How Curb Records Killed Merle Haggard’s Commercial Career
“I’d like to publicly challenge him to a boxing match.”
–Merle Haggard on the owner of Curb Records, Mike Curb.
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It was 1985, and Merle Haggard released one of his last major country music hits. “Kern River” reached #10 on the country charts, but if it was up to Columbia Records executive Rick Blackburn, the song would have never even been recorded. Blackburn hated “Kern River,” and apparently went out of his way to tell Merle that at every opportunity until Merle had enough. Blackburn mouthed off to Merle about it one too many times, and Merle lost it.
“That’s about the third time you’ve told me that.” Haggard said, “It’s more like five times. Well, I’m about five times short of telling you to go to hell.”
Then Haggard continued:
“Who do you think you are? You’re the son-of-a-bitch that sat at that desk over there and fired Johnny Cash. Let it go down in history that you’re the dumbest son-of-a-bitch I’ve ever met!”
At the time, Merle Haggard was signed to Epic Records, which was a subsidiary of Columbia. Because of the way the label treated Johnny Cash, and because Haggard felt like he was being neglected himself, Merle decided to leave the company by buying out his contract. After being dropped, Johnny Cash did a short and fairly unsuccessful stint with Mercury Records, but eventually signed up with Rick Rubin and American Recordings, and experienced a resurgence of interest in his career unlike we’ve ever seen for an older country artist before. Meanwhile Merle signed up with the only independently-owned major label in Nashville at the time, Curb Records … and that was for all intents and purposes the end of Merle Haggard’s commercial career.
Today most well-informed country fans know what a death sentence a Curb Records contract can be for an artist, at least for most of them. But in 1990 when Merle Haggard signed with the label, Curb was seen as one of the most trustworthy labels in town. They didn’t have to answer to higher ups in New York and Los Angeles, and could pass that freedom on to their artists. Besides, they were hugely successful with Hank Williams Jr. and others in their stable, so there was no reason to think of Curb as anything but a sure bet.
Despite the stories of how Mike Curb had poorly handled Frank Zappa early in his career by kicking Zappa off MGM Records for promoting drug use (when Zappa actually took an anti-drug stance), or the fiasco with The Beat Farmers where Mike Curb started releasing albums without the band’s consent, these could be chalked up to isolated incidents. Years later, most everyone would learn about Mike Curb’s bad reputation after he mismanaged the catalog of LeAnn Rimes, and later ran afoul of Hank Williams III, Jo Dee Messina, Hank Williams Jr., and most prominently, superstar Tim McGraw. But the transgressions against country artists arguably started with Merle Haggard.
Why Merle’s case against Curb has flown under the radar for so long might be because his career reached such a low during the period, barely anyone was paying attention. Merle Haggard signed to Curb in 1990, and the label promptly released a song that Merle and many others thought would be a hit. “Me And Crippled Soldiers Give A Damn” did what Merle had done many times in his career: met a patriotic issue head on. It was his stance against the Supreme Court decision at the time that ruled that flag burning was protected by the 1st Amendment.
Curb acquiesced and released the song, but only as the B-side to a pretty generic single called “When It Rains It Pours.” By all accounts, Curb mostly ignored the release, and when it came time to release Merle’s debut album on the label called Blue Jungle, it absoltely flopped. Saddled by virtually no promotion, the album wound up at #47 on the country albums charts. It was a commercial disaster, and after putting up the money to buy out his Epic contract, all of a sudden one of country music’s most successful stars of all time was in serious financial straits.
Two years later, Merle Haggard was declaring bankruptcy. On December 14th, 1992, he filed for Chapter 11 protection in Sacramento, California. On the same day, his son Binion Haggard, known today as Ben Haggard, was born.
“I think this is all for my benefit, to stand back and appraise things where nobody can touch me for a little bit,” Haggard, 55, told the Nashville Banner at the time. ”Hopefully, I won’t be in there long.”
