This album deserves 100 stars keep these songs being played and sung.
This is one of the best CDs of any Kind that I have ever owned. I am really speaking of the tape that I bought of this when it came out. I think I had one of the great evenings of my entire life the second or third time I listened to this on one evening in 1983 or 1984 beside a little lake where I lived in Opa Locka Florida, at a time when i thought things were pretty bad for me, but just listening to this music and these words hit the spot.

In justice to Haggard, this music was recorded more than 22 years ago. Some of the players in the great touring and studio bands that he put together during the late 1970s and the early 1980s are no longer living or have retired from music.

There is something so powerfully romantic about "The Red Bandana" --is that about Bonnie Owens????? and "Roses in Winter," something so hot, real and almost poetically wild drunk but sweet about "Got Lonely Too Early This Morning," and oh "Driftwood," and "I didn't mean to love you."

What really hits one, even though I am delighted by Hag's singing and Bonnie's backups, and the whole band, is these songs. The quality of these songs and the way they speak to mature life, and not soap opera bulb gum triteness, is remarkable. These songs really are adaptable across genre. This album should bne appreciated not only by Hag fans. CW, Folk, and even Jazz singers looking for material or looking to see how a great artist puts a great album of together need not only to listen and enjoy, but to study and keep these songs being played and sung.

Thank you Hag wherever you are!

I Liked the Songs that Merle does so well
I have heard and have on CDs most of these songs. I found there was one little song on this CD that was just so good.I had not heard it before, but Merle has so many good songs it's hard to get all of them on one CD. The name of the song is, "I didn't mean to love you" it is well worth getting this CD.

The best
Great CD. Most disappointing thing was when I got to see Merle live in San Antonio and he didn't play any of the songs from this CD. I think it is his very best stuff, better than most of his more well-known music. If you want some real country music, get this CD.

Great music, period.
Hag's voice has deepened by this album and he uses that instrument very well here. This recording is as artistically superior as his Capitol stuff, but with a different sound and different topics. The whole album fits together, from the theme of running from life and trying to forget one's problems, to memories (false or imagined?) of a loving childhood, to staring all the problems a man can have in the face and declaring that there'll be roses in the winter because love is all we have to have (though you know a tough road lies ahead). A great combination of songs, singing, and musicianship. That this is basically a bargain bin album tells you all you need to know about the state of country music today. This album deserves a remastered, deluxe version with liner notes for godsakes.

I love the Hag!
What?! Only three reviews of this beautiful record?! I think everyone should own this album. Merle Haggard is a true artist.