New Book “Merle Haggard: The Running Kind” Released (Giveaway)
From author David Cantwell and the American Music Series of the University of Texas Press comes a brand new book about the iconic country music Hall of Famer and Kennedy Center Honoree Merle Haggard. Covering his entire career, but focusing mostly on his most prolific decades, Merle Haggard: The Running Kind delves into this complex, often contradictory icon of country music, exploring the creation of many of Merle Haggard’s greatest hits and the life and times that inspired them.
This 294-page book focuses on the music, and the man. From humble beginnings in California, to becoming one of the most well-recognized names in country music, Merle Haggard: The Running Kind explores the fascinating contradictions most of all, the desire for freedom in the face of limits set by the world or self-imposed that define not only Haggard’s music and public persona but the very heart of American culture.
Merle Haggard: The Running Kind is available from the University of Texas Press, Amazon, and all major online book retailers.
Saving Country Music is also giving a copy away to anyone who wishes to leave a comment below, naming either their favorite Merle Haggard album or song. And if you can’t pick just one, list as many as you want. Just make sure to include your real email address so we can contact you if you are the winner.
***UPDATE: Congratulations to David Smith who won the free copy! Thanks everyone else for contributing!
Wayne
September 20, 2013 @ 8:17 am
The Bottle Let Me Down
Chris Gross
September 20, 2013 @ 8:17 am
Today I Started Loving You Again
Okie From Muskogee
Mr. DJ
Howard
September 20, 2013 @ 8:18 am
If this is anything like the Doug Sahm book the university press put out a couple years ago it should be pretty good. Simply not enough book on Merle out there.
Too many favorite Merle songs to list, but a great under rated one is ‘Make-Up and Faded Blue Jeans’
Trigger
September 20, 2013 @ 8:26 am
The University of Texas Press puts out some of the best music books out there in my opinion, and really takes their role of preserving the history of music seriously.
BRothbart
September 20, 2013 @ 8:23 am
I got to see Merle about 10 years ago at the Birchmere in Virginia, great show. Long live the true hero’s of country music.
Jack Williams
September 20, 2013 @ 8:36 am
I wonder if I was there that night. I have only seen him once, about 10 years ago, and it was at the Birchmere. Normally, the Birchmere is a listening room where talking during the show is highly discouraged. It turned into a raucous honky tonk that night! Never saw so much whiskey drank there before. But yes, great show.
Jessica Miller
September 20, 2013 @ 8:24 am
Heaven Was A Drink Of Wine- amazing song!
Eldon Thacker
September 20, 2013 @ 8:25 am
“That’s The Way Love Goes”
“Big City”
Eli Locke
September 20, 2013 @ 8:27 am
I love Merle, and I’d love to get this book!
Keith L.
September 20, 2013 @ 8:27 am
Sing Me Back Home
I can’t wait. Merle had an autobiography back in the 70’s, I remember reading it back then. He talked about how he got caught for B&E and how it landed him in prison. He also talked about growing up poor and hungry. The man is a master, and really, one of the very few we have left. We should hang on his every word, as long as we can!
Chris Watts
September 20, 2013 @ 8:30 am
Hard to pick a favorite song, but the Swinging Doors/Lonesome Fugitive/Sing Me Back Home/Branded Man medley on “Live From Muskogee” has to be one of the most badass medleys ever!
Miss Molly
September 20, 2013 @ 8:32 am
I had the pleasure of meeting Merle many years ago. He asked me what my favorite song of his was – when I told him, he put his arm around me and called me “a spirited young lady”! The Fightin’ Side of Me.
Jay Ernteman
September 20, 2013 @ 8:36 am
Mama tried
Okie from Muskogee
I think Ill just stay here and drink
Tom
September 20, 2013 @ 8:36 am
For some reason Lonesome Fugitive has always been my favorite.
