Merle Haggard - Live from Austin TX: 1985

Title: Live from Austin TX: 1985 Artist: Merle Haggard Release Date: 2/21/2006 Label: New West Records, Inc. Album Type(s): live UPC: 607396609024 Genre: Country Styles: Traditional Country, Honky Tonk Moods: Dramatic, Poignant, Rebellious, Reverent, Uncompromising, Earthy, Freewheeling, Laid-Back/Mellow, Nostalgic, Rambunctious, Rousing, Searching, Swaggering, Warm, Yearning, Autumnal, Bittersweet, Earnest, Intimate, Melancholy, Plaintive, Provocative, Refined/Mannered, Reflective, Restrained, Sad, Sentimental, Street-Smart, Wistful, Gentle, Passionate, Rollicking, Amiable/Good-Natured, Calm/Peaceful, Confrontational, Detached, Smooth Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 0 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 1

1. Okie from Muskogee's Comin' Home
2. Texas
3. Thank You for Keeping My House
4. What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life)
5. Mama Tried
6. Misery
7. Take Me Back to Tulsa
8. I Knew the Moment I Lost You
9. Silver Wings
10. Misery and Gin
11. Ida Red
12. Place to Fall Apart
13. I Wish Things Were Simple Again
14. Amber Waves of Grain
15. I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink

Year Type Label Catalog # 2006 CD New West Records, Inc. 6090

Live from Austin TX: 1985 [CD/DVD]

This 1985 performance of Merle Haggard and his swinging Strangers -- with a two-piece horn section that sounds like five -- were in fine form at Austin City Limits. There are 15 tunes on Live from Austin, TX many of them barn burners. It opens with "The Okie from Muskogee's Comin' Home," a fine choice since it's not a novelty song. Haggard sticks to his own material most of the time, and he rambles over it, pulling from classics like "Mama Tried" and "Silver Wings," to newer material from the MCA and Epic periods -- which were creatively fertile times for him. An example is in the lovely "What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life)," the fourth tune in the set. But there are more, too, in "Place to Fall Apart" and "I Wish Things Were Simple Again." There are two Tommy Duncan tunes here, where Haggard pays homage to his first real influence, Bob Wills -- "Misery," "Take Me Back to Tulsa," and one by Wills, as well as "Ida Red." Thankfully, a great version of Johnny Durrill's "Misery and Gin" is here from Back to the Barrooms, as is the wonderful closer, Haggard's own "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink," to take the thing out on the right note. It's true most could have lived without his pseudo-orchestral paean to xenophobic political values, "Amber Waves of Grain," but it wouldn't be a complete show without an accurate portrayal of the songwriter and the man. Haggard fans will dig this one just fine. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Name Credits Biff Adam Drums Cameron Strang Executive Producer, Producer Chet Himes Mixing Clare Surgeson Project Coordinator Clint Strong Guitar Dennis Hromek Bass Don Markham Trumpet, Saxophone Donna Faye Vocals Gary Briggs Producer, Mixing Gary Church Trombone, Cornet Gary Laird Editing Jerry Tubb Audio Master Jim Belken Fiddle Katherine Delaney Package Design Mark Yeary Piano Mary Jurey Project Coordinator Merle Haggard Guitar, Fiddle, Vocals Norm Hamlet Dobro, Guitar Roy Nichols Guitar Steve Gustafson Associate Producer Terry Lickona Liner Notes