Songs for Rounders explained

Songs for Rounders
Type:	studio
Artist:	Hank Thompson
Cover:	Songs for Rounders.png
Released:	1959
Genre:	Country
Label:	Capitol
Producer:	Ken Nelson
Prev Title:	Favorite Waltzes
Prev Year:	1959
Next Title:	Most of All
Next Year:	1960

Songs for Rounders is an album by country music artist Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys. It was released in 1959 by Capitol Records (catalog no. T-1246). Ken Nelson was the producer.^[1] It was Thompson's first stereo album.

As noted in its liner notes, the album told stories of "tarnished heros ... rounders, bounders, fourflushers and bums ... rolling stones who go through life itching for trouble and finding it."^[2] The dark subject matter, including a song about cocaine, was controversial and ground-breaking in the country music world of the late 1950s.

The album was released prior to the establishment of the Billboard Top Country Albums chart in 1964.^[3]

AllMusic gave the album a rating of five stars.^[4] Reviewer Bruce Eder called it "maybe Thomposon's best LP."^[4]

Track listing

Side A

1. "Three Times Seven" (Cliffie Stone, Merle Travis) [2:07]
2. "I'll Be a Bachelor Till I Die" (Hank Williams) [2:11]
3. "Drunkards' Blues" (Hank Thompson) [3:00]
4. "Teach 'Em How to Swim" (Jet Penix, Orville Proctor) [2:32]
5. "Dry Bread" (traditional) [2:38]
6. "Cocaine Blues" [3:02]

Side B

1. "Deep Elm" (Willard Robison) [2:28]
2. "Bummin' Around" (Peter Graves) [2:36]
3. "Little Blossom"
4. "Rovin' Gambler"
5. "Left My Gal in the Mountains"
6. "May I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight Mister?"

Notes and References

1. Web site: Hank Thompson And His Brazos Valley Boys - Songs for Rounders. Discogs. December 19, 2020.
2. Web site: Back cover of Songs for Rounders. Capitol Records. December 20, 2020.
3. Book: Joel Whitburn's Top Country Albums 1964-1997. Record Research Inc.. 1997. 174. 0898201241.
4. Web site: Songs for Rounders. AllMusic. December 18, 2020.