Number One Songs
Merle Haggard
Curb Records (USA), 2008
1 CD
Catalogue #: D279098
EAN: 0715187909823
UPC: 715187909823
You save: 20%
NUMBER ONE SONGS is a budget-priced collection of 10 of Merle Haggard's most popular songs from his late 1960s and early '70s heyday. Highlights include his first hit, "Mama Tried"; the mid-'70s recession anthem "If We Make It Thru December"; and fan favorite "Workin' Man Blues." Purists should note that the version of "Okie From Muskogee" included is the studio take, not the more familiar live version, and that many of the early songs are presented not in their original mono mixes, but in slightly later stereo re-recordings.
Tracklist
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.