TX Music Jim
September 20, 2013 @ 8:38 am
Back to the Bar rooms
place to fall apart
wish I was 30 again
Chill Factor
wishin’ all the old things were new
love his cover of Blaze Foley’s if I could only Fly
favorite album is Back to the Bar rooms or Chill Factor
one of the favorite show’s I ever saw was a double bill Merle Haggard and Bob Dylan
gtrman86
September 20, 2013 @ 8:40 am
Too many to list them all, decades worth of timeless music!
Silver Wings
Going where the lonely go
Big City
Daddy Frank
Cold War
White Line Fever
The list goes on and on……………………
Charlie
September 20, 2013 @ 8:41 am
Today I Started Loving You Again
Not a finer song ever sung.
Troy Greenwalt
September 20, 2013 @ 8:42 am
“Sing Me Back Home”
Hope I win. I am ready to read more about Hag.
Robert L.
September 20, 2013 @ 8:43 am
This is a tough one, but “Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)” will always have a soft spot in my heart. It as my grandfather’s favorite song, and me and dad would ride up to the cemetery, have a beer and reminisce with this song playing. Unfortunately, I now carry on this tradition for the both of them…
I know… it sounds like a sad country song.
JLR
September 20, 2013 @ 8:46 am
first song coming to mind-Are The Good Times Really Over For Good
album-the one he recorded at a bunch of churches
Russell
September 20, 2013 @ 8:46 am
The Bottle Let Me Down
I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink
Today I Started Loving You Again
Jarrod
September 20, 2013 @ 8:47 am
Honky Tonk Night Time Man
Jack Williams
September 20, 2013 @ 8:52 am
I think I named my favorite Merle song on another giveaway thread. The majority of my Merle collection is contained in the wonderful Down Every Road 4-CD box set, whcih covers 1962 – 1994. One of the best box sets I have and it’s still in print. Another great one is Dwight Yoakam’s “Reprise Please Baby: The Warner Brothers Years.” Speaking of Dwight, the University of Texas Press put out a great book on him called A Thousand Miles written by Don McLeese. Both McLeese and David Cantwell were writers and editors for the old No Depression magazine, which I treasured. So, confidence is high that this book is a winner.
Denise
September 20, 2013 @ 9:08 am
Dear Hag
I’m so glad mama tried! God bless her and God bless you too.
😊
Ron Hotstream
September 20, 2013 @ 9:10 am
Swinging Doors, Mama Tried, Tonight The Bottle, Lonesome Fugitive, Silver Wings, Think I’ll Just Sit Here And Drink…
Jeb Barry
September 20, 2013 @ 9:11 am
That’s the Way Love Goes…the perfect jukebox song
brizock
September 20, 2013 @ 9:25 am
White Line Fever
Here In Frisco
Ramblin’ Fever
Sing Me Back Home
Mama Tried
I’ll Always Know
Mirrors Don’t Lie
I Think I’ll Just Stay Here & Drink
Skid Row
I’m A White Boy
Gone Crazy
Janice Brooks
September 20, 2013 @ 9:32 am
for now I Threw Away the Rose or I Take A Lot Of Pride In What I Am
Alain Dormoy
September 20, 2013 @ 9:35 am
Swinging Doors
Aaron Gianotti
September 20, 2013 @ 9:39 am
Ramblin Fever
The song is upbeat, really describes Hag, and I love the guitar work
Roy
September 20, 2013 @ 10:03 am
Sing Me Back Home.
Franck
September 20, 2013 @ 10:32 am
Hi,
Mama Tried and Hungry Eyes are my favorites,
Franck.
Brett Price
September 20, 2013 @ 10:32 am
I believe with this one I have gotta go with The Swinging Doors album. My grandpa loved that entire album and first introduced me to ol’ Hag with it. You got the title track(my favorite), The Bottle Let Me Down, Shade Tree Fix It man, I mean c’mon! You can’t go wrong!
Lindsey
September 20, 2013 @ 10:42 am
“I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink”
BillW
September 20, 2013 @ 10:52 am
Big City. Montana and getting out of my city job just seems to always hit me.
