DAVE'S DIARY - 11 DECEMBER 2007 - MERLE HAGGARD CD REVIEW

CD REVIEW 2007
MERLE HAGGARD, RAY PRICE AND WILLIE NELSON
LAST OF THE BREED (LOST HIGHWAY-UNIVERSAL)

RAY, WILLIE AND MERLE - OLDEST BABYS IN TEXAS

When Ray Price appeared at the 2006 Willie Nelson July 4 Picnic at the Stockyards in Fort Worth he was the only artist to ban photographers from the mosh pit and stage. But it had nothing to do with a confession he made at a CD launch at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. "I'm 81 years old, and I'm not the father of Anna Nicole's child," Price told bemused guests. "We're trying to play the kind of music everybody has been kind of denied for about 25 years." The Texan troubadour paid tribute to Hank Williams, a former Nashville roommate, by singing Mansion On The Hill with the revamped Cherokee Cowboys.

Price and former Cherokees bassist Willie, 74, and Merle Haggard, 69, were showcasing their two CD epic Last Of The Breed (Lost Highway-Universal.)

The octogenarian proved ah, fit as a fiddle, as he performed his 1959 hit Crazy Arms with seven fiddles and steel guitar at the launch with Asleep At The Wheel.

But it's not on the disc rooted in Bob Wills golden western swing era with gems from recently deceased Texan Cindy Walker who died at 87 just nine days before Willie's tribute disc to her.

Oklahoma born Floyd Tillman, who passed at 88 in Texas in 2003, provided four songs including I Love You So Much It Hurts and I'll Keep On Loving You.

Former Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis, who pulled up stumps at 101 before the floods, is honoured with My Mary and Leon Payne's oft-recorded Lost Highway is a salient signpost to this joyous journey.

The trio kicks off with apt My Life's Been A Pleasure - one of four tunes penned by late Texas Playboys fiddler Jesse Ashlock - and reach closing time with Walker's equally fitting Night Watch.

In between its non-stop nostalgia with former Golden Gloves boxer Lefty Frizzell double shot Mom And Dad's Waltz and I Love You A Thousand Ways, Harlan Howard classic pair Heartaches By The Number, with Vince Gill as guest, and Pick Me Up On Your Way Down.

Willie and Merle combine on Nelson's freshly minted Back To Earth and Merle performs a solo cut of new tune If I Ever Get Lucky.

MICKEY NEWBURY

Kristofferson guests on his Why Me and the trio revives Mickey Newbury's Sweet Memories and Gene Autry classic That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine. The tunes are part of a rich tapestry woven by the legends and session serfs sourced by veteran producer Fred Foster. The Jordanaires provide backing vocals on seven tracks with twin fiddles of Johnny Gimble and Elana James, harmonica player Charlie McCoy and steel guitarist Buddy Emmons on this whirlwind two-day session. So why did Price avoid photographers in Cowtown - certainly not his vocals that have stood the test of time? And, definitely not, flashbacks from his marijuana bust at the ripe young age of 73 in March, 1979, on his 200-acre farm near aptly named East Texas town Mt Pleasant.

"Willie called me and right away and said 'well, you just got $5 million of publicity," Price revealed of his peer whose songs he refused to cut for a decade after Willie shot his prize breeding cock rooster.

"Everybody thought I was dead at that point. They revived my career so strong you wouldn't believe it."

Well history does repeat but Ray was not on the bus when Willie, then 72, and older sister Bobbie, 75, were busted in Louisiana with more than a pound of the nation's biggest cash crop.

But you don't need any herbal stimulation to enjoy this superb trip down the richest vein of the genre.

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