Looking back 25 or 30 years ago, here are some things I never thought I’d see or hear; Kris Kristofferson winning an Academy Award, Bocephus still alive (much less a Hank III), Merle Haggard as a country pop crooner. Â Yet, here they are, the latter of that list a nod to portions of Merle’s latest album, I Am What I Am. Â Actually, this is an album that could have easily been partitioned into a couple of EPs. Â One has the outlaw attitude story-telling that made Haggard famous. Â The other has a combination of romantic ballads and lightweight verses that will appeal to Ray Price and George Jones fans.
Let’s start with the figurative Haggard-esque side of the record. Â The first song is I’ve Seen It Go Away, a commentary about experience and how things aren’t like they used to be. Â You can take it as remembrance of better times, or an anthem for narcissistic musicians. Â I like to believe Hag is 100% in the former camp, but I can’t wait to hear the first cover of this from some hotshot kid. Bad Actor is another tune clearly in the singer-songwriter vein that’s a good perspective on the choices made in the course of life. Â Perhaps my favorite of the entire album is Mexican Band. Â Hag is channeling Marty Robbins to some extent, but the lyrics are a twisted love story to a genre, “no savvy the lingo, I’m just a gringo.”
The standard bearer for the romantic part of the disc is The Road To My Heart, a kind of swing beat, with some pretty nice, jazzy horns. Â There’s also We’re Falling In Love Again, an ode to a time or place in life where the separate roads taken merge back and provide life experience to be shared rather than the reason to split they caused so many years ago. Â Merle’s wife, Theresa, provides the other half of the duet on Live And Love Always. Â Pretty When It’s New is a honky-tonk piano song that’s as likely to be found on a dusty jukebox from the 60’s as it is on today’s MP3 player.
All in all there are a lot of good songs on I Am What I Am. Â There’s still a good bit of the outlaw–“in early manana I’ll smoke what I wanna”–that’s the legend of Merle Haggard. Â But the differences in style don’t always flow well from tune to tune and leave a taste of inconsistency that I can’t help but feeling the producer should have muted. Â So if you’re a Haggard fan, you’ll probably like his latest, but it will get more plays in shuffle mode than straight through.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.