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Album Details

• Artist: Merle Haggard
• Album: Drinkin'
• Label: Capitol
• Year of Release: 2001
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2005-06-13

Following in the footsteps of the Johnny Cash reissues of recent years, which divided his career output thematically (God, Murder,etc) Capitol has done the same with Merle Haggard. Of the four CDs in the series Drinkin'-Prison-Hurtin-Cheatin', this is the most interesting. Though the subjects are typical country music fare, it is a glorious reminder of what country music used to be: Gut-bucket tunes, Old Testament-like lyrics of regret and loss. "Some of Us Never Learn", "I Can't Hold Myself in Line", and "Drink up and Be Somebody" spring from hard won experience, not marketing, Nashville hats, and dreams of retiring to your own club in Branson to sing "The Ugly American" until you die. The spirit of the honky tonk heroes does live on, under the radar of mainstream country, in acts like Scott H. Biram, Kelley Pardekooper, Wayne Hancock, but you have to dig; even No Depression is becoming a commodified style.
Merle Haggard is one of the monuments of country music. If he wasn't as transcendent at Cash or George Jones, Drinkin' shows that he too had a masterful isight into his, and our, deepest flaws.

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