CD 5

1. Browns Ferry Blues
2. Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair
3. My Grandfather's Clock
4. Code Of The Mountains
5. Small World
6. Left My Gal In The Mountains
7. Blackeyed Susie
8. Pretty Little Pink
9. Look Down (That Lonesome Road)
10. Love Is The Only Thing
11. Darby's Ram
12. Freight Train Blues
13. Barbara Allen
14. Twenty One Years
15. Old Blue
16. The Night Herding Song
17. Sunny Side Of Heaven
18. Little Klinker
19. Jingle - The Brownie
20. Jealous Heart
21. I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know
22. I Really Don't Want To Know
23. Molly Darling
24. Don't Rob Another Man's Castle
25. I Can't Help It
26. Take Me In Your Arms And Hold Me
27. I Gotta Have My Baby Back
28. Bouquet Of Roses
29. Cold, Cold Heart
30. I Love You So Much It Hurts
31. Half As Much