Merle Haggard

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Merle Haggard
sometimes misses the old way of making
records, when fixing an off-key note wasn’t
so simple and all the little mistakes were
captured on vinyl.
He believes it gave the music a human
touch that’s missing today.
“It’s unacceptable now to be slightly out
of tune,” Haggard said recently. “A lot of the
records I made and Ray made and Willie
made — a lot of those were out of tune.”
Haggard is speaking of his buddies Willie
Nelson and Ray Price, whom he joined for a
new double-CD set, “Last of the Breed,” out
March 20.
The collection — though perfectly in tune
— harkens back to the days Haggard is talking
about.
Most of the 22 tracks are country standards,
such as Floyd Tillman’s “I Love You
So Much It Hurts” and Lefty Frizzell’s
“Mom and Dad’s Waltz,” but there’s also the
new Nelson song “Back to Earth” and one
from Haggard called “Sweet Jesus” that feel
as vintage as anything on the CD. It’s a
record that reflects the honky-tonk and
swing music that shaped their careers.
“It was a big party working with Ray and
Merle and everybody on that record,” Nelson
said. “We were all open-minded about it.
No one said no to anything.”
The trio, each of them Country Music Hall
of Famers, are performing with the Texas
swing band Asleep at the Wheel on a brief
tour that began Friday in Prescott, Ariz., and
ends March 25 in Rosemont, Ill.
“I’ll be surprised if we don’t all get locked
up somewhere,” Price joked.
Price, 81, hopes the record and tour will
rekindle interest in traditional country
music, something he thinks is missing from
today’s country radio.
“We want to let the kids hear what good
songs sound like,” he said. “It’s really a different
kind of music than they’ve been fed
the last 20 years.”
Haggard, who in 1969 sang the anthem
“Okie From Muskogee,” which mocked hippie
protesters and proclaimed, “We don’t
smoke marijuana in Muskogee,” has been
opening shows for Bob Dylan and the
Rolling Stones. He said both play a purer
form of country music than many contemporary
country acts.
“Bob Dylan is as country as corn,” the 69-
year-old singer said. “Who would you compare
him to other than Jimmie Rodgers?”
This is Haggard’s first record with Price,
though he and Nelson cut a successful album
together in 1983, “Pancho and Lefty.”
Price and Nelson have teamed up before,
most recently for 2003’s “Run That By Me
One More Time.” Back in the ’60s, Nelson
played bass in Price’s band, the Cherokee
Cowboys.
“This was a natural,” Nelson said of “Last
of the Breed.” “Everyone who is my age or
a little younger have heard these songs, and
the ones who haven’t heard them will get a
chance. They’re all really little gems.”
At 73, Nelson continues to be more prolific
than most artists half his age. Last year
alone he released two albums, “You Don’t
Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker” and
the Ryan Adams-produced “Songbird,”
which had him covering songs by the Grateful
Dead, Leonard Cohen and Fleetwood
Mac.
He already has another album in the can
that was produced by Kenny Chesney, and
he’s got a bunch of material from a concert
with jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis.
“I’m open to anything,” Nelson said.