Lonnie Donegan - Talking Guitar Blues: The Very Best of Lonnie Donegan [Castle]

It might be hard to credit, but Lonnie Donegan was one of the greatest pioneers of modern British music -- and its first genuine star. He started the skiffle movement -- playing folk or blues songs on acoustic guitar, accompanied by bass and washboard -- and launched thousands of boys with guitars who'd form the original British Invasion. Interestingly, for all its billing as "The Very Best Of," Donegan's first, and most influential, hit doesn't appear here -- his cover of Leadbelly's "Rock Island Line." Instead, the collection picks up with "Lost John," his second smash, and follows his career to what was essentially the bitter end in 1965 (although he'd see a rebirth in the late '90s). Read More