An Introduction to Freddy Fender contains 14 tracks highlighting the singer’s association with producer Huey Meaux’s Crazy Cajun label. Even though Fender’s biggest hits, “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” and “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” (this version is a duet with Doug Sahm), aren’t the exact recordings heard on country radio in the mid-’70s, they embody a street-level charm that was forfeited somewhat on the chart-topping versions released on ABC/Dot. Also included are equally admirable covers of “In the Still of the Night,” “Vaya con Dios,” “Six Days on the Road,” and a rendition of “Roses Are Red” sung in Spanish. – Al Campbell