Sleepy LaBeef was one of dozens of second-string rockabilly acts of the 1950s who found a new and receptive audience in Europe, Great Britain, the Netherlands and parts of the United States in the '70s. But one thing set LaBeef apart from the sizable majority of his comrades -- Sleepy actually got better with the passage of time. When LaBeef began cutting new records in the '70s, his rich baritone voice had gained plenty of strength and seasoning after a few thousand honky tonk gigs, and thanks in part to a lack of interest in booze and drugs, LaBeef sounded every bit as energetic and enthusiastic as he did when he first started making records in 1957. Given the impressive number of labels he has recorded for over the years, it's no wonder there hasn't been a definitive Sleepy LaBeef collection up until now, but the cross-licensing specialists at Bear Family Records have finally put together a truly essential single-disc overview of his career, and Sleepy Rocks certainly lives up to its name. LaBeef never put much stock in the notion of songwriting, having recorded only a tiny handful or originals over the course of his career, but he's long seemed able to sing and play a little bit of everything, and though his deep voice led him to record a big stack of Johnny Cash covers for Starday (four of which make the cut here), he could also tackle Tennessee Ernie Ford ("Shotgun Boogie"), Clarence "Frogman" Henry ("Ain't Got No Home"), Johnny Horton ("Honky Tonk Man"), Chuck Berry ("You Can't Catch Me"), and Bo Diddley ("Ride on Josephine") and make each one sound as if it had been written with him in mind. Sleepy's Bo Diddley-ized cover of "Goodnight Irene" is frantic and unique, "Tore Up" is practically feral in its forward momentum, "Good Rockin' Boogie" fuses Roy Brown's classic "Good Rockin' Tonight" with a rockabilly backbeat and sends it into orbit, and even his rare major-label sides (he cut a single for Columbia that just skimmed the charts) sound tough and untamed. Sleepy LaBeef has been one of America's leading natural resources of honky tonk music over the course of a career spanning six decades, and Sleepy Rocks delivers a full 80 minutes of rowdy good times; if you're only going to own one Sleepy LaBeef CD in your lifetime, this is the one to get. ~ Mark Deming