'A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddler in the World... or My Salute to Bob Wills'.
Capitol Records 1970
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From: Buddy McPeters
Date: September 28, 2003
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Album review by Buddy McPeters:
'A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddler in the World... or My Salute to Bob Wills'. Capitol Records 1970 |
True to form when Merle does a tribute album, he really does it right! He brings the spirit of the person alive to whom he is paying tribute.
When Merle Haggard & his band, The Strangers plus a handful of retired Bob Wills Texas Playboys recorded this album, he intended to turn back the pages of time, hoping for a glance at what once had been, never dreaming that he would jump start the Western Swing genre back into popularity single-handedly. Hag never dreamed he would spark the renewed interest in a brand of music that was once an American institution in itself. This would not only prompt re-issues of Bob’s music which continues after over 30 years, but would also inspire artists from coast to coast and abroad to play the musical magic that is Western Swing, of which Bob Wills was the undisputed King for over 40 years.
Haggard, always a risk taker, lost his father way too soon, at age nine and ended up riding the rails, ‘hoboing’ across the USA with a Railroad Workers pass in his pocket that was given to him because of his father's trade. He never used the pass and did it his way. His way, wound him up in San Quentin Prison serving hard time where he turned 21, sitting in solitary confinement next to condemned criminal Caryl Chessman. Merle’s offenses, though not the caliber of Chessman, were serious and he was a very unsettled young man with a string of convictions ranging from burglary, grand theft auto and more escapes from jails and juvenile institutions than the judge had ever seen. He served his time, paid his debt to society and later California Governor Ronald Reagan eventually gave him a full pardon.
Haggard beat the odds. He emerged from prison a changed man, proving that the system works, at least in his case, in the cause of rehabilitation. He left behind a life of crime and ended up a legend in his own hometown of Bakersfield and in Country music and a legend in his own time.
At the height of his career, he swept the CMA awards ceremonies in 1969 for his self-penned mixed message anthem, 'Okie From Muskogee'. It garnered awards for Single, Album, and Song of the year, plus Male vocalist and Entertainer of the year. As he stood there accepting the trophies, in the back of his mind was a project that would change music history: ‘The Bob Wills Tribute’.
He discussed it with his Strangers and always the perfectionist, never the compromiser; they decided if the project was to have validity, outside assistance was necessary. Merle went to Ft. Worth to see Bob Wills, then ailing from a series of heart attacks and strokes which impaired him where he no longer lead a band or perform. Wills advised, "Get some of my Texas Playboys to help you!" Most were scattered, in retirement except fiddler Johnny Gimble in Nashville, who was a popular sideman. Within hours of this meeting with Wills, Merle had received commitments from 6 former Texas Playboys including fiddlers Johnny Gimble and Joe Holley, electric mandolin stylist Tiny Moore, guitarist Eldon Shamblin, trumpet man Alex Brashear, Bob's brother Johnnie Lee Wills on tenor banjo. With his Strangers as a nucleus: guitarist Roy Nichols, steel guitarist, Norman Hamlet, rhythm guitarist Bobby Wayne, bass man Dennis Hromek, drummer Biff Adam, plus L.A. session men and sometime Strangers fiddler Gordon Terry and pianist George French. The two groups merged together and commenced rehearsals at the old Capitol Records tower building in Hollywood on Merle's 33rd birthday, April 6th, 1970. The 3 day session yielded the album that turned back the pages of time, 'A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddler in the World... or My Salute to Bob Wills'.
Talk about taking risks! Having swept the CMA awards and he chose this to be his ‘Okie’ follow-up album? Capitol Records producer Ken Nelson was NOT amused! Threatening to sue Hag for breach of contract, Nelson, who had produced virtually all of Haggard’s early hits, refused to produce the sessions. Calling their bluff, Merle booked studio time and commenced. Capitol Records was not about to lose their ‘cash cow’, after all the awards, number one hits, and all that money rolling in. Meanwhile, they released a ‘live’ follow-up album from a concert in Philadelphia, entitled 'The Fightin' Side Of Me', with it’s America - Love It Or Leave It’ sentiments, which they contended was a more ‘suitable’ sequel to 'Okie’.
Haggard stood his ground, self produced the recordings, while Capitol assigned Earl Ball interim ‘producer’; who made sure there was tape on the Ampex recorders. Merle proudly played the fiddle Bob Wills had given him. This recording was about posterity, not hits, or money. It is the album, which brought Western Swing out of mothballs. The music had all but died with the emergence of Television and Rock and Roll. It was dance music but by 1956, Wills’ music was taking a backseat to 'I Love Lucy' and Elvis Presley. People preferred to sit at a 'concert' to view a performance instead of ‘shaking a leg’. Old-Timers talked about the good old days and as teenagers took over music, the recording industry catered to them and the old 78-rpm's gave-way to 45-rpm's.
In 1970, enter Merle Haggard Superstar, with a string of #1 hits, a pile of trophies and a ton of money and then Capitol releases this groundbreaking album of Merle’s, paying homage to a childhood musical hero, Bob Wills, whose music has touched untold millions around the world. It would be the first of several tribute albums he would record over the years dedicated to artists who helped shape his music including Jimmie Rodgers, Emmett Miller, Hank Williams & Lefty Frizzell, and Elvis Presley. This album was the Rosetta stone from where artists Asleep at the Wheel, George Strait and others took inspiration, emerging as great Western Swing artists. Haggard relit the torch, which in turn re-popularized Bob Wills music and he then passed it on to these upstarts and the results speak for themselves.
This album proved several things. Merle had done his homework, this was not some ‘Johnny-come-lately-flash-in-the-pan’ just out to fulfill contract obligations and make a few bucks. Merle knew Wills, seeing him many times in his neighborhood as a teenager at dances in the 40's at Bakersfield’s Beardsley Ballroom, from a window he crawled up and sat in, not far from his converted boxcar home on Yosemite Drive in the rural community of Oildale. He witnessed legends playing with freshness on each performance yet with standard of excellence, heard on the red Columbia Bob Wills 78 rpm’s his mother had bought him. He observed with an intensity that afforded him knowledge of Bob's stage antics as he played his fiddle, and as the band members extemporized their solos. Merle, who was especially delighted in Tommy Duncan's easy, straightforward singing style and the hot guitar solos. When the tribute album was in the works Merle would say, “Didn't 'we' used to do it like this?” playing a passage on the fiddle. Merle indeed did his homework. He loved their music, and it shows! The album is a labor of love; lots of joy and tears passed between them all before it was completed.
Buy this CD! It is a highly recommend album for all fans of Bob Wills, Western Swing, and Merle Haggard. You will get a birds eye view of what Merle observed from that window as a kid. Let Merle and company turn back the pages of time. Bob Wills is gone and was not present on this album- but his spirit sure was and still IS!
Buddy McPeters Bay Area, CA May 2003