MERLE HAGGARD | THE BLUEGRASS SESSIONS (MCCOURY MUSIC)
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Still, there’s an upside to country’s conservatism: the genre’s stars aren’t contractually obligated to engage in extended acts of self-parody as they age. Rock and pop are all about being cutting-edge, dangerous, and rebellious in varying combinations, which is fine for musicians in their 20s. Once they hit 40 or 50, though, they start to look like–well, like Elvis Presley in his jumpsuit years. Or Paul McCartney, or Michael Jackson . . . or, dare I say it, Madonna or Bob Dylan.
Those folks still make bucketloads of money, of course. But the cost, to them and to their fans, is that they end up coming off like greedy, doddering fools, the butt of jokes they might’ve told back when they were young and sharp and didn’t suck. For country stars, getting old presents cash-flow problems–country radio won’t play them–but it doesn’t create an identity crisis.
Still, this isn’t one of Haggard’s best efforts. It’s nice to hear him revisit one of his old gems, but he trots out four, which seems lazy. The by-the-book bluegrass instrumentation–guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, bass–also gets a bit monotonous, and by the end I was missing the horns that enliven many of Haggard’s sets. And, perhaps most important, his new songs lack the bite of his best work. “Pray” and “Momma’s Prayers” are, as the titles suggest, maudlin and moralistic–a strain always present in Haggard’s work, but not one I like to see overplayed.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Merle Haggard photo by Pamela Springsteen.
