The Hits is the title of the first compilation album by country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 artist Hal Ketchum

Hal Ketchum

Hal Michael Ketchum is an American country music artist. He has released ten studio albums since 1986, including nine for the Curb and Asylum-Curb labels. Ketchum's 1991 album Past the Point of Rescue is his most commercially successful, having been certified gold by the Recording Industry...

 in 1996. It briefly appeared on Billboards Top Country Albums chart, peaking at #43. Three songs were newly recorded for this collection, "Satisfied Mind", the Bob Ferguson

Bob Ferguson (music)

Robert Bruce "Bob" Ferguson Sr was an American songwriter, record producer who was instrumental in establishing Nashville, Tennessee as a center of country music; movie producer, and Choctaw Indian historian. Ferguson wrote the bestselling songs "On the Wings of a Dove" and "The Carroll County...

 cover "Wings of a Dove" and "Hang in There Superman", the latter of which was released as a single and failed to chart. It features Delbert McClinton

Delbert McClinton

Delbert McClinton is an American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist....

 playing harmonica.

Track listing

1. "Small Town Saturday Night
   Small Town Saturday Night (song)
   "Small Town Saturday Night" is the title of a song written by Pat Alger and Hank DeVito, and recorded by American country music artist Hal Ketchum. It was released in April 1991 as the first single from his album Past the Point of Rescue...
   
   " (Pat Alger
   Pat Alger
   Pat Alger is a country music songwriter, singer and guitarist.-Biography:Alger attended Georgia Tech studying architecture but decided to concentrate on writing songs. He started as a solo folk performer at folk clubs...
   
   , Hank DeVito) – 2:55
2. "Mama Knows the Highway
   Mama Knows the Highway
   "Mama Knows the Highway" is the title of a song written by Pete Wasner and Charles John Quarto, and recorded by American country music artist Hal Ketchum. It was released in June 1993 as the third single from his album Sure Love. The song reached #8 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks...
   
   " (Pete Wasner, Charles John Quarto) – 4:17
3. "I Know Where Love Lives
   I Know Where Love Lives
   "I Know Where Love Lives" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Hal Ketchum. It was released in October 1991 as the second single from his album Sure Love. The song reached #13 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in early 1992.-Chart performance:...
   
   " (Hal Ketchum) – 3:30
4. "Past the Point of Rescue
   Past the Point of Rescue (song)
   "Past the Point of Rescue" is the title of a song written by Mick Hanly and recorded by American country music artist Hal Ketchum. It was released in February 1992 as the third single from Ketchum's album Past the Point of Rescue...
   
   " (Mick Hanly) – 4:25
5. "Someplace Far Away (Careful What You're Dreaming)
   Someplace Far Away (Careful What You're Dreaming)
   "Someplace Far Away " is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Hal Ketchum. It was released in September 1993 as the fourth and final single from his album Sure Love...
   
   " (Ketchum) – 4:04
6. "Sure Love
   Sure Love (song)
   "Sure Love" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Hal Ketchum. It was released in September 1992 as the first single from his album Sure Love. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in January 1993.-Chart performance:...
   
   " (Gary Burr
   Gary Burr
   Gary Burr, born in Meriden, Connecticut, is an American musician and songwriter and producer, mostly known for his stable of hits recorded by country music performers. Burr began his career as a member of the group Pure Prairie League from 1982 to 1985, taking over after Vince Gill departed the group...
   
   , Ketchum) – 3:28
7. "Satisfied Mind" (Tony Arata
   Tony Arata
   Tony Arata is an American singer-songwriter. He was born and grew up in Savannah, Georgia, attended the Georgia Southern University, and moved to Nashville in 1986....
   
   ) - 4:30
8. "Hang in There Superman" (Ketchum, Roger Cook
   Roger Cook (songwriter)
   Roger Cook is an English songwriter who has written many hits for other recording artists. He has also had a successful recording career in his own right.-Early life:Cook was born in Fishponds, Bristol, England...
   
   ) - 4:53)
9. "Five O'Clock World
   Five O'Clock World
   "Five O'Clock World" is the title of a song written by Allen Reynolds and recorded by American vocal group The Vogues. It reached #1 in Canada on the RPM singles chart on 10 January 1966 and peaked at #4 in the U.S...
   
   " (Allen Reynolds
   Allen Reynolds
   Allen Reynolds is an American record producer and songwriter who works primarily in the country music field.Reynolds was born in North Little Rock, Arkansas and started writing songs during his college years...
   