Slippery Danis
September 20, 2013 @ 10:55 am
“I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink”
“I Take A Lot Of Pride In What I Am”
“Ramblin’ Fever”
blue demon
September 20, 2013 @ 11:08 am
kern river (#1)
more than my old guitar
slowly but surely (with the GREAT bonnie owens)
bar room buddies
(its a silly song but its got clint eastwood and its the first merle haggard song I ever heard)
RedBurgh
September 20, 2013 @ 11:17 am
Mama Tried
John Hamhock
September 20, 2013 @ 11:17 am
Swingin’ Doors, Are The Good Times Really Over For Good, Big City, Honky Tonk Night-time Man, Old Man From The Mountain, etc., etc., etc. Ol’ Merle’s a huge influence on both my singin’ and my songwritin’. Got to see him a few years ago at the Paramount in Seattle with Neko Case opening. Damn near a religious experience and easily the best concert I’ve personally been to so far.
Zach
September 20, 2013 @ 11:27 am
Wow, there are so many. My top picks are Misery and Gin, Rainbow Stew, Ramblin’ Fever, Mama Tried, The Fugitive, Kentucky Gambler, and That’s the News. Oh, and even though it’s a duet, The Ballad of Pancho and Lefty. I get goosebumps when Merle sings his part.
Brandon
September 20, 2013 @ 11:30 am
This is a hard question, in my opinion, because it was Merle who got me into classic country music, so if I had to choose some of my favorites, they would be:
10: I Made the Prison Band
9: Blues Stay Away from Me
8: Unforgettable
7: The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde
6: It’s Gonna Be Me
5: Laugh it Off
4: Branded Man
3: Honky Tonk Night Time Man
2: I’m a Lonesome Fugitive
1: Sing Me Back Home
Jeff
September 20, 2013 @ 11:32 am
Honkey Tonk Night Time Man and I am What I am. I hope to see him sometime live but I would love a time machine and see him in his prime.
Mike Smith
September 20, 2013 @ 11:41 am
Used to see Hag around my birthday every year when Tramps was open in NYC. Been too long…
Toby_in_AK
September 20, 2013 @ 11:51 am
Misery and Gin
If I could only fly.
Sing me back home.
Father’s daughter.
Silver wings.
etc. Ask me tomorrow you’d probably get different answers 🙂
David
September 20, 2013 @ 11:52 am
Swinging Doors!
New England Country
September 20, 2013 @ 12:14 pm
Thanks for pointing this out, Trigger. My favorite album of his, and one of my favorite country albums of all time, is The Peer Sessions. An amazing update of some very old songs, but clearly done with the utmost respect and class. It’s neither a complete throwback/copycat nor a modern butchering that loses the old flavor. And, unlike Same Train, Different Time or My Salute to Bob Wills (both of which I also like), it’s done in the prime of his career when his voice is older, mellower, more mature. A perfect storm of awesome country ingredients making a really memorable record. Highly recommended!
Michael
September 20, 2013 @ 12:26 pm
His recent album I Am What I Am is pretty great (especially “I’ve Seen It Go Away” and “Mexican Band”). But I’ve got a cassette called It’s Been a Great Afternoon from the 80s which is completely awesome. Every song on it is my favorite. Nothing like driving around singing “Sky-Bo” and “The Immigrant” and “I Can’t Get Away.”
Michael
September 20, 2013 @ 12:52 pm
I think Ill just stay here and drink
I’ve had his autobiography on my list of books to read for awhile now. Does anyone have any other suggestions for great books about country music?
ojaioan
September 20, 2013 @ 2:01 pm
Billy Joe Shaver’s “HONKY TONK HERO” & ” WAYLON’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY”.
Zac Schaneman
September 20, 2013 @ 5:50 pm
i’ve read several, but my personal favorite would probably be george jones’ “i lived to tell it all”
truth5
September 21, 2013 @ 11:01 am
George Jones, I lived to tell it all. Read it, you won’t regret it.
