Essential Merle Haggard

There's little doubt that Merle Haggard is an enduring country music legend. In 1968, when "Mama Tried" first hit the shelves, he was riding high as the CMA Male Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year, coming fresh from the 1967 Album of the Year, "Lonesome Fugitive." A terrific slice of early Merle.
Compare Prices

Merle Haggard is a one-of-a-kind, a country music legend, and probably one of the most talented and impressive singers to ever hit the country scene. Any of his classic albums is going to be worth a spin, and this one more than most.
Compare Prices

Released in 1966, this was Merle's third album, which contained the the two huge hits, "The Bottle Let Me Down," and the title cut. Ten of the twelve tracks were written by Merle, including "If I Could Have Been Him," and "Someone Else You've Known." He also includes a cover of the Tommy Collins "High on a Hilltop."
Compare Prices

'Hag' was released in 1971 after Merle had put out, "Tribute to The Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World." The album contains no less than four hits, including a cover of Ernest Tubb's "Soldier's Last Letter," Dave Kirby's "Sidewalks of Chicago," and Haggard's own "Jesus, Take a Hold," with the fourth being "I Can't Be Myself."
Compare Prices

This live album was released in 1970, and was created to cash in on the success of the title cut. It was recorded in front of a sell-out crowd in Philadelphia, PA, and is fairly typical of a Merle concert in the early 1970s. Along with his hits, Merle shows his talent for imitation in a medley of songs from Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins and others.
Compare Prices

Lefty. Hank Sr. Merle. Really, what more can one say? When Merle Haggard takes it into his head to show people what it means to get back to their roots, he pulls out the stops. In an age when production is the driving force behind an audio recording, Merle strips bare such trappings and sits down in his living room with some great pickers including Lefty's own lead guitarist, Norman Stephens, as well as Merle's Strangers, and the one and only thing that a musician should really need: Talent.
Compare Prices

This album is full of Merle Haggard ballads. From the Lefty Frizzell cover of the title track to "What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life," this is one to listen to when you want to wind down from a busy day.
Compare Prices

"Haggard Like Never Before" was the first release from the "Hag Records," as Merle joins the many artists so fed up with major labels they're all starting their own. If you like country music, that simple, plain-spoken, working man music, then you need look no further than Merle Haggard.
Compare Prices

For this album, Merle delved into the almost literal roots of country music. The Peer Music Group started in the late 1920's and has a huge catalog of country standards. Roy Horton was a part of the group for many years starting in the late 1940's. As a friend of both Merle and many of the artists of that era, Roy had the idea of Merle recording a few songs from the Peer Music Group catalog. These songs are from the era of such greats as The Carter Family, Jimmie Rogers and Jimmie Davis.
Compare Prices

It's hard to compress a review of a box set into a small space, but when it comes to Merle Haggard, you can at least put it in a nutshell: It's Merle, and it's great. There's not a whole lot else to say. The four discs are set up in chronological order, from Merle's early recordings, before he'd found his own distinct sound, through the deeply moving 1993 "In My Next Life," which tells its own tale very eloquently.
Compare Prices