[.ca] Serving 190 Proof

The best:
Great CD. Most disappointing thing was when I got to see Merle live in San Antonio and he didn't play any of the songs from this CD. I think it is his very best stuff, better than most of his more well-known music. If you want some real country music, get this CD.

One of Merle's Best:
I have reviewed several Haggard CDs (click on my name to see the others) and most get high marks, but this one is probably my personal favorite. The Strangers were at the height of their powers and the songwriting is some of Hag's best. Footlights is a musician's song. It has been described well in a prior review and is popular among most of those who've heard it. "Red Bandana" is a great song about ex-wife Bonnie Owens, who still travels with him. It has one of the great references in country songwriting, "You ain't never gonna be no Bobby McGee, but you're tryin' to". "My Own Kind of Hat" is a fan favorite. The lyrics ("Cowboys and Outlaws, right guys and southpaws...") take a playful swipe at the then popular Outlaw movement in country music. The guitar work of these two songs in particular is some of the best of Hag's career. "Roses in the Winter" is one of Hag's least known ballads, and one of my favorites. If you like "Sing a Family Song", you may also like Hag's most recent album "If I Could Only Fly". Several songs on that CD are in the same vein. Those songs are just some of the more notable. Truthfully, there isn't a bad track on this CD. If you like Hag's music, this is one of the best available.

Just doesn't get any better:
This album has a permanent place in my "desert island disks". A top candidate for the best country album of all time. With the exception of the mawkish "Sing A Family Song", it is one great song after another. Hag delivers each song with acuity and makes you a believer. The band is tight and contributes plenty interesting moments. I've always admired Hag for stepping outside the confines of traditional country arrangements (adding horns for example) and having the wisdom of assembling great players and letting them play. Bookmarked by perfect, melancholy songs, "Footlights" and "Roses In the Winter", my favorites also have to include "Driftwood", for its great flat picking, and "Heaven Was A Drink of Wine", for its witty pathos. This album showcases Hag at his best and it just doesn't get any better. It belongs in everyone's CD cabinet.

I love the Hag!:
What?! Only three reviews of this beautiful record?! I think everyone should own this album. Merle Haggard is a true artist.

Great music, period.:
Hag's voice has deepened by this album and he uses that instrument very well here. This recording is as artistically superior as his Capitol stuff, but with a different sound and different topics. The whole album fits together, from the theme of running from life and trying to forget one's problems, to memories (false or imagined?) of a loving childhood, to staring all the problems a man can have in the face and declaring that there'll be roses in the winter because love is all we have to have (though you know a tough road lies ahead). A great combination of songs, singing, and musicianship. That this is basically a bargain bin album tells you all you need to know about the state of country music today. This album deserves a remastered, deluxe version with liner notes for godsakes.

• Footlights
• Got Lonely Too Early (This Morning)
• Heaven Was a Drink of Wine
• Driftwood
• I Can't Get Away
• Red Bandana
• My Own Kind of Hat
• I Must Have Done Something Bad
• I Didn't Mean to Love You
• Sing a Family Song
• Roses in the Winter