Dan Bowen
September 20, 2013 @ 12:54 pm
I always thought “Fightin’ Side of Me” perfectly captured Americans pride and pugnacity. Merle Haggard expressed this idea with a humble sureness that a jackass like Toby Keith could never understand.
Brady
September 20, 2013 @ 1:02 pm
“I Won’t Give Up My Train” – duet with Roger Miller (outtake from Big City sessions) He recorded at three versions of this song.
Jason
September 20, 2013 @ 1:06 pm
Songs I’ll Always Sing (album)
and “No Show Jones”
Davey Smith
September 20, 2013 @ 1:29 pm
I’ve always loved Merle’s album “Kern River.” Sooo underrated!
Davey Smith
September 20, 2013 @ 1:34 pm
Also, If We Make It Through December may be one of my favorite songs of all time.
Brian
September 20, 2013 @ 1:47 pm
Sing me back home
ojaioan
September 20, 2013 @ 1:52 pm
I saw Merle in concert in Del Mar, CA.the late 70’s. Marty Robbins opened for him and played 2 encores before Merle came out (slightly peeved). Marty put on a great show but Merle put on a helluva show and when I hollered out “By Golly” during Okie From Muskogee…I’ll be damned if Bonnie Owens didn’t turn from the first row and smile at me. Made my day that much better when I realized who I was sittin’ behind. Great Memory tHANKS for the post…nice to live it again!
ojaioan
September 20, 2013 @ 1:57 pm
oh yeah…His duet “Sick, Sober and Sorry” with George Jones is one of my many favorites.
Taylor
September 20, 2013 @ 2:10 pm
Going where the lonely go, Mama tried, or I threw away the rose.
scott
September 20, 2013 @ 2:44 pm
Ramblin’ Fever
Mike2
September 20, 2013 @ 3:07 pm
Wishing all these old things were new
blue demon
September 20, 2013 @ 3:33 pm
great pick!
love both of those albums he recorded with epitath/anti
nicodemus
September 20, 2013 @ 3:45 pm
Mama Tried
Are the good times really over for good
Wayfast
September 20, 2013 @ 4:55 pm
The Way I Am, Holding Things Together, A Place To Fall Apart, This Song Is Mine, What Have You Got Planned Tonight Diana, I Wonder Where To Find You At Tonight, Chill Factor, Thirty Again, Kern River,What Am I Gonna Do(With The Rest Of My Life), If We Make It Through December.
Jessy Brunette
September 20, 2013 @ 5:11 pm
Back To The Barrooms!! Best album, hands down 🙂
Jessica
September 20, 2013 @ 5:13 pm
Mama Tried & Sing Me Back Home. Would love to win this book!!
gbkeith
September 20, 2013 @ 5:15 pm
1a. Big City
1b. My Own Kind of Hat
1c. The Way I Am
TCovatti
September 20, 2013 @ 5:22 pm
The Way It Was In 51, Silver Wings, The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde, Daddy Frank and It’s All In The Movies.
Alison Williams
September 20, 2013 @ 5:29 pm
Silver Wings. And because my Mama loves it too. But my true personal all-time favorite songs are – The Way I Am and Heaven Was A Drink of Wine. I melt when they come on.
Merle Haggard.. just damn. Love him.
mike
September 20, 2013 @ 5:34 pm
Mama tried and America First,
Alison Williams
September 20, 2013 @ 5:42 pm
Arrrghhhh, I can’t believe I forgot to list this one in my comment! Lol! “Stand up for the flag and let’s all ring the liberty bell…”
It’s funny. You list a few and then you start thinkin’ about other songs and then I scrolled up to read everyone else’s comments… and I’m like DAMMIT. Haha.
I Won’t Give Up My Train.. like for real. Perfection.
Or Sing Me Back Home.. just gives me chills. Misery and Gin is just awesome. Footlights.. need I say more. I will shut up now and turn my Merle up.
