Classic Country Music was issued on either four compact discs, four cassette tapes or six vinyl albums. It also contained an illustrated 84-page book by Bill C. Malone, a country music historian. Malone's extensively annotated essay details country music's history era by era, from its beginnings in the 1920s and commercialization during the 1930s through its growing popularity during the 1980s.
Significant artists whose works were included were Vernon Dalhart, Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family, Sons of the Pioneers, Bob Wills, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Eddy Arnold, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Alabama and The Judds. While many of country music's most important artists are included, notable artists whose works were absent – as acknowledged by Malone in his preface, because the artists chose not to participate – were Ray Charles, Merle Haggard, Reba McEntire, Linda Ronstadt, George Strait and Randy Travis.
This new collection replaced The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Country Music, an eight-volume, 143-track collection issued in 1981 (and whose liner notes were also written by Malone). The earlier set included many songs from the 1920s and 1930s, as well as bluegrass and other related genres to country music, and spanned the years 1922 to 1975.
Disc 1 (01:15:00)
01. Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers - Soldier's Joy (2:58)
02. Uncle Dave Macon & His Fruit Jar Drinkers - Jordan Is a Hard Road to Travel (3:09)
03. Bradley Kincaid - Barbara Allen (3:23)
04. Vernon Dalhart - The Prisoner's Song (3:07)
05. The Carter Family - Wildwood Flower (3:11)
06. Jimmie Rodgers - Waiting for a Train (2:47)
07. Jimmie Rodgers - Blue Yodel (3:02)
08. Riley Puckett - Ragged But Right (2:58)
09. The Carter Family - Will the Circle Be Unbroken (3:10)
10. Gene Autry and Jimmy Long - Silver Haired Daddy of Mine (2:49)
11. The Shelton Brothers - Just Because (3:01)
12. Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies - St. Louis Blues (3:24)
13. W. Lee O'Daniel & His Light Crust Doughboys with Leon Huff - My Mary (3:14)
14. Roy Acuff - Great Speckled Bird (2:55)
15. Bill Boyd - Under the Double Eagle (2:52)
16. Patsy Montana - I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart (3:12)
17. Gene Autry - South of the Border (2:51)
18. Sons of the Pioneers - Tumbling Tumbleweeds (3:14)
19. Sons of the Pioneers - Cool Water (2:45)
20. Tex Ritter - Rye Whiskey (3:11)
21. Bob Wills - Steel Guitar Rag (2:52)
22. Bob Wills - New San Antonio Rose (2:43)
23. Ernest Tubb - Walking the Floor Over You (2:38)
24. Ted Daffan's Texans - Born to Lose (2:45)
25. Jimmie Davis - You Are My Sunshine (2:49)
Disc 2 (01:13:50)
01. Al Dexter and His Troopers - Pistol Packin' Mama (2:48)
02. Elton Britt - There's a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere (2:42)
03. Eddy Arnold - The Cattle Call (3:09)
04. Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys - Wabash Cannon Ball (2:39)
05. The Blue Sky Boys - Kentucky (2:46)
06. Moon Mullican and His Showboys - New Pretty Blonde (3:01)
07. The Maddox Brothers & Rose - Philadelphia Lawyer (3:02)
08. Merle Travis - I Am a Pilgrim (2:54)
09. Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys - It's Mighty Dark to Travel (2:56)
10. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys - Randy Lynn Rag (2:06)
11. Floyd Tillman - Slipping Around (2:48)
12. Molly O'Day & The Cumberland Mountain Folks - The Tramp on the Street (2:50)
13. Hank Snow and His Rainbow Ranch Boys - I'm Movin' On (2:55)
14. 'Little' Jimmy Dickens - Take an Old Cold Tater (2:51)
15. Pee Wee King - Tennessee Waltz (3:03)
16. Red Foley - Peace in the Valley (3:16)
17. Hank Williams - Lovesick Blues (2:45)
18. Hank Williams - Your Cheating Heart (2:44)
19. Lefty Frizzell - I Love You a Thousand Ways (2:47)
20. Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys - The Wild Side of Life (2:45)
21. Kitty Wells - It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels (2:33)
22. Webb Pierce - Slowly (2:33)
23. Chet Atkins - Country Gentleman (2:18)
24. Eddy Arnold - I Really Don't Want to Know (2:35)
25. Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons (2:37)
26. Elvis Presley - Blue Moon of Kentucky (2:06)
27. The Everly Brothers - Bye Bye Love (2:21)
Disc 3 (01:14:48)
01. Jerry Lee Lewis - You Win Again (2:56)
02. Sonny James - Young Love (2:32)
03. Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line (2:46)
04. Ray Price - Crazy Arms (2:35)
05. Jim Reeves - He'll Have to Go (2:21)
06. Patsy Cline - Faded Love (3:45)
07. Johnny Horton - The Battle of New Orleans (2:33)
08. Marty Robbins - El Paso (4:44)
09. Jimmy Dean - Big Bad John (3:04)
10. The Louvin Brothers - When I Stop Dreaming (2:32)
11. Bobby Bare - Detroit City (2:51)
12. George Jones & Melba Montgomery - We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds (2:41)
13. Buck Owens - Excuse Me (I Think I've Got a Heartache) (2:29)
14. Faron Young - Hello Walls (2:24)
15. Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe (4:16)
16. Roger Miller - King of the Road (2:30)
17. Porter Wagoner - Green Green Grass of Home (2:24)
18. Willie Nelson - Funny How Time Slips Away (2:41)
19. Glen Campbell - Gentle on My Mind (2:59)
20. The Osborne Brothers - Rocky Top (2:39)
21. Loretta Lynn - Coal Miner's Daughter (3:01)
22. Dolly Parton - Coat of Many Colors (3:05)
23. Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues (2:44)
24. Tammy Wynette - Stand by Your Man (2:43)
25. Tom T. Hall - Homecoming (3:20)
26. Charley Pride - (Is Anybody Goin' to) San Antone (2:13)
Disc 4 (01:16:07)
01. Ray Price - For the Good Times (3:49)
02. The Flying Burrito Brothers - Sin City (4:12)
03. Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty - After the Fire Is Gone (2:40)
04. Lefty Frizzell - I Never Go Around Mirrors (I've Got a Heartache to Hide) (2:36)
05. Kris Kristofferson - Why Me Lord (3:30)
06. George Jones - The Grand Tour (3:10)
07. Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris - Love Hurts (3:41)
08. Waylon Jennings - Bob Wills Is Still the King (3:29)
09. Ronnie Milsap - Who'll Turn Out the Lights (In Your World Tonight) (3:21)
10. Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson - Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys (2:33)
11. Rodney Crowell - 'til I Gain Control Again (5:07)
12. Emmylou Harris - Beneath Still Waters (3:44)
13. Charlie Daniels - The Devil Went Down to Georgia (3:37)
14. George Jones - He Stopped Loving Her Today (3:14)
15. Alabama - Old Flame (3:13)
16. Alabama - Forty Hour Week (For a Livin') (3:24)
17. Hank Williams, Jr. - A Country Boy Can Survive (4:17)
18. Ricky Skaggs - Don't Get Above Your Raising (3:13)
19. Dwight Yoakam - Honky Tonk Man (2:49)
20. The Bellamy Brothers - Kids of the Baby Boom (3:28)
21. Dolly Parton - 9 to 5 (2:45)
22. The Judds - Grandpa (Tell Me About the Good Old Days) (4:15)
