1979 MCA 3089 sealed vinyl release. Jacket is whole; shrink tear top right; no bar code.

Item offered as Unplayed New Sealed. Vinyl was pressed 30 years ago.

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Album Features Artist: Merle HaggardFormat: AlbumRelease Year: 1979Record Label: MCAGenre: Bakersfield, Country

Track Listing
Side 1

1. Footlights
2. Got Lonely Too Early This Morning
3. Heaven Was a Drink of Wine
4. Driftwood
5. I Can't Get Away

Side 2

6. Red Bandana
7. My Own Kind of Hat
8. I Must Have Done Something Bad
9. I Didn't Mean to Love You
10. Sing a Family Song
11. Roses in the Winter

DetailsPlaying Time: 35 min.Producer: Fuzzy OwenDistributor: MCARecording Type: StudioRecording Mode: Stereo

Album Notes
Merle Haggard's music is great for many reasons. One is Haggard's voice, among the most expressive and beautiful in all of country music. Another is his insistence on working only with top musicians whose assets include an understanding of many traditional country styles, including folk, blues, and Western swing. Most important, though, is Haggard's ability to give voice to the quiet despair of those too romantic to give up hope but too cynical to believe those hopes could ever amount to anything but heartbreak.This last ability is particularly apparent on Haggard's SERVING 190 PROOF.

Whether bemoaning the grind and loneliness of life on the road ("Footlights"), describing a doomed relationship ("Got Lonely Too Early This Morning," "Driftwood," "Red Bandana"), or turning to the bottle for solace ("Heaven Was A Drink Of Wine"), Haggard expresses a longing for a serenity he knows he'll never have. As he makes clear in the deceptively upbeat "My Own Kind Of Hat," Haggard understands perfectly well where he doesn't fit in; he just can't find a place he belongs. All that separates Haggard from his audience, he seems to be saying, is his ability to transform his melancholy into art.