Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys' American Folk Songs, recorded in May 1963 and released on Hickory Records (LPS-115), presents the King of Country Music in a program of Appalachian murder ballads, parlor songs, and mountain narratives: "The Letter Edged in Black," "Shut Up in the Mines at Coal Creek," "The Great Titanic," "The House of the Rising Sun," and related fare. Pete "Bashful Brother Oswald" Kirby—Acuff's defining instrumental foil since 1938—anchors the set on dobro and vocals. Critics regard the album as among Acuff's strongest Hickory-era recordings; his voice was in excellent form in the early 1960s and the old-time material suited his Appalachian mountain-ballad persona completely.