Mike Bennett writesFriday iPod/MP3 Shuffle—Happy Birthday Merle Haggard Edition

Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash both made their mark at San Quentin. Cash did so with a live album. Haggard did so as an inmate. Yes, when this legend sang classics like “Mama Tried”, about being a bad man in need of redemption, he spoke from experience. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard established a California honky-tonk sound. Moreover, Haggard was a brilliant songwriter with a populist streak, who could write about interracial romance (“Irma Jackson”) in the most liberal of ways while also penning conservative anthems like “Okie From Muskogee”. Like any legend, Haggard has had his ups and downs, but the still makes good records today and is one of the most winning live performers you could ever hope to see, with an excellent sense of humor. Let’s pay tribute to Hag by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.

1. Surfer Blood — Swim (Astro Coast): This is one of the first records that CHIRP introduced me to. The name is deceptive. This band seems to occupy a middle ground between the early Shins and Oxford Collapse, playing a vein of clever, riffy indie rock that I really like. I could also trace this band’s style back to prior college radio faves I dig, like Big Dipper and Hypnolovewheel. This song makes a good use of dynamics.
2. Bob Dylan & The Band — Odds & Ends (The Basement Tapes): I like Bob Dylan when he’s having fun. Whether it’s on his debut album, “Love And Theft” or The Traveling Wilburys, an upbeat Bob is always entertaining. And I think The Basement Tapes is about as fun as Dylan ever got, ably abetted by the wonderful Band. There’s a ramshackle quality to these songs that is endearing. This is a short and sweet blues based rock tune.
3. Bob Dylan & The Band — Clothes Line Saga (The Basement Tapes): Wow, a rare back-to-back from the same album (and I have about 32,000 songs on my iPod now). This is a silly story song from Bob, played at a languid shuffling pace.
4. The Loud Family — Don’t All Thank Me At Once (Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things): This audio collage from the first album by The Loud Family references a snippet of a song from frontman Scott Miller’s old band Game Theory. Then Miller adds a brief acoustic guitar interlude on this fragment.
5. Erasure — Love To Hate You (Hits: The Very Best of Erasure): I don’t know what album this is off of, but it’s pretty typical fun synth-pop from Andy and Vince. Something about the burbling synth rhythm on this song makes it sound a bit like a Yaz outtake, which isn’t a bad thing. There’s also a little melodic hook that actually sounds more like Pet Shop Boys than Erasure.
6. Buck Owens — Buckaroo (Collection): A classic instrumental which showcases the wonderful picking of Buck’s longtime lead guitarist, Don Rich.
7. Urge Overkill — Back On Me (Saturation): One of the classic Chicago records of the alt-rock era, finding a good band really putting it all together. Some criticized UO for glossing up their approach, but that seemed wrong. They always acted like they were stars, why not make an accessible record and try to become stars? The result was a collection of sleek modern rock songs with a bevy of strong hooks, such as this one. Yep, the future of rock was reconstituted classic rock.
8. Clinic — The Equaliser (Walking With Thee): My favorite Clinic song. The clickety-clack percussion, the Motown meets psych-rock tune, the mid-fi production, and the cool sounding keyboards, all contribute to a slinky, tense tune that you can dance to. I like some of there other stuff, but this song just hits everything they do well in just under 4 minutes.
9. Richard & Linda Thompson — For Shame Of Doing Wrong (The Best of Richard and Linda Thompson): I really need to get more of their albums, as the only full album I own is Shoot Out The Lights. The compilation just provides further proof of what a fine songwriter Richard Thompson has been for years. This is a particularly folkie rock tune, that probably could have fit in with Fairport Convention. Linda’s vocals are excellent as usual.
10. Matthew Sweet — Holy War (Girlfriend): One of the best songs on Matthew Sweet’s best loved albums. Even without Richard Lloyd’s wonderful lead guitar ornamentation, this would be one heck of a track, with such a strong melody and memorable chorus. But Lloyd gives it something extra, to make it even cooler.