Luke000
September 20, 2013 @ 5:43 pm
Mamma Tried
I Wont Give Up My Train
I Think Ill Stay Here And Drink
Okie From Muskogee
Rainbow Stew
Zac Schaneman
September 20, 2013 @ 5:44 pm
“i wish a buck was still silver”
one of the greatest songs ever recorded, period. love hag!
Donna
September 20, 2013 @ 5:54 pm
Because of Merle Haggard’s music, I am “Learning to live with Myself.” Even through my darkest days, Merle Haggard seems to understand “The Way I Am.” I listen to Merle Haggard every single day and “It Always Will Be.”
Ryan
September 20, 2013 @ 5:56 pm
“Mama Tried” is my favorite from Haggard and among my favorites of all time.
Berniecorvette
September 20, 2013 @ 5:57 pm
So many good ones…I’ll have to go with Kentucky Gambler o Caroline..
Pat
September 20, 2013 @ 7:45 pm
Workin’ Man Blues
Mama Tried
If We Make It Thru December
The Fightin Side Of Me
And the one and only….Okie From Muskogee
Randy
September 20, 2013 @ 8:06 pm
Sing me back home… Great song!
Randy D
September 20, 2013 @ 9:06 pm
Hag is an all time favorite of mine. I can get it down to three songs – Big City, Rainbow Stew and Workin’ Man Blues.
Jon
September 20, 2013 @ 9:21 pm
“If we make it through December”
Shastacatfish
September 20, 2013 @ 9:46 pm
He lives not too far from here in Mount Shasta. I’ve seen him a few times in the Redding area.
I have always liked Ramblin’ Fever best but Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa and The Longer You Wait are close seconds.
strait country 81
September 20, 2013 @ 9:58 pm
Holding Things Together
Ain’t Your Memory Got No Pride at All
Always Wanting You
Long Black Limousine
Back to the Barrooms Again
Rainbow Stew
Mama’s Hungry Eyes
Yesterday’s Wine
The Way iam
Sing Me Back Home
Farmer’s Daughter
Branded Man
Bar Room Buddies
Today I Started Loving You Again
Just wanted to list my fav Haggard songs cause i’m not much of a reader.(except SCM of course)
lugnut
September 21, 2013 @ 12:40 am
“Silver Wings” (among countless others)
But that one, despite never having been on a plane in my life or ever having to bid farewell to someone leaving at an airport, just about kills me everytime.
Joy
September 21, 2013 @ 8:47 pm
Great song period, but I also love the arrangement – – that thing they do on the chorus……would you call that syncopated…..”but you’ve locked me out of your mind……”. it’s probably a simple thing but it’s such a signature of the song that I listen for it with anticipation. It always ticks me off when cover bands don’t get that part right. 🙂
Rambler
September 21, 2013 @ 1:02 am
Sing Me Back Home
Mamma Tried
Sully
September 21, 2013 @ 3:37 am
The Bottle Let Me Down, Mamma Tried, Swingin Doors. His drinkin songs have been hitting me hard lately. It’s truth.
the VVolf
September 21, 2013 @ 6:00 am
I could say them all but I’ll say “Mama Tried”
possumrules
September 21, 2013 @ 10:13 am
Kern River and Mama Tried. I saw him last summer in Kentucky and he put on a great show. He’s getting older but still has that amazing voice.
Elvis41873
September 21, 2013 @ 10:24 am
Has to be Make Up and Faded Blue Jeans.
Robert
September 21, 2013 @ 11:22 am
His boxset “Down Every Road” was well-done. As far as songs go, it’s hard to pick just one so I’ll list a handful: a) “Sing Me Back Home,” b) “Today I Started Loving You Again,” c) “Someone Told My Story,” d) “Mama Tried,” e) “The Fugitive.”
Niklas
September 21, 2013 @ 12:55 pm
That’s easy – mama tried!
