Search - Merle Haggard :: Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the Worl

A Tribute to a Tribute Album

Ralph S. Delbove | 02/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Not to worry this is a CD that takes two of Merle Haggard's Capital Record albums from the 1970's and puts them on one CD. In a way its amazing that Record buyers from the 60's and 70's bought albums with 30 minutes of music, but today we can reap the benefits of two albums plus some well worth bonus tracks on one CD. As to the Music its a pure delight. Merle Haggard plays tribute to his musical idol Bob Wills on the 1st half of this CD. Its great and many of the original Texas Playboys play too. This has been out of circulation for awhile. The other half of the CD is pure Haggard at his best."

Two great but contrasting seventies albums

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 01/21/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The first album here is a tribute to Bob Wills, in which Merle called on the services of six members of Bob's band, the Texas Playboys, to give the album an authentic feel. As is typical of tribute albums, this one contains some of Bob's biggest hits but includes plenty of less obvious selections. The familiar songs here include San Antonio Rose (often covered by country singers), Right or wrong (revived by George Strait, it became one of his earliest country hits) and Stay a little longer (a country hit for Willie Nelson in the seventies and later re-recorded by him for Greatest hits and some that will be). Although plenty of Bob's hits are missing, the inclusion of Time changes everything, Take me back to Tulsa and many other great song illustrates the depth of his music beyond the hits.



The second album here, It's all in the music, is a typical ~Merle Haggard album that features eight of his own songs including the classic title track. Among the other seven, I particularly like the upbeat This is the song we sing, but they're all worth a listen. The tune to one of them (Living with the shades pulled down) reminds me of Rocky top, so perhaps it`s not truly a Merle Haggard original. There are at least three covers, these being another Bob Wills song (Cotton patch blues), a Dolly Parton classic (The seeker) and an obscure Hank Cochran song (I know an ending). The liner notes say that there are four covers, but I can't trace another recording of Stingeree (the other song here that Merle didn't write) so I wonder whether it is a cover or a song that was written for him.



While it is possible to argue about which of Merle's albums are the best, I'll just say that he recorded many great albums and I was very pleased to see these two re-issued on CD, having originally had them on vinyl.

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