A Case Of Psychic Tragedy Narrowly Averted - Merle Haggard Live In Oroville - March 2005
Merle Haggard blends the music of Jimmy Rodgers and Bing Crosby with the literary truth of John Strinbeck and Woody Gutherie
This originally ran in the Redding Record Searchlight in March of 2005
I road-tripped to the Merle Haggard show at the Feather Falls Casino in Oroville,Ca the other nght. Fortunately, I travelled with a road-wise prophet. The last place I had slept was in Seoul, Korea. It had been 30ish hours since I had last slept when we arrived at the casino, a hideous neon apparition nestled in the foothills of Oroville.
I nearly had a nervous breakdown when we walked into the casino. I was assaulted with "git 'er done" camo flame-adorned NASCAR messages borne by mulleted quarter slot jockies. They looked strangely reptilian to me. I swear that those machines are programmed to play their music interactively with the other machines. There are only two things that sell in this world, hope and fear. The casino plays the shill for both hope and fear; hope that the next hit/pull will bring untold riches and deliverance from the pecuniary constraints of this mortal coil and fear that they will run out of currency before they are able to access that selfsame deliverance.
I took refuge in the restroom where I was hit up for a cigarette by the soundman. "You got a smoke?" he querried. My response was a hybrid meltdown confession/stump speech that culminated with an apology for laying such a heavy trip on an innocent stranger who was just looking for some smoke.
Were it not for the steady hand of my intrepid companion, the poor soundman might have seen me turn into a puddle and slide down the drain that sat in the middle of the concave floor. Thanks for your help road-wise prophet.
Hag saved both of us, though. After skulking through the interminable bowels of the the casino looking for backstage, we found the Hag. We talked music and we talked Sinatra who we all agreed was bigger that all of music. Hag is the embodiment of the intersection of the disparate greats: Bing Crosby and Jimmy Rodgers, Woody Guthrie and Frank Sinatra, John Steinbeck and Bob Wills. His show proved this.
He kicked into "Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink" with a vengence and didn't let up until he left the stage. Here's a cobbled togather setlist:
Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink
Silver Wings
Mama Tried
Motorcycle Cowboy
Are the Good Times Really Over/Beneath The Double Eagle
It always will be
I Take A Lot Of Pride in What I Am
Jimmy Rodger's Blues
Buck Owens Impression
Kenny Chesney Impression
Johnny Cash Impression
Folsom Prison Blues
That's The Way Love Goes
Fiddle Jam
Milk Cow Blues
Unforgettable
Pennies from heaven
Fighting side of Me
Rambling Fever
Okie From Muskogee
Misery and gin
Branded man/Lonesome fugitive
"Funny," I thought as I stood in the afterglow of the show, "Hag (like Sinatra)is bigger than all of music too."
And what of his band? In short, they are amazing and humble. Hag pushed them in Oroville. He flew loose and went off the cuff and they were right there with him. After the show they were full of "Just wished you could have seen us on a good night"s and "Yeah, I wish we would have played better"s but they were great.
Mingus didn't rehearse his bands much. Monk didn't care to do anything more than a second take. Hag is the country-western/jazz/pop/be-bop king and his band has his back covered.
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posted by Brian J. Kenny @ 9:43 PM
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