Rating:
Genre:
Country
Release Date: 12/08/1994
Run Time: 50:17
If you've been paying any attention at all, you know
Merle Haggard ranks among the best singers
country music has ever produced. What you might not realize is that he's also one of the genre's finest songwriters. For evidence, just listen to this
tribute album, which finds a motley crew of roots artists performing 15 of their favorite
Haggard tunes. Despite the absence of many of his best-known songs, the package leaves little doubt that, as the liner notes put it, "
Haggard may be the last of a breed of great
country songwriters that began with
Jimmie Rodgers, and continued through
Hank Williams and
Lefty Frizzell." Every composition radiates with
Haggard's honesty, eye for detail, and strong point of view, and every track has the feel of a classic. The vast majority of the performances are as impressive as the songs.
Tom Russell, who co-produced with
Dave Alvin, delivers the package's most
Haggard-like vocal on a beautifully handled medley of dust-bowl stories,
"Tulare Dust/They're Tearin' the Labor Camps Down," while
Alvin turns in a haunting
"Kern River." Among the many other highlights:
Iris DeMent's
"Big City," which
Haggard reportedly loved;
Rosie Flores' interpretation of
"My Own Kind of Hat," one of
Haggard's many declarations of independence;
Barrence Whitfield's version of
"Irma Jackson," which addresses race relations via the tale of an interracial romance;
Steve Young's affecting
"Shopping for Dresses"; and the melancholy
"I Can't Be Myself," where
Katy Moffatt hits thrilling high notes. Nobody sings
Haggard quite like
Haggard, but these recordings are classics in their own right.
~Jeff Burger, All Music Guide
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