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Haggard Like Never Before

Merle Haggards voice is like fine grit sand paper. If theres nothing rough, it just slides right over. But when the emotion is there, you feel it. He reaches out and grabs your hand and says "look - look at whats going on!" His voice hasnt lost anything through the years. It has range, depth, and all the feeling you could want.

But even better are the songs. He takes a firm poke at Bush in "Thats the News." And since Mr. Bush doesnt care if I take a poke at him, Im all for everyone else doing it. This album - and please remember, album means a collection, not a round black disk - is ultimately listenable. The music is beautifully performed, not over arranged as sometimes happens, and flows over you like the feeling of a second beer.

Merle Haggard

But the best thing about this album is that it doesnt compete with itself. When Mr. Haggard is singing, you hear him singing, and the backup singers are just that, in the background. Theres no music trying to drown him out or for him to shout over. The music is there, perfect in its simplicity.

Mr. Haggard exposes himself willingly - as a husband, a lover, a father, a friend, and as an American in these troubled times. Every song is good - there are no songs on this recording that you want to skip over - and just when hes gotten me all weepy, he lifts me back up with the next cut. And if after listening to this one you haven't gotten enough, Capitol Records has just released a new album - forty of Merle Haggard's #1 hits.

I think the most cohesive way to express how good this album is would come from June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash, longtime friends of Mr. Haggard. They might be gone, but the circle is still not broken - Merle Haggard is holding it for them.

Photos courtesy of Dept 56.