But things would only get worse of Haggard during his tenure at Curb. First, like Curb would become famous for later, they refused to release Merle’s music in a timely manner. For four years after his first record, and when Merle needed the money the most, Curb released no new music. Haggard would eventually release two more albums on the label, named for the years they were released: 1994 and 1996, but they were not much help. 1994 somehow did even worse than Haggard’s first Curb release, coming at a paltry #60 on the albums chart, and 1996 did so bad, it didn’t even chart at all. The tombstone-style motif of the album covers seemed telling.
In author David Cantwell’s book Merle Haggard: The Running Kind, he spells out Merle’s abysmal performance in the era: “‘1996’ was his best work since leaving Epic nearly a decade before, but almost no one heard it … It had seemed Haggard, with the right song and a bit of promotion, might yet find the footing to climb back onto the radio or at least to catch a ride on Cash’s train to Americana glory. But there would be no renaissance for Haggard as long as he was on Curb. Those tombstone-like covers to ‘1994’ and ‘1996’ felt like markers for a career that was dead and buried.”
Cantwell also quotes journalist Michael McCall in the book about why Merle did so poorly while on the Curb Records roster. “His record company didn’t send promotional copies to reviewers until the album had been out for nearly a month,” says McCall. “And no advertising or promotion had been devoted to the music.”
Merle Haggard was irate, but like so many Curb Records artists, he didn’t have many options aside from riding out his contract, especially since he was already suffering from financial shortcomings. Curb’s poor management of Merle Haggard’s Hall of Fame career not only affected his recorded output and revenue from album sales, but his crowds began to dwindle at his live performances. Merle went from a bonafide headliner to an opening act playing honky tonks and county fairs during the Curb era since the decade saw virtually no promoted radio singles.
“People wonder where I was for the last 10 years. I was on Curb Records,” Haggard said in 2000 after his Curb contact had finally expired, and he decided to saddle up with the punk label Epitaph Records to hopefully mount a comeback similar to that of his long-time friend Johnny Cash.
“He (Curb president Mike Curb) used me as a billboard for younger acts,” Haggard told The Chicago Sun in 2000. “He got people like LeAnn Rimes and Tim McGraw. He didn’t do anything to promote my records. I’d like to publicly challenge him to a boxing match.”
Curb Records responded, “We released three albums on Merle and all three albums hit the charts. When he was going through bankruptcy he asked for a release from his contract and that was granted. Mike still has a great amount respect for Merle.”
READ: The Official Mike Curb Rap Sheet of Transgressions
Many artists have a bad story to tell when it comes to their dealings with Curb Records, but Merle Haggard may have the worst. Haggard’s legendary career would go on to recover later in life. But Curb Records had a chance to foster Merle’s career into a new era, or at least keep him in the public spotlight during a critical decade of his life. When Merle Haggard died on April 6th, 2016, he was remembered as a legend and shown the utmost respect by most everyone in the country music industry. Meanwhile, Curb Records continues to keep its legacy alive as one of the most notorious record labels of Music Row.
April 18, 2016 @ 6:43 pm
Great read, but I have a qualm with the title. How about “almost” killed? The current title sounds a bit clickbait-y for my tastes. Merle Haggard’s career wasn’t really killed as he continued to record great albums after his Curb stint.
April 18, 2016 @ 7:00 pm
I appreciate your feedback Kevin, but I respectfully disagree.
I totally think it was Merle Haggard’s stint at Curb Records that killed his career as a commercially-viable country music artist, and I think this is corroborated by the fact that he went from still charting Top 10 singles, not not having another significantly charting single the rest of his entire career, and terribly-performing albums. I don’t think it is an unfair characterization whatsoever, and I think Merle Haggard would concur.
That doesn’t mean the albums Merle Haggard released later aren’t worthy of listening to, and I mention that in the article. But I don’t think we should mince words or soften the blow of what Curb did to Merle, and has done to a dozen other country music artists. They held Merle hostage for a decade, he was forced to declare bankruptcy (though I’m sure of his own personal decisions probably contributed), and I think as country music fans, we have to acknowledge all of this to make sure it doesn’t happen to artists again. These were the principles Saving Country Music was founded upon.
