Serving 190 Proof
MERLE HAGGARD
(MCA)
Hag calls this his "male menopause" album and opens it with one of the strongest recordings of his career. An autobiographical lament about life on the road, "Footlights" finds the fading country star weary and lonesome after two decades of near-constant touring. "I'm 41 years old, and I ain't got no place to go when it's over," he confesses. The midlife-crisis-suffering singer mentions his age again on "Red Bandana, " telling his longtime lover: "I'm 41 today still going on 22/ But I can't change and live the way you want me to." Hag has released more acclaimed and commercially successful albums over the years, but none cut to the core like this one.
This article appears in Mar 12-18, 2008.