Send "Merle Haggard " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Allmusic |
 Perhaps there’s a measure of defiance in the title of Merle Haggard’s 2010 album I Am What I Am, but it’s also a statement of plain fact: almost 50 years into a recording career, there’s no changing the fact that Hag is who is he is, and he’s comfortable in his own skin, broken-in but not worn-out, never pushing too hard but never coasting, either. Sometimes Haggard’s easy touch is too light, slipping into sleepiness, but the striking thing about I Am What I Am is its casual mastery, the subtle shading in his vocal phrasing can make his songwriting appear effortless. And to an extent, it is: Hag’s tending the same fields he has for years, sliding into swaying ballads, stepping it up for a bit of Western swing, tipping his hat toward Mexico, swinging through some Dixieland jazz, a love of railroads and family, spiking his sentimental, nostalgic streak with clear-eyed realism, always blurring the line between a late night in a beer joint and a Sunday afternoon picking on the porch. But like with any of Haggard’s great albums, much of the pleasure lies in the details, whether it’s the sly lyrical turns of phrase in his writing or in the suppleness of his performance, things I Am What I Am has in spades. It’s familiar enough to feel comforting on the first listen, resonant enough to sound better with each subsequent spin; it’s so true to Haggard’s essence that it could stand handsomely as his final album, an understated summation of where he’s been, but it’s made better by having no trace of self-conscious finality -- this wasn’t constructed as a last word, but it’s just a reflection of who Haggard is, which is nothing less than one of the great American singer/songwriters....full text |
| Boston |
| Aside from a pair of tattered cowboy boots and a plate of biscuits and gravy, few things are more country than Willie Nelson. Granted, most country music icons don’t sport long braids of graying hair and a taste for, um, green living, but Nelson’s renegade ethos has embodied the genre’s spirit for nearly 50 years. It’s curious, then, that the 76-year-old legend named his new album “Country Music,’’ but it also feels necessary given how far afield Nelson has ventured artistically in the last decade. Since 2005 alone, he’s dabbled in reggae and American standards and collaborated with jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and alt-country rocker Ryan Adams. “Country Music,’’ his first album for Burlington-based Rounder Records, doesn’t break new ground, but it’s a welcome and spirited return to Nelson’s first love of classic country. Produced by T Bone Burnett, the album adheres to Nelson’s shopworn strategy to let his voice lead the songs. From the spare banjo and fiddle accompaniment on “Dark as a Dungeon’’ to the swinging jazz-country of “Pistol Packin’ Mama,’’ Nelson is entirely at home wherever the music takes him....full text |
| Popmatters |
| It’s becoming a reliable template for aging country singers to sing from a backwards-looking perspective: about mortality, the passing of time, how much they’ve experienced in life. To sing as if your life, or at least your singing career, were about to end. Call it the Johnny Cash formula, though in his case the twist is that he’s continuing to do it from beyond the grave. Look at last year’s Cash album and its title, American VI: Ain’t No Grave. Merle Haggard’s I Am What I Am is both similar and quite different. It does not have covers. It is mostly his songs, or ones co-written with a member of his band. It doesn’t involve outside help, session musicians, or a producer designed to rejuvenate. It was co-produced by Haggard, with Lou Bradley. The band is his band, the Strangers. One song, “Live and Love Always”, is a duet with his wife, Theresa. All of those facts are significant. It makes the LP feel more personal, makes us forgive the ways that it feels like a common commercial move these days, how introspective the album is about the passing of time. Yet even though looking back and looking ahead (to the final days) are the dominant perspective, the tone is not overly serious or sedate. There are some sparkly, jaunty songs to match the more sullen ones. Haggard and band sound like they had a heck of a time making this album. I Am What I Am starts out with the impression that the longer you live, the more chances you have to be disappointed. “I’ve Seen It Go Away”, the opening number, is all about the hurt in being let down, by the promise of love, but also by other sorts of promises, like those made by politicians to the citizens. “I’ve seen our greatest leaders break the people’s heart”, he says in a spoken bridge, and you can’t help but wonder who he’s thinking of while also knowing you’ve experienced the same exact feeling. “I’ve seen many a great tomorrow turn to yesterday”, he decides, seeming to have every facet of life in mind. The best moments in life make the others pale in comparison, leave us more open to disappointment (“When you’ve seen the very best / The rest can’t hardly play”). The way he sings, “I’ve seen ‘em, boys”, about the best times, makes it seem like he’s sitting on the porch handing out homespun wisdom. But that wisdom isn’t hokey; it hurts. It’s a pessimistic, let-down song, but it’s played with the ease of a lark. Its tone is that’s-just-the-way-it-is....full text |
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