Pistol Packin' Mama is a long-overdue collection of Al Dexter's classic recordings, including all but one of his Top 40 hits, seven of which reached number one. The 25 tracks span the years 1942-49 and run the gamut from honky tonk to instrumental polkas to boogies. Although this generous anthology offers nearly 80 minutes of music, the disc was mastered from commercial 78s, and as a result the sound is sometimes crackly and thin. Perhaps Columbia will someday release a better-mastered Al Dexter collection of their own, but until then Pistol Packin' Mama has nearly all of the essential sides and then some.