Merle Haggard: the Running Kind

Starred review from July 1, 2013
An incisive, critical analysis of one of the most complicated and misunderstood artists in country music. Cantwell describes this as "the attempt of this critic and more or less lifelong Merle Haggard fan at writing a monograph on the man's music," admitting that this is not the in-depth, full-scale biography that his subject deserves. As the co-author of Heartaches by the Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles (2003), Cantwell combines sharp critical insights and encyclopedic knowledge of the music with a fan's passion, as he provides a personal engagement with Haggard's discography, along with context of the times. The author shows how the politics of the man most famous for "Okie from Muskogee" and the more belligerent "Fightin' Side of Me" resist pigeonholing and how many contradictions one confronts in his music. He's a country artist who served time but sang of prison less often than singers who never did. He's a country artist who sings often of the city and refuses to romanticize the bucolic. He recognizes that the term "Okie" (which he isn't, though his parents were) is an insult before he turns it into a source of pride (and Cantwell is very good at illuminating the fragility and ambiguity of the pride running through Haggard's music). Occasionally, the assessment seems a little over-the-top, as the author writes that on his late-'60s albums, "Haggard's writing is as smart in its way as Dylan's at the same time or Lennon and McCartney's, his singing is as powerful as Aretha Franklin's or Van Morrison's," and he proceeds to encompass the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and James Brown in his comparative superlatives. But for an artist who has been dismissed too easily for too long, such perspective provides a dialogue-opening corrective. Both the Haggard fanatic and the casual country music fan will find their appreciation enriched.

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September 1, 2013

While country music has experienced some devastating losses to its old guard over the last decade, it still has "the Hag," who at 76 is out touring and performing at the same rate as singers half his age. Cantwell (coauthor, Heartaches by the Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles) provides fans with a serious analysis of the music from the original "Okie from Muskogee." Cantwell looks at pivotal songs and albums from Haggard's extensive back catalog and casts them within the context of the artist's life and the zeitgeist of the late 20th-century United States. While not a biography, the book also contains much information on Haggard's life and career. Particularly interesting is Cantwell's discussion of the seeming contradictions in the artist's work: his endorsement of both politically conservative and liberal viewpoints at different periods in his career. VERDICT A strong familiarity with Haggard's music is necessary to appreciate this book fully, but a casual fan might be inspired by it to look further into his works. A useful addition to any music collection, preferably one that also has several of the Hag's albums for further listening.--Brett Rohlwing, Milwaukee P.L.

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