NorCal Hellbilly
September 21, 2013 @ 1:07 pm
Im a White Boy
Dave
September 21, 2013 @ 1:21 pm
Big fan of “Misery and Gin”
Nick
September 21, 2013 @ 2:35 pm
Mama Tried
templerat
September 21, 2013 @ 6:03 pm
Laugh it Off
a current favorite
Joy
September 21, 2013 @ 6:06 pm
Honestly, I can’t think of a single song that I would fast forward through on a Merle listening session. They all have something to offer. But if I had to pick some….
Misery & Gin
Silver Wings
Someday when Things Are Good (not sure but I think Leona Williams might have written this one)
Daddy Frank
Mama’s Hungry Eyes
Going Where the Lonely Go
Kern River
Mama Tried…….. I could go on and on, but I guess I better give someone else a chance…
Saw Merle once in Valdosta, GA and had tickets to see him again in Macon, but he got sick and ended up being in a Macon hospital the day of the concert. I wasn’t able to go to his make-up concert but I heard it was fantastic. This is making me want to go look up his tour schedule.
Lance
September 21, 2013 @ 7:10 pm
California Cottonfields….and everything else Merle has ever sung.
I knew this book was coming ,just wasn’t sure when.
I look forward to reading it.
Hag is my fave.
Max
September 21, 2013 @ 7:51 pm
Mama Tried
Richard
September 22, 2013 @ 7:42 am
Mama Tried
The Bottle Let Me Down
Misery and Gin
Heidi
September 22, 2013 @ 1:42 pm
I’m a Lonesome Fugitive
A.B.
September 22, 2013 @ 2:28 pm
Today I Started Loving You Again
Cowboy Joe
September 22, 2013 @ 3:39 pm
My answer changes all the time, but for now I’ll go with Misery and Gin.
Maggie
September 22, 2013 @ 7:53 pm
Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star
Mama Tried
If We Make It Through December
Pablo J. Davis
September 22, 2013 @ 8:54 pm
Merle Haggard is the absolute no-holds-barred greatest. Nobody has his range of styles, his deep songwriting, his voice (which in its peak period from the 60s through the 80s was in my opinion the greatest voice of any male singer in country music history), his ability to keep growing. His ability to keep surprising us is unabated. His commitment to the truth, whether of his views of America, or of his own heart, or of growing and aging, is unflagging. His toughness is matched by the tenderness he is unafraid to show – making him an inspiration and a model to me as a musician, and as a man.
As far as his albums, for me it’s a three-way tie, from three different eras of Merle’s:
(I) I Take A Lot of Pride In What I Am – includes the title tune, The Day The Rains Came, Somewhere On Skid Row, I Just Want To Look At You One More Time and others. This one’s from around ’68.
(II) Serving 190 Proof – includes Red Bandana, I Wear My Own Kind Of Hat, Footlights, I Didn’t Mean To Love You, Got Lonely Too Early and others. From around ’79.
(III) If I Could Only Fly – includes title tune, Ain’t No Ridin’ Bareback Anymore, Think About A Lullaby, Wishing All These Old Things Were New, Turn To Me, and others. From around 2006.
Thank you for what you’re doing. Saving Country Music is a terrific site that helps me feel I’m not crazy. Or, if crazy, not alone!!
Pat
September 23, 2013 @ 5:24 am
The Fightin”™ Side of Me
There are so many amazing songs but this is the one that gets me every time!
Jeff Miller
September 23, 2013 @ 7:16 am
Big City
That’s the Way Love Goes
My House of Memories
Cody White
September 23, 2013 @ 7:36 am
“I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me” always gets me.
But that opening line in “I Take Alot of Pride in What I Am” is probably my favorite line ever written by Merle. “Things I learned in a hobo jungle,
were things they never taught me in a classroom…”
Peter
September 23, 2013 @ 8:28 am
“Shopping for Dresses”
“Our Paths May Never Cross”
“Always Wanting You”