Name: The Essential Merle Haggard: The Epic Years
Brand: Sony Music Entertainment***
SKU: 1187295
Price: 28.14 USD
Availability: InStock

The Essential Merle Haggard

Rating

Album: The Essential Merle Haggard: The Epic Years
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Big City
2)	Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)
3)	Someday When Things Are Good
4)	Yesterday's Wine
5)	Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Star
6)	Let's Chase Each Other Around the Room
7)	I Always Get Lucky With You
8)	That's the Way Love Goes
9)	Going Where the Lonely Go
10)	Place to Fall Apart, A
11)	I Had a Beautiful Time
12)	My Favorite Memory
13)	Pancho and Lefty
14)	Okie from Muskogee's Comin' Home, The

Album: The Essential Merle Haggard: The Epic Years
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Big City
2)	Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)
3)	Someday When Things Are Good
4)	Yesterday's Wine
5)	Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Star
6)	Let's Chase Each Other Around the Room
7)	I Always Get Lucky With You
8)	That's the Way Love Goes
9)	Going Where the Lonely Go
10)	Place to Fall Apart, A
11)	I Had a Beautiful Time
12)	My Favorite Memory
13)	Pancho and Lefty
14)	Okie from Muskogee's Comin' Home, The

Performer Notes

Personnel: Merle Haggard (vocals, guitar, background vocals); Merle Haggard; Freddy Powers, Johnny Christopher, Willie Nelson (guitar, background vocals); Pete Bordonali, Dave Kirby, Bobby Wayne, Grady Martin, Lewis Talley, Ray Edenton, Red Lane, Reggie Young , Billy Sanford, Steve Gibson , Clint Strong, Bobby Thompson , Gregg Galbraith (guitar); Weldon Myrick (steel guitar); Jim Belken (fiddle); Terry McMillan, Mickey Raphael (harmonica); Dick Hyde, Don Markham, Gary Church (horns); Bobby Wood (keyboards, background vocals); Mark Yeary, Bobby Emmons, Buddy Emmons (keyboards); Mary Fielder, Joe Chemise, Donna Faye, Jimmy Haas, Jon Joice, Judy Rodman, Leona Williams, Roger Cook, Bonnie Owens (background vocals); Roy Nichols (guitar, harmonica); Chet Atkins, Chips Moman (guitar); Norm Hamlet (steel guitar, dobro); Johnny Gimble, Tiny Moore (mandolin, fiddle); Hargus "Pig" Robbins (keyboards); Biff Adam (drums).
Liner Note Author: Angus Baley.
Recording information: Nashville, TN (06/22/1981-06/29/1987); Palo Cedro, CA (06/22/1981-06/29/1987); Spicewood, TX (06/22/1981-06/29/1987); West Hollywood, CA (06/22/1981-06/29/1987).
Photographers: Joe Bangay; Ron Delaney; Norman Seeff; Larry Dixon; Randee Saint Nicholas.
The 1980s were a tough time for country music; mainstream Nashville was filled with watered-down MOR, and classic country singers like Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash were foundering. True to form, the famously willful Merle Haggard stuck to his guns throughout this dark era, and his stint on Epic was full of tradition-minded, emotion-filled country music as powerful as anything being recorded at the time, if not as arresting as his legendary '60s work.
"Big City," from Haggard's 1981 album of the same name, became something of a staple tune. The randy "Let's Chase Each Other Around the Room" reveals not only Merle's rascally nature, but his ongoing infatuation with the Western Swing sound. The mournful ballads "Going Where the Lonely Go" and "Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)" show Haggard's matchless way with melancholy. Duets with George Jones and Willie Nelson indicate that Haggard never lost the respect of his peers, even if his profile at the time wasn't at its highest. Many point to the late '90s as Merle's "comeback" period, but this collection proves that neither he nor his gift ever really went away.