Walking the Line (1987)

Not sure exactly what this is.  A compilation of sorts.  Not sure why Willie has never done much with George Jones, but here is the only example I can find of them singing together.  I don’t have the personnel, but the fiddle sounds like Johnny Gimble on “I Gotta Get Drunk” (track 1), and the harmonica could very well be Mickey Raphael.  If this first track is any indication, George and Willie should sing together more often.  George sings, “Willie, I could name you a few.”  “No Show Jones” (track 2) pairs Merle and George.  Another keeper.  A history of Honky Tonk greats.  “Pancho and Lefty” (track 3) appears to be the classic version from the Willie-Hag duet album of the same name.  “Yesterday’s Wine” (track 4) pairs Hag and the Possum singing one of Willie’s classic tunes.  This track alone makes the disc worth owning.  “Half a Man” (track 5) also seems to be from “Pancho and Lefty.”  “Big Butter and Egg Man” (track 6) features Hag with a jaunty piano and fiddle.  “Heaven or Hell” (track 7) appears to be a live recording from the “Honeysuckle Rose” album (1980).  It sounds like Mickey Raphael on harmonica.  This driving version of “Midnight Rider” (track 8) appears to be from “The Electric Horseman” soundtrack (recorded Fall 1979, according to the liner notes in “One Hell of  Ride”).  “Are the Good Times Really Over” (track 9) is all Hag.  “A Drunk Can’t Be a Man” (track 10) is all George.  So this isn’t much of a Willie album, but it’s worth owning for tracks 1,2, and 4, which may be hard to find anywhere else.