Merle Haggard Story (for El Vez & company)

[Boy With A Problem]

Haggard Speaks Out 'Like Never Before'


Mon Sep 29, 9:23 AM ET

By Chris Morris

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - The title of Merle Haggard (news)'s new record pretty much says it all -- It's "Haggard Like Never Before."



The album, due Sept. 30, marks the debut of the veteran singer's own label, Hag Records (which is distributed by Compendia Music Group in Nashville), and finds him delivering some of the most pointed and reflective original material of his 40-year recording career.


Haggard -- who released his last two albums through Anti-, the eclectic imprint of L.A. punk label Epitaph Records -- believes he did not have much choice about starting his own label.


"You're just not going to get the kind of money with, and you're not gonna get the kind of cooperation," Haggard says. "For whatever reason, they're too far removed ... And they don't want me. The major labels don't want Merle Haggard on there."


Tom Thacker, the Nashville-based president of Hag Records, concurs with Haggard's point of view.


"The majors are doing an excellent job of killing the country music genre," Thacker says. "They discovered sex and formula. Pablum records sell, and as a result, with very few exceptions, they've abandoned the music that spoke to so many people."


Haggard says the idea of starting a label grew out of a previous working relationship with Thacker.


"He sold some records for me on a gospel record that I had called 'Cabin in the Hills' -- 62,000 at $10 apiece to Wal-Mart. So we made some money ... I said, 'Why don't we form a company?"'


Haggard credits Epitaph and Anti- president Andy Kaulkin -- who plays piano on the album's title track -- with supplying the impetus for the sharpest new material on "Haggard Like Never Before."


"He came up here, and he listened to my music," Haggard recalls, "He said, 'I really like everything that I hear, but I don't hear anything new.' He left, and I took his thought to heart ... I was almost dodging the bullet of doin' a Merle Haggard song."


Haggard already has captured widespread attention with the first single from the album, "That's the News." The tune, a musically lilting, lyrically bristling castigation of the news media's penchant for sensationalism, made headlines in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and other prominent publications.


"The seed of that song started back with O.J. Simpson (news)," Haggard says. "The news media has frustrated me, irritated me, pissed me off ... I think they know they're wrong, and I really believe that this song has made a difference in some of the programing."


Another song, "Lonesome Day," co-written by Haggard's keyboardist, Doug Colosio, is a biting take on the abridgment of freedom of speech.


"I really seriously watch what I'm saying, because I'm afraid if I said the wrong thing, those men in black, whoever they are, would come down the rope on me in a hot minute, and they'd find some marijuana and they'd find some cocaine, 'cause they'd throw it down," Haggard says. "They're not gonna allow a little hillbilly in Northern California like me to upset any sort of rhetoric that's in favor. Sorry, but I think we live in that kind of a world right now."


Never a man to shy away from his own contradictions, Haggard also penned a patriotic homage to the troops in Iraq (news - web sites), "Yellow Ribbons."


He says, "After maybe leaning far left of center with those other two songs, I wanted to lean back and let people know that I am a man who believes in keeping the law of the land, and I believe in the Constitution, and I believe that we should back the commander in chief, and we should lift politics in time of war, and we should band together."


"Haggard Like Never Before" also includes a couple of poignant reflections on old age, some beautiful love songs and a cover duet of Woody Guthrie's "Reno Blues (Philadelphia Lawyer)" with old crony Willie Nelson (news).





Haggard says of Nelson, "I said, 'Hey, man, I'm recording out here. Why don't you come out and grace my studio?' He came out the next day and worked all day long, and I fixed him a catfish dinner."

Haggard will tour the East Coast in September and October. He will appear on "The Grand Ole Opry" Sept. 27 and on "Late Show With David Letterman (news - Y! TV)" Oct. 9.

He plans to stay off the road in November and December but says he won't be idle.

"I'm working on doing a weekly broadcast from my studio on the Internet, sort of a Don Imus-type thing. I'll have one camera, give out all the audio and video feed and let whoever wants it jump up there and take it."

Reuters/Billboard

[El Vez]

Johnny & Willie crossed over to a much broader audience, but I'll always consider Merle Haggard to be the most talented country artist of the 20th century. There's a meanness to Merle (read Waylon's autobiography to find out why there was never a Merle & Waylon duet album) that I think sabotaged him from getting into the pop market almost as badly as Okie and Fightin'.

The idea of him having his own little "Fireside Chats" is a very exciting prospect to me.

[spooky girlfriend]

Keep me posted guys - I'm headed out of town and my van is already full of selected music for the long trip ahead. Let me know if either of you know any more.

[Copenhagen Fan]

did Haggard write Mama Tried??? One of the best ever.

[bambooneedle]

Merle Haggard will be on Letterman on Thursday, Oct 9.