Outlaw's Prayer: Epic Country Hits 1971-1981

Liner Note Author: James Wallace .
The first thorough Johnny Paycheck compilation since Legacy's 2002 set The Soul & the Edge, T-Bird's 2012 collection Outlaws Prayer: Epic Country Hits 1971-1981 is a 26-track overview of Paycheck's peak. There's a 12-track overlap, almost all of them the usual suspects -- "She's All I Got," "Someone to Give My Love To," "11 Months and 29 Days," "Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets," "I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised)," "Fifteen Beers," "Colorado Kool-Aid," and, of course, "Take This Job and Shove It" -- which leaves the other 14 spots for smaller hits ("Somebody Loves Me," "Song and Dance Man," "Friend, Lover, Wife," "Loving You Beats All I've Ever Seen") and album tracks, several of which are not easy to find on CD. This is by no means a complete collection of Paycheck's Epic singles and hits -- odds and ends are missing, including a cover of Paul Simon's "Gone at Last" and "For a Minute There" -- but it is well chosen, has songs that don't pop up frequently on other discs, and serves up the big hits, all elements that make this a first-rate comp. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine