Post by tcb on Apr 27, 2004 22:40:44 GMT -5
Haggard a classic, and so is his country
By DAVE TIANEN
dtianen@journalsentinel.com
Posted: April 27, 2004
One can imagine Merle Haggard sitting backstage and smiling at the boos.
As you know, contemporary country radio spends a great deal of money on market research. Monday night at the Pabst Theater, WMIL-FM (106.1) got some market research for free.
Since FM 106 is Milwaukee's premier country station, it fell to one of the station's jocks to introduce the evening's Haggard concert. That's the kind of innocuous task that normally elicits at least polite applause. But there was an awkward element to Monday's occasion. Haggard is a foundational artist in country music, which unfortunately is not enough to get him played on FM 106, so the unlucky deejay was greeted with boos and a shout-out of "FM 106 sucks!" He ended up challenging one heckler to get up and do the introductions himself.
There's always been an ornery, bumptious, defiant side to Haggard, so the opening was not exactly inappropriate. The rest of the sold-out show was 200-proof lovefest, though.
At 67, Haggard is part man and part monument. He has helped define a part of American culture and, like Johnny Cash, his life and his music are intertwined like blood and bone. Haggard is a mix of national archetypes: populist renegade, self-taught artist, stubborn rebel, guardian of tradition.
If some of those roles seem contradictory, that's part of the richness of the man. Most of the core elements of country music come together in Haggard, and they were on display again Monday night. There was the love of mother and good values he couldn't live up to on "Mama Tried." The defiant side of Hag showed up again later in "The Way I Am," while the reverence for family reappeared in a new song about the bittersweet experience of seeing his children grow, "I Hate to See It Go."
Haggard's love of Western swing was a thread throughout the evening. It was there in new tunes such as "Garbage Man" and in classic pieces such as "Ida Red" and "Reuben James." There were honky-tonk ballads such as "That's the Way Love Goes" and nostalgic laments such as "Are the Good Times Really Over."
Admittedly it's an odd concept, but there is something boldly ambiguous about Haggard. He often seems to be challenging and upholding authority at the same time. Monday's show wound down on that kind of note. He did both his hippie-baiting signature "Okie From Muskogee" and his peacenik put-down "The Fightin' Side of Me." But they bracketed "That's the News," in which he scolds the media for its tabloid trivialities and laments an Iraq war in which we are all losers.
Monday's opening act was something of an oddity as well. Sam Llanas, of the BoDeans, isn't exactly a poster child for traditional country music, but ably backed by Mike Hoffman on guitar and mixing BoDeans tunes with his own rootsy solo material, he demonstrated his own respect for core musical values and clearly won the Pabst crowd to his side.
By DAVE TIANEN
dtianen@journalsentinel.com
Posted: April 27, 2004
One can imagine Merle Haggard sitting backstage and smiling at the boos.
As you know, contemporary country radio spends a great deal of money on market research. Monday night at the Pabst Theater, WMIL-FM (106.1) got some market research for free.
Since FM 106 is Milwaukee's premier country station, it fell to one of the station's jocks to introduce the evening's Haggard concert. That's the kind of innocuous task that normally elicits at least polite applause. But there was an awkward element to Monday's occasion. Haggard is a foundational artist in country music, which unfortunately is not enough to get him played on FM 106, so the unlucky deejay was greeted with boos and a shout-out of "FM 106 sucks!" He ended up challenging one heckler to get up and do the introductions himself.
There's always been an ornery, bumptious, defiant side to Haggard, so the opening was not exactly inappropriate. The rest of the sold-out show was 200-proof lovefest, though.
At 67, Haggard is part man and part monument. He has helped define a part of American culture and, like Johnny Cash, his life and his music are intertwined like blood and bone. Haggard is a mix of national archetypes: populist renegade, self-taught artist, stubborn rebel, guardian of tradition.
If some of those roles seem contradictory, that's part of the richness of the man. Most of the core elements of country music come together in Haggard, and they were on display again Monday night. There was the love of mother and good values he couldn't live up to on "Mama Tried." The defiant side of Hag showed up again later in "The Way I Am," while the reverence for family reappeared in a new song about the bittersweet experience of seeing his children grow, "I Hate to See It Go."
Haggard's love of Western swing was a thread throughout the evening. It was there in new tunes such as "Garbage Man" and in classic pieces such as "Ida Red" and "Reuben James." There were honky-tonk ballads such as "That's the Way Love Goes" and nostalgic laments such as "Are the Good Times Really Over."
Admittedly it's an odd concept, but there is something boldly ambiguous about Haggard. He often seems to be challenging and upholding authority at the same time. Monday's show wound down on that kind of note. He did both his hippie-baiting signature "Okie From Muskogee" and his peacenik put-down "The Fightin' Side of Me." But they bracketed "That's the News," in which he scolds the media for its tabloid trivialities and laments an Iraq war in which we are all losers.
Monday's opening act was something of an oddity as well. Sam Llanas, of the BoDeans, isn't exactly a poster child for traditional country music, but ably backed by Mike Hoffman on guitar and mixing BoDeans tunes with his own rootsy solo material, he demonstrated his own respect for core musical values and clearly won the Pabst crowd to his side.
;D