Happy birthday Merle Haggard. Merle Haggard and Buck Owens invented a style of music called The Bakersfield Sound. The sound was developed in the Honky Tonk bars in Bakersfield,Cal. Bakersfield was a place many Oakies had landed .. to get jobs in the Oil Fields. The music of the south came with them...Rose Maddox, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens were all from Bakersfield..They played a loud,rough,guitar driven style of music that became very popular in Bakersfield...by the late 1950s this sound swept the United States. The Bakersfield sound was in direct contrast to the slick sound of Nashville Country. Merle Haggard was in and out of prison until 1960. Merle says a 1958 prison concert by Johnny Cash changed his life. Merle knew what he wanted to do... There is simply not a better Country Music singer-songwriter than Merle Haggard. Merle has so many hit songs it would be impossible for me to list them..Lonesome Fugitive,Mama Tried,Big City, Workin Man Blues,Tonight the Bottle let me down, If we make it through December and Sing Me Back Home are just the tip of the Iceburg! I discovered Merle Haggard in the late 1960s...I loved his guitar player...loved his band and loved his songs! I soon realized what a great singer Merle is...I have played many of his songs...I have only sang one....Mama Tried. I just cant bring myself to sing his songs...Merle is just too good...What could I possibly lend to Today I started loving you again!!!! Merle,like Johnny Cash, found himself without a record label in the 1990s...Merle began recording on a small punk label..These records are classics...it is funny to that small punk rock labels signed these two Icons and both men made albums that are as good as anything they have ever recorded. Merles album If I could only Fly is a must have...if you love country music...if you are one of those I dont like Country Music people....listen to Merle Haggard..you will change your mind. The two records that I devoured in the the late 60s and early 70s were called Hag and Same Train, Different Time. The Same Train album was tribute album to the Singing Breakman Jimmie Rogers....I learned every song on this album...I still listen to this album all the time. I just realized there is another Merle Haggard song I used to sing Okie from Muskogee...I love this song...I always thought it was a comedy song...Who knows? Like all great songs,it means different things to different people..I do know Merle wore hishair all long and shaggy,like the hippies and I also know he hangs out with Willie Nelson who is known to take a toke or two...I do know The Hippie audiences we used to play for went crazy when we played this song...decide for yourself. Merle is in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Merle was one of the trailblazers for what is called Outlaw Country...one of the best.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 14:50:06 +0000
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