It may not feel right to take a break from the news today, but what the heck. Turn the television on low for a few minutes and take in some historic covers of Merle Haggard songs by popular artists expressing their respect for his work.
This past Sunday we dipped into covers by country artists. Too late for my use last week, the April 21 BGS Weekly Dispatch email rounded up videos of 12 Fantastic Merle Haggard Covers (selected by David Cantwell). Most of the covers are country-flavored and would therefore have fit in nicely with my own collection of Haggard covers last week.
In the BGS set, Lonesome River Band’s cover of “Shelly’s Winter Love,” Tanya Tucker’s cover of “Ramblin’ Fever,” the Rob Ickes/Trey Hensley cover of “A Workin’ Man Can’t Get Nowhere Today,” and Willie Nelson’s cover of “Workin’ Man Blues” were revelations to me. I wish I could have drawn on it last week. Maybe next year. Dip into the compilation with LRB’s cover of Merle’s “Shelly’s Winter Love,” from the band’s Turn On a Dime (2014). Merle included it on Hag (1971).
To give a sense of the depth, breadth, and impact of Haggard’s work I wanted to collect some videos from the rocksy side of the populuar music scene. That’s the basis of this installment.
Gram Parson joined the Byrds for their country-flavored Sweetheart of the Rodeo album in 1968. Parsons turned in the lead vocal on Haggard’s “Life in Prison.” JayDee Maness helped out on the pedal steel guitar.
The Everly Brothers released the country rock album Roots that same year. Although their American audience had dwindled in the wake of the British Invasion, the Everly Brothers were instrumental to it. Roots should have returned our attention to them. It included two Haggard songs. “Sing Me Back Home” is prefaced with an audio clip from the Everly Family Radio show featuring their parents.
“Mama Tried” was the other Haggard song the Everlys included on Roots. By 1970 it had become a staple of the Grateful Dead’s live act. The video below comes from Skull & Roses, recorded live at Fillmore East in 1971.
Phil Ochs was a folk artist deep into protest songs in which he crudely sought to emulate Bob Dylan. He followed Dylan into rock on Pleasures of the Harbor (1967). Tormented by radical politics, mental illness, and alcoholism, he committed suicide at the age of 35 in 1976. The last album released during his lifetime was Gunfight at Carnegie Hall (1974). The story behind Ochs’s Carnegie Hall live recording is a saga unto itself. The album was released only in Canada and Japan. I didn’t catch up with it until it was released in the United States by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab on compact disc in the late 1980s. Ochs’s unlikely and respectful cover of “Okie From Muskogie” impressed on me the breadth of Haggard’s impact.
John Fogerty was the songwriter, lead guitarist, and vocalist who made Creedence Clearwater Revival. “Today I Started Loving You Again” derives from his (debut) post-CCR solo album Blue Ridge Rangers (1973). It’s the last track on the album.
The name of the band is Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd, as the title of their debut studio album (1973) helpfully explained. They covered Merle’s “Honky Tonk Night Time Man” on Street Suvivors (1977). The original members of the band have all passed. This cover lives.
Ray Charles covered “Little Hotel Room” by Freddy Powers with Haggard. I think it was Brother Ray’s idea to get together with Merle. Charles’s soulful and loving approach to country music was one prong of his incomparable genius. Strictly speaking, this isn’t a cover of Haggard, but it belongs in this lineup. Charles included it on Friendship (1984). Merle included it on It’s All In the Game (1984).
As you can see at the link, Peter Case is an interesting character with roots in punk. He covered “A Workin’ Man Can’t Get Nowhere Today” on the Tulare Dust compilation of songwriters honoring Haggard.
Jorma Kaukonen was the lead guitarist of the Jefferson Airplane. His love of the blues manifested itself before and after his term with the Airplane. When I saw him performing in Minneapolis this past Wednesday evening, he commented with respect to Wabash Avenue, his new release of 1965 recordings found in a family storage bin, “I got sidetracked by Jefferson Airplane.” Jorma covered Merle’s “More Than My Old Guitar” on River of Time (2009). Multi-instrumentalist album producer Larry Campbell backs Jorma on fiddle, the late Levon Helm on drums. Campbell’s wife, Teresa Williams, chips in the harmony vocal.
Emmylou Harris started out as a folk artist. Gram Parsons initiated her into country music. She has had a long and distinguished career spanning the genres of popular music. She covered Merle’s “Kern River” on All I Intended To Be (2017). “Kern River” was the title track of Merle’s fortieth studio album (1985). On her cover of the song Emmylou accompanies herself on acoustic guitar. John Starling and Mike Auldridge (dobro) contribute backing vocals. Stuart Duncan backs Emmylou on fiddle and mandolin. We’re going out on a high note with Emmylou’s haunting cover of this brilliant song.
