LOS ANGELES (Mercury/UMe Records) - Proudly flying the flag of pure country, Sammy Kershaw has bucked the country pop trend and stayed true to his heroes Hank Williams and
George Jones, creating along the way his own honky tonk legacy. With his most recent album, 2003's I WANT MY MONEY BACK, earning Kershaw his best reviews in years and reaching the country Top 40 despite being indie-released, his most complete hits package to date now arrives.
Sammy Kershaw - The Definitive Collection (Mercury/UMe), released June 22, 2004, assembles all 23 of his Top 40 country hits through 1999 - each digitally remastered.
In his native Louisiana, also home to his third cousin, legendary Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw, Sammy debuted professionally at age 12. But by 31 Kershaw tired of touring and left music. A couple years later, a demo sent to Nashville prompted a showcase which led him to sign with Mercury, where he became one of the label's most popular and successful country artists of the '90s, with three platinum and three gold albums.
His 1991 platinum debut album, DON'T GO NEAR THE WATER, boasted the swaggering No 3 "Cadillac Style," Top 10 "Anywhere But Here" and Top 20s "Don't Go Near The Water" and "Yard Sale." That auspicious beginning was followed by 1993's platinum HAUNTED HEART, with the No 1 "She Don't Know She's Beautiful" and the Top 10s "Haunted Heart," "Queen Of My Double Wide Trailer" and "I Can't Reach Her Anymore."
1994's gold FEELIN' GOOD TRAIN yielded a pair of No2s, "National Working Woman's Holiday" and his cover of the '70s hit "Third Rate Romance," plus the Top 20 "If You're Gonna Walk, I'm Gonna Crawl" and Top 30 "Southbound."
The 1995 compilation THE HITS, CHAPTER 1 also went gold. Success continued with the gold 1996 POLITICS, RELIGION AND HER, from which The Definitive Collection culls the double-sided single "Meant To Be"/"Vidalia," each of which went Top 10, and the Top 30s "Fit To Be Tied Down" and "Politics, Religion And Her." 1997's platinum LABOR OF LOVE contributes the No 2 "Love Of My Life," Top 30 "Matches," and Top 40 "Honky Tonk America."
Kershaw teamed with country favorite Lorrie Morgan for the Top 20 duet "Maybe Not Tonight" from his 1999 album of the same name, which also included the Top 40s "Me And Maxine," "When You Love Someone" and "One Day Left To Live." They also teamed off-stage, marrying in 2001.
As he continues to prove, fans don't want their money back if they're given the real deal country of Sammy Kershaw.
A new "best of" series, the first slate of The Definitive Collection releases includes compilations for country artists Kershaw, Billy Ray Cyrus, George Jones, Patsy Cline, The Mavericks, and Don Williams.
