Merle Haggard: Collector's Edition

Merle Haggard

Along with Buck Owens and Wynn Stewart, Merle Haggard created the Bakersfield country sound of the '60s, emphasizing two-part harmonies, tasty guitar solos, catchy choruses and a no-frills approach to production. To this, the singer/songwriter/guitarist adds his own jazzy Western swing touches. His distinctly proletarian lyrics alternate between classic honky-tonk barroom laments and the celebration of the blue-collar working man. Like many country stars of the '60s and '70s, Haggard slipped off the mainstream radar in the '80s and '90s, but made a Johnny Cash-like "comeback" with the poignant, sparsely produced IF I COULD ONLY FLY in 2000.