Essential Collection serves as the middle ground of
Sons of the Pioneers collections; that is, with 42 tracks, it is about double the size of most
Sons of the Pioneers collections, but not even close to the size of the toiled-over
Bear Family box sets. All the hits are here, as they should be, but the addition of so many more obscure tracks is what makes this overview a great find albeit perhaps a bit too large a set for the curious, and not adequate enough for the serious collectors. ~ Gregory McIntosh