Merle Haggard If I Could Only Fly CD

1st Studio Album Of All New Material In More Than 6 Years

Personnel: Merle Haggard (vocals, guitar); Abe Manuel, Jr. (guitar, fiddle, harmonica, accordion, percussion, background vocals); Redd Volkaert, Joe Manuel, Randy Mason (guitar); Norm Hamlet (steel guitar); Candace Lavolsi (harp); Don Markham (saxophone, background vocals); Floyd Domino, Oleg Schramm (piano); Doug Colosio (keyboards); Eddie Curtis (bass); Terry Domingue (drums, percussion); Biff Adam (drums); Theresa Haggard, Ben Haggard, Jenessa Haggard (background vocals).
Recorded at Merle Haggard's Tally Studio, Bakersfield, California. Includes liner notes by Jonny Whiteside.
Personnel: Merle Haggard (vocals, guitar); Abe Manuel, Jr. (guitar, harp, mandolin, fiddle, accordion, piano, percussion); Randy Mason , Joe Manuel, Redd Volkaert (guitar); Norm Hamlet (steel guitar); Don Markham (saxophone); Oleg Schramm, Floyd Domino (piano); Biff Adam (drums).
Audio Mixer: Lou Bradley.
Liner Note Author: Johnny Whiteside.
Recording information: Merle Haggard's Tally Studio.
For all the '90s, Merle Haggard was stuck in a kind of exile, recording albums that were strangely perched between familiar Haggard material and futile compromises to a modern country radio that would never play material from veterans. Hag knew that he hadn't lost it, so when he finally ran out his contract for Curb, he smartly signed to Anti-, a subsidiary of the indie punk label Epitaph. Finally at a label that would let him record a traditional Haggard album, he seized the opportunity with If I Could Only Fly, a gentle, understated, largely acoustic album that's easily his best in over a decade. It's easy to draw comparisons to Johnny Cash's Rick Rubin-produced American Music, but this is actually a better fit, since nothing here is forced. There's no mention of his wild ways or outlaw posturing; instead he, dwells on being old, not wanting to leave home, and writes frequently about his family. This is not sad and melancholy, it's a sweet, soothing record, filled with intimately autobiographical songs, delivered with ease and subtle shading through Haggard's always superb vocalizing. If I Could Fly benefits considerably from its sheer, warm musicality, and it's easy to be charmed by its stripped-back, organic sound. It sounds so good that it's also easy to overlook that the album is shy a couple of great songs it needed to be an unqualified triumph. Only the sublime "Wishing All These Old Things Were New," "If I Could Only Fly," and "Listening (To the Wind)" are truly significant additions to Haggard's canon. Ultimately, that may be a bit of nitpicking -- If I Could Only Fly is the first album in years that deserves to be compared to Haggard's classic work. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
It speaks unpleasant volumes about all sorts of things that, in the year 2000, Merle Haggard--a towering figure in country music, second only in influence to the great Hank Williams himself--probably couldn't get arrested in Nashville if he was found buggering a moose in front of the Grand Old Opry.
The good news is that Haggard's first album of the millennium--released, in a delicious irony, on an indie label that made its fortune peddling hard-core punk-rock--is one of his best ever. It's a low key, but not at all autumnal collection of songs that ranges from full bore Western swing a la Bob Wills (the highly amusing "Bareback") to ethereally graceful ballads ("Listening"). Astonishingly, Haggard's never been in better voice--anybody who doesn't get a thrill out of hearing him imbue the word "wind" with four syllables is incapable of joy. His longtime backing band the Strangers play with a magisterial authority that makes just about every younger country act sound puerile by comparison. Not to be missed.

Rolling Stone (1/4/01, pp.108-10) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Top 50 Albums of 2000".
Rolling Stone (10/26/00, p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...[His] songwriting control is exemplary....Haggard finds a middle road that's unusual for country: self-acceptance, totally free of bluster or self-pity."
CMJ (1/08/01, p.46) - Included in CMJ's "Year's Best Triple A Albums" from 2000.
CMJ (10/16/00, p.7) - "...A modern update of Bob Willis' western swing...deeply infused with Haggard's personal brand of bravado..."
Mojo (Publisher) (12/00, p.106) - "...An earthy set that's excellent throughout....stunning both in its simplicity and its ease of performance..."
NME (Magazine) (1/27/01, p.35) - 7 out of 10 - "...The key throughout is honesty....Uncompromising stuff from a battered stand-up guy..."