Kern River (album)

Kern river
Studio album by Merle Haggard
Released 1985
Recorded Eleven Eleven Studio, Nashville
Genre Country
Label Epic
Producer Grady Martin
Merle Haggard chronology
It's All in the Game
(1984)It's All in the Game1984		 Kern River
(1985)		 Amber Waves of Grain
(1985)Amber Waves of Grain1985

Kern River is the fortieth studio album by American recording artist Merle Haggard, released in 1985. It reached number 8 on the Billboard country albums chart.

Background

The album is best remembered for its title track, which hit the Top 10 in the summer of 1985. The LP alternates between smooth, country/pop melancholy, such as "You Don't Love Me Anymore" and "There's Somebody Else On Your Mind," and nostalgic nods to big band western swing like "Old Watermill" and his cover of Louis Armstrong's "Big Butter and Egg Man." The LP also contains a rendition of the 1980 Dolly Parton #1 "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You." The version of "Natural High" found on this album differs from the one on Haggard's previous album It's All in the Game in that it features Janie Fricke on background vocals. Haggard had originally recorded "I Wonder Where I'll Find You at Tonight" on his 1972 album It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad).

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic states that while the LP "isn’t his best record of the ‘80s, it’s possibly the best example of Haggard’s far-reaching, varied tastes as he settled into his veteran status."[1] In the 2013 book Merle Haggard: The Running Kind, biographer David Cantwell calls the title track "a scary record" that "screamed quiet and startled you alive."[2]

Track listing

  1. "Kern River" (Merle Haggard)
  2. "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You" (Patricia Rose Sebert, Hugh Moffatt)
  3. "There, I've Said it Again (Redd Evans, David Mann)
  4. "You Don't Love Me Anymore" (Alan Ray, Jeff Raymond)
  5. "Natural High" (Freddy Powers)
  6. "Big Butter and Egg Man (Louis Armstrong, Percy Venable)
  7. "Ridin' High" (D. Reynolds, Powers)
  8. "There's Somebody Else On Your Mind" (Haggard)
  9. "I Wonder Where I'll Find You at Tonight" (Haggard)
  10. "There Won't Be Another Now" (Red Lane)
  11. "Old Watermill" (B.H. Harris)

Personnel

References

  1. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Kern River > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  2. ↑ Cantwell, David (2013). Merle Haggard: The Running Kind. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71771-8.
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