   ) – 3:02
10. "Hearts Are Gonna Roll
    Hearts Are Gonna Roll
    "Hearts Are Gonna Roll" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Hal Ketchum. It was released in February 1993 as the second single from his album Sure Love. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in May 1993.-Chart...
    
    " (Ketchum, Ronny Scaife) – 3:05
11. "Stay Forever
    Stay Forever
    "Stay Forever" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Hal Ketchum. It was released in January 1995 as the third single from his album Every Little Word...
    
    " (Benmont Tench
    Benmont Tench
    Benjamin Montmorency Tench, III is an American keyboardist best known as a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.-Early years:...
    
    , Ketchum) - 2:54
12. "I Miss My Mary" (Ketchum) – 3:12
13. "That's What I Get for Losing You" (Al Anderson
    Al Anderson (NRBQ)
    Alan Gordon "Al" Anderson is an American guitarist, singer, and songwiter. Between 1971 and the early 1990s, he was the lead guitarist in the rock band NRBQ, also releasing several solo albums. He also played electric guitar on Jonathan Edwards' 1973 album Have a Good Time for Me...
    
    , Ketchum) - 3:41
14. "Wings of a Dove
    Wings of a Dove (Bob Ferguson song)
    "Wings of a Dove is a gospel song written by Bob Ferguson. "Wings of a Dove" was most popular when it was recorded by Ferlin Husky in 1960. The Ferlin Husky recording went to number one on the country charts for ten non consecutive weeks. It became Ferlin Husky's third and final number one on the...
    
    " (Bob Ferguson
    Bob Ferguson (music)
    Robert Bruce "Bob" Ferguson Sr was an American songwriter, record producer who was instrumental in establishing Nashville, Tennessee as a center of country music; movie producer, and Choctaw Indian historian. Ferguson wrote the bestselling songs "On the Wings of a Dove" and "The Carroll County...
    
    ) - 3:40

Production on New Tracks

As listed in liner notes

• Produced by Allen Reynolds and Jim Rooney
• Recorded and Mixed by Mark Miller
• Mastered by Denny Purcell at Georgetown Masters, Nashville, TN
• Digital editing by Carlos Grier

Hang in There Superman

• Mark Casstevens - acoustic guitar
  Acoustic guitar
  An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
  
  
• Dan Dugmore - Pedal steel guitar
  Pedal steel guitar
  The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
  
  
• Mike Leech - bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Delbert McClinton
  Delbert McClinton
  Delbert McClinton is an American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist....
  
   - harmonica
  Harmonica
  The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
  
  
• George Marinelli - electric guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  
• Milton Sledge - drums
• Bobby Wood - Wurlitzer electric piano
  Wurlitzer electric piano
  Wurlitzer 200A|250px|thumbThe Wurlitzer electric piano was one of a series of electromechanical stringless pianos manufactured and marketed by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, Corinth, Mississippi, U.S. and Tonawanda, New York...
  
  

Background and harmony vocals by: The W.O. Smith Nashville Community Singers

Satisfied Mind

• Chris Leuzinger - electric guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  
• Russ Pahl - acoustic guitar
• Milton Sledge - drums
• Pete Wasner - piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  
• Bobby Wood - organ
• Bob Wray - bass guitar

Strings by The Nashville String Machine

Nashville String Machine

Nashville String Machine is a musical collective comprising session musicians and has been credited on recordings as far back as 1974. The Nashville String Machine's composition varies from project to project. It has appeared as large as an orchestra, or as small as a duo.-Notable members:Being a...

 arranged by Charles Cochran

Wings of a Dove

• Richard Bennett
  Richard Bennett (guitarist)
  Richard Bennett is a touring sideman, session veteran, and record producer. As a touring sideman, he performed with Neil Diamond for 17 years, and Mark Knopfler since 1994. As a session player, he has worked with artists ranging from Billy Joel and Barbra Streisand to Rodney Crowell and Vince Gill...
  
   - acoustic guitar
• Stuart Duncan
  Stuart Duncan
  Stuart Duncan is a bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo. Born in Quantico, Virginia and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band, he has been a member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band since 1985, and is a much-in-demand session musician...
  
   - mandolin
  Mandolin
  A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
  
  
• Chris Leuzinger - electric guitar
• Ruby Lovett - harmony vocals
• Scott Neubert - acoustic guitar
• Milton Sledge - drums
• Pete Wasner - piano
• Bob Wray - bass guitar

Chart performance

Chart (1996)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums	43