The albums included on this two-for-one reissue of Ronnie Hawkins’ albums from the 1960s were recorded with members of the Band, and there’s a lot to love here. For fans of the Band, it includes the wild studio version of “Who Do You Love?” that provided the blueprint for The Last Waltz version, and on occasion you get a Robbie Robertson guitar break that hints at the guitar player he would become. They may be the draw now, but they’re not the story. These albums are all about Hawkins, showing him to be an able journeyman. He sounds just as comfortable singing the rockin’ R&B “Mojo Man” as he does singing the Johnny Horton-esque “Ballad of Caryl Chessman,” an early anti-death penalty song. He covers Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Hank Williams and Bo Diddley among others, but nothing here sounds like “his” song—the song that would carve his place in history the way his cousin Dale Hawkins would do with “Susie-Q” (a version of which is included here). In short, the CD shines a light on a figure who has become more of a legend than a musical presence because of his relationship to the Band, and it provides insight into the musical education that shaped the Band.