Customer Reviews

Roots Volume 1

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The most outstanding work of the year by any artist and possibly the highlight of Merle Haggard's entire career. Haggard recreates the sounds of the early 1950s with this project, paying tribute to Lefty Frizzell and the two Hanks, Williams and Thompson. The album is given a real authentic touch with Lefty Frizzell's lead guitarist Norm Stephens recreating the sounds of fifty years ago, tastefully backing Haggard's superb vocals and supplying restrained, playful accompliments in the songs' instrumental passages. The album's three Haggard originals, which cannot be separated in terms of style or quality from the classics cover versions, are a delight. The sound of this album is too different from the radio-friendly, insipid drivel eminating from Nashville today to ever be a huge commercial hit. The success of this album is not in its sales, but in the sheer brilliance of the performances by Haggard and his musicians. I cannot praise this album highly enough.

Imagine Merle Haggard showing up at your house with his Strangers and offering to play in your living room the songs that influenced him during his formative years! Of course this means plenty of Lefty Frizzell, but surprise: he's brought with him Lefty's original guitarist, Norm Stephens. This is pretty much the situation here, except the living room is Merle's own, on a recording made with no fancy overdubbing or technical wiz bang. Instead it's an album of great songs reflective of country honky-tonk at mid-20th century. Who ever thought we would get a new album of these tunes, pretty much in the original musical style of Frizzell, Hank Williams and Hank Thompson? Maybe the best tunes are those in which Hag shows he still can do a dead-on imitation of Frizzell's memorable style. This is a great album and Merle's voice was never better. He should never stop recording this kind of music. The title: "Roots: Volume 1" suggests there will be more, if this album sells, that's a good reason for you to get this one. Two of the best cuts are "Always Late" and "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time." They sound just the way you think they will. Get this CD, and play it in your living room!

Joe Oliver
Nacogdoches, Texas

What a tremendous work this is. Think of it, Haggard covering "Always Late," "If You've Got the Money," and "Look What Thoughts Will Do," all by Lefty Frizzell. Not to mention one cover each of Hank Thompson and Hank Williams. The beautiful thing is, the songs sound EXACTLY the way you would've imagined them to. I can't say enough good things about this record. Rather than go on and on about specifics, let me just say that this is one of Haggard's best. Get it. And the most promising aspect of it all? The fact that it's called Roots VOLUME 1. We can only hope for more.

For someone in his 60s, Hag has been awfully busy recording lately. With his fourth album in just over a year (and his second for punk imprint Anti-), Haggard recaptures the spirit of country music in the days of his influences and delivers a stunning recording. Haggard collaborated with Norman Stephens (guitarist for Lefty Frizzell and Hank Thompson) and recorded primarily songs by Frizzell and Thompson in Haggard's home with vintage instrumentation and no overdubs. What they did was catch some old-fashioned lightning in a bottle, and Hag sounds clear-voiced and clearly joyous on tracks like "Always Late (With Your Kisses)," "Look What Thoughts Will Do," and "If You've Got the Money (I've Got the Time)." When you hear Lefty's "My Baby's Just Like Money" (with the great line "Money goes from hand to hand/And my baby goes from man to man") and Thompson's "I'll Sign My Heart Away," you hear a reverence to form that takes your breath away. Even more amazing is the inclusion of three new Haggard songs that fit hand in glove with these classics -- "Runaway Mama" is raucous fun, "I've Got a Tender Heart" is appealing do-me-right country, and "More Than My Old Guitar" would be a hit if this were 1950 ("I love my old guitar/Like God loves the poor/But I love you even more"). In going back to his roots, Haggard sounds as if he's found the fountain of youth and has made a must-have recording that crackles with life from the simple expression of country's traditions.

What a joy to have the greatest all-around performer ever
go back to his roots and perform these songs as he would
have before he had music of his own.

As always Merle Haggard has seamed to do what know one else
has thought about doing, nor could they do it as well.
Roots is a well put to gether piece of art, Im just sorry
Merle Albums are to far between each other.
I cant wait till the next.
Anyone who's a true Haggard fan, will enjoy this album.
Merle is true Country, Lefty and Hank would be proud.
Thank you
Richard

Late in his career the greatest country artist of them all is playing to please himself, which means no-nonsense, stripped-down honkytonk, including, here, a fair dose of songs associated with Lefty and two of the three major Hanks. There are no revelations here, just real country music of the sort that, as far as I'm concerned, is welcome anywhere, anytime. Of the three originals, "Runaway Mama" informs you, in case you were wondering, what Jimmie Rodgers would sound like if he were recording today. He'd be proud to have written the song, too.

The choice of songs, and their loving delivery, even the production values on this record are impeccable. Like Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard has only gotten better. This is a superb record, among a spate of really good recordings as of late from Haggard.

...and that cover! Merle brings it all back home!

Considering the fact that nearly every artist out there singing quality country music cites Merle Haggard as an influence, it is hard to remember that the Hag had to come from somewhere, too. It is hard to imagine that Merle Haggard was once a kid who had to be influenced. We know for a fact he was as he has been incredibly open about his past as a resident of San Quentin in the California prison system. We know he was a wild, restless kid. People can deal with Merle Haggard being a kid, but it's hard to believe that he wasn't born with a guitar in his hand, a little hat on his head and deep vibrating vocal cords molded by cigarettes and whiskey. When did this all come about? In this Hag release, he lets us know exactly how he was influenced. He hands us a magnificent volume of classic songs written by those he admires.

The album is called Roots: Volume 1 and has been a pet project of Haggard's. He plans to release more Roots albums, but Volume 1 is a special volume, containing songs from the artists that he admires the most. Roots is on the punk label, Anti-Records and was recorded in a way that is different from most albums. In order to have an authentic sound that really captures the mood of the songs on the album, Haggard had the recording sessions in his own living room. The album contains several Lefty Frizzell songs, and Haggard went so far as to recruit Lefty's former guitar player to add some riffs to the album. Lefty Frizzell's best known and most loved songs are included on the album. Haggard does such a wonderful job with "Always Late" that I found myself checking the album cover just once more to make sure I was hearing Merle Haggard. It was as if the ghost of Lefty had crept his way into the speakers. Haggard also pays tribute to Hank Williams and Hank Thompson with extraordinary covers. It is interesting that he does not attempt the best known songs by either one of the Hanks, but sticks with the songs that lean the most toward his style. Haggard also penned a few originals for the album and they fit in very naturally with the other songs. Every song is timeless. Nothing sounds like it was written last year and nothing sounds like it was written fifty years ago. Each and every song transcends the boundaries of time.

This is the kind of country music that reminds fans of the simplicity of the genre and the way in which less says so much more. More of today's new artists could take a lesson from Merle Haggard that the best music is made when you're unplugged. Of course, to sound right, they would have to have a voice like Merle Haggard's and there just weren't a lot of those handed out.

Merle Haggard is credited with being one of the greatest songwriters in country music history, and he is well deserving of that monarch. But would an album that only has three original Merle tunes on it be worth listening to. The answer to that question my friends is Yes, Yes, 1,000 times YES. On this record Merle takes songs by such legends in country music as Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell and males them sound like they were an original Merle tune. In addition, Merle's singing on this album is original and fresh, but don't worry hardcore merle fans, he's not sounding like Toby Keith. It's old-school honky tonk played at its very best, a literal milestone of songs that have already become classics. But the way that this album sounds, Merle's cover's will be remembered in the same way the originals were and still are remembered by Merle.