The Complete ’60s Capitol Singles

Available February 12, 2013
 
Straight Out of Bakersfield, 28 A & B Sides from Original Mono 45 Masters!

Merle Haggard is a household name, one of the best-known country music singers of all time. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the awards, honors, and accolades in his long career are too numerous to list. Haggard is simply one of the greatest country music stars in the history of the genre.

From “Swinging Doors” in 1965 until the end of the decade, Haggard had an incredible string of hit records. “The Fugitive” (b/w “Someone Told My Story”) was his first #1 single, and was a composition by Liz Anderson, Lynn Anderson’s mother. “I Threw Away The Rose” b/w “Loneliness Is Eating Me Alive” went to #2 on the charts in late 1966. “Branded Man” went to #1, and was backed by a remake of an earlier Tally number (co-written by Joe “Red” Simpson), “You Don’t Have Very Far To Go.” “Sing Me Back Home” b/w “Good Times” was another #1 smash, in the fall of 1967. “The Legend Of Bonnie And Clyde” b/w “I Started Loving You Again” was yet another chart topper.

As told in an interview with the collection’s liner notes author, Haggard wrote “Workin’ Man Blues” because he “needed my own ‘Folsom Prison Blues,’ I needed a song that would express my way of life—I wanted it to be a blues song, and I wanted it to be in the key of A.” Astute musicians will note that the song was originally recorded in the key of A flat, but regardless, “Workin’ Man Blues” became a blue-collar anthem, and is still one of his most popular songs. When the song was released in June 1969, backed with “Silver Wings,” it again topped the chart at #1.

This collection closes with Merle Haggard’s final single of the 1960s: “Okie From Muskogee.” The song drew strong reactions as Haggard and The Strangers were testing it out on audiences before recording it, and according to pedal steel guitarist Norm Hamlet (Strangers 1967-present), “The first time we played it, the audience just went crazy. We knew it was going to be huge.” The single was indeed another #1 smash, but it was also something else entirely. It was the song that would change Merle Haggard’s career.

 

 
 
 

Capitol Rarities

Available in record stores only on Record Store Day/Black Friday, November 23, 2012
 
Unique 10″ vinyl EP in a beautiful picture sleeve!
Vinyl debut for all 6 tracks, all unissued in their time!

Merel Haggard is unquestionalbly one of country music’s greatest legends. One of the pioneers of the Bakersfield sound, he toured with Buck Owens in the early ’60s as Buck’s bass player while making his own records for the Tally label. In 1965, he was signed by legendary Capitol Records producer, Ken Nelson, and the rest is country music history as hit after hit followed. In the spring of 2013, Omnivore Recordings will collect all of Haggard’s Capitol singles from the ’60s on one CD, The Complete Capitol ’60s Singles.

Six Capitol-era rarities will grace a new 10″ E.P. on November 6th that will be released in advance of the new CD. The E.P. contains songs never released back in the day, and alternate versions of well-known tunes. All six songs are drawn from unique sessions attempted in Nashville and Hollywood in March and June of 1966 respectively, but not used, making this vinyl E.P. a unique pairing and very cool, collectable piece.

 
10″ E.P. Track List:

    Side 1:
1. I THREW AWAY THE ROSE (Nashville Version)
2. I’M A LONESOME FUGITIVE (Nashville Version)
3. LONELINESS IS EATING ME ALIVE (Nashville Version)
    All tracks on Side 1 recorded March 2, 1966,
    Columbia Recording Studio, Nashville, TN

    Side 2:
1. SOMEONE TOLD MY STORY (Early Version)
2. I THREW AWAY THE ROSE (Early Hollywood Version)
3. HANG UP MY GLOVES
    All tracks on Side 2 recorded June 2, 1966,
    Capitol Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA

 
Be sure to visit Merle’s official site for more news and wonderful releases!