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We call Merle Haggard a country singer because we don't know what else to call him. While his distinctly Bakersfield sound reflects Merle the maverick, as well as the more traditional, bucolic sentiments of his musical heritage, he has renegotiated the borders of the landscape comprising country music. Distinctively country in flavor, Merle's musical arrangements also contain shades of jazz, shadows of blues, flavors of folk, buckets of bluegrass, relics of roisterous rock-a-billy, and gullies of gospel. While never wandering too far from the country, there is something distinctly avant-garde about Merle's signature style and this is optimally reflected in this vintage Oh Boy collection. These stylistically diverse tunes will remind why Merle has had such a profound, pervasive influence on modern rock, country and alt-country bands.

Oh Boy starts things off on the right track with "Workin' Man Blues." Not only is this a stirring tribute to the working man. It also represents a successful attempt on Haggard's part to "Walk the Line" with the Man in Black, his role model Johnny Cash.

While the line he walks on "Workin' Man Blues" heads straight to the steel mills and winds its way down a road to Cash, all roads lead right back to Haggard's home town, Bakersfield, California where hard-driving drums and the rebel-rousing lead guitar kidnap the listener, taking him down a fast and furious track. "Workin' Man Blues" boldly echoes the chorus of aggressive recalcitrance coming out of Nashville West in the sixties, the Bakersfield sound that rocked the cushy, sugarcoated country scene. The aftershocks of this musical-earthquake-of-a-song would be strong enough to cross the border, later influencing Canadian bands like Rush, who poured their heart and soul into hard rock's definitive answer to "Workin' Man Blues," "Workin' Man." Later, Bachman-Turner Overdrive would release their own working man's anthem, "Blue Collar," along with the lazy man's answer, "Takin' Care of Business." Jim Croce's answer to "Workin' Man Blues" would be "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues."Bruce Springsteen's album Born in the USA was replete with such anthems and these examples represent the mere tip of the iceberg. Ultimately the epicenter on "Workin' Man Blues" was Cash, but when it came to quakes that created a shake, Merle Haggard's "Workin' Man Blues" rated pretty darned high on the Richter scale. Freud considered love and to work to be two of the most noble of human aspirations. One can't help but love the work Merle and The Strangers put into this gem-of-a-song.

There are so many good songs on this "best of" disc that rating them is an exercise in futility. Next to "Hungry Eyes," "Mama Tried," the second track on the CD, is arguably Merle Haggard's best song. "If We Make it Through December" is a not-so-distant third. The songs Merle wrote about his mother came from a place closest to his heart, and it really shows in "Mama Tried." The tug of war between mother Flossie's earnest prayers and Merle Haggard's dogged determination to self-destruct creates the type of contrast, tension, and suspense that is only found in the greatest fictional novels (with the possible exception of a few family therapy sessions I've led). Of course, in the end, Mama's efforts were not in vane. Mama won.

Oh Boy put a great deal of thought into the specific selections and the sequence of songs. "If We Make It ihrough December" is a sagacious, if sad, centerpiece decorating the table that features this festive feast of favorites. If this story doesn't melt the icicles right off of your heart, nothing will. According to The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits  "If We Make it through December" was among only three Yuletide singles to reach number one on the country charts during their short seasonal run. The other two were Ernest Tubb's "Blue Christmas," and Gene Autry's "Rudolf, the Red Nosed Reindeer."

The very next track, another conversational piece, is entitled "Today I Started Lovin' You Again." This one is romantic, succinct and sentimental without being either maudlin or prosaic. Gentlemen, if you've offended your significant other, and flowers, flattery and Frank Sinatra are not enough to get you out of the doghouse, try playing this song. In "The Fightin' Side of Me" Haggard is unabashedly patriotic, revealing his love of country without being jingoistic.

"It's not Love (But it's not Bad)" caters to man's lowest common denominator, his id (to borrow from Freud). Perhaps that's why the song works so well. It's like a pre-conversion version of Mickey Gilley's "Lookin' For Love (In All the Wrong Places)." It's about settling for something less because it's ostensibly psychologically safe and appealingly convenient. It reflects the type of fear of intimacy one would expect from an archetypal wanderer or from the type of person renown psychoanalyst Karen Horney referred to as a "moving away from people" person.

Pat Benetar once had a song that declared, "Love is a Battlefield." Merle's battlefield was Bakersfield. He would win the battle, but in the end, he'd invariably lose the war. He was "looking for love in all the wrong places," and finding it to be a bottomless pit. All he found after four broken marriages was unbearable heartache and utter disillusionment. Thanks to the determinedly diligent prayers of his mother and her "Hungry Eyes" God found Merle. Thankfully Haggard has since picked settling down over settling for, and that settles it.

Oh Boy saved the best for last. "Hungry Eyes," the last song on this bountiful collection, draws upon Merle's memories of mother to clarify his own values. According to the lyrics of this song, all she ever wanted was all she ever needed. The song reminds me of a song Tennessee Ernie Ford used to sing called "He Knows What I Need." Merle Haggard thought he knew what he wanted at an early age, to play music, to run from life and to self-destruct. But when he looks through his mother's "Hungry Eyes" he can see clearly. It is a heartfelt tribute that comes from the most vulnerable side of Merle Haggard.

If you want to gain an intimate knowledge of the historic roots Merle Haggard planted in country music's often parched, weed-infested soil, this collection is highly recommended. There are no weeds in Merle's garden, only flowers and trees bearing plump, juicy fruit that's ripe for the picking. The songs are arranged to afford the listener a rare opportunity to witness the wide range of emotions that moved and made the man who he is today.

Dr. Bruce L. Thiessen 6/18/2002