If I’ve done anything wrong, it’s not reporting on this topic sooner.
April 18, 2016 @ 9:27 pm
I see your point. Maybe I’m just a naive 20-something but radio play and Billboard charts mean nothing to me. So when you say his career was killed, I think of it in literal terms wherein he didn’t make any music after that, not that he didn’t have any hits.
April 18, 2016 @ 9:46 pm
Historically radio has always been the lifeblood of country music. As has been noted on SCM several times, Hank Williams Sr. released mostly singles, not albums. In fact, singles pre-date the album for every type of music, not just country. Radio was the internet of its day and the easiest way to reach a wide audience with a new song. Things have changed a lot over the years, but not having any hits in an era when country music was becoming big business is odd for someone of Haggard’s stature. If his songs weren’t on the radio at the time nobody would know that Haggard had a new album out. Radio not only brought the songs into households, it informed the public in the same sitting. If there wasn’t a new single, chances are the general public wouldn’t know the album even existed (and that’s exactly what happened). It’s also important to note that the internet was in its infancy and Amazon.com and those types of sites were years away from mainstream relevance. In this day and age of an unlimited world of music at our fingertips with broadband, it’s hard to appreciate that not knowing an album was released and stores not stocking it could make or break a new record, classic or not.
Tying this in with Trigger’s excellent coverage, these are some of the reasons radio is set to implode at any moment. The world has moved on and the suits still want to play the game like it’s 1955 (give or take a year or two).
June 2, 2018 @ 8:47 am
Radio stations by in large refuse to play independent music because the corruption in the music industry. They are paid by the large music labels to put terrible music on. That is why there is serious lack of talent in the profitable side of the industry. Lord forbid if you write and record your own music. You could be the me the most ingenious writer and singer in the world, but good luck ever getting heard by anybody.
April 18, 2016 @ 9:42 pm
I’m kind of surprised you didn’t include this in the “Rap Sheet” article. I’ve known about it for some time myself and I haven’t even read that book you cited. It’s interesting that the first artist that Curb really did a number on was Merle Haggard. Assuming he’s pulling all of the strings, I’ve often wondered if there’s something clinically wrong with Mike Curb. What money was there to be made by signing a legend and not releasing any music? Granted Merle noted that his name was used to attract younger talent, but as you say he wasn’t exactly past his radio prime just yet himself. Wouldn’t they have made plenty of money from new hit songs from Merle? Curb Records is comprised of some of the most tight-fisted bastards I’ve ever read about. They need to give up the music business and go work on Wall Street.
April 18, 2016 @ 9:57 pm
I didn’t include it in the “Rap Sheet” article because I didn’t know about it. I wrote the “Rap Sheet” article in April of 2013. Cantwell’s book didn’t come out until September of 2013, and I don’t think I read it until later that year. Then I completely forgot about it. Only when The Chicago Sun Times re-ran their piece on Merle after he died (and an astute SCM commenter Dragin posted it here) did it jar my memory. Nonetheless, it is a complete dereliction of my “Free Hank III” duty that I had never heard about Merle’s experience with Curb until years and years of covering Curb’s transgressions.
April 19, 2016 @ 10:23 pm
Nonsense, you’re being too hard on yourself. While Merle Haggard holds more water than Hank3 and it happened to him first, I think the fundamental difference is that the former had 20+ years in the sun. Hank3 was more or less stifled at the outset; he wouldn’t be on the radio, but I bet if he had a more supportive label he’d be more of a household name. Hag was also much less vocal about his transgressions, give or take a comment or two. As we all know, Hank3 coined the “Fuck Curb” slogan and started selling T-shirts emblazoned with the term. At the start of the new millennium Merle had gotten free from Curb and released another decade’s worth of studio albums that have all done decently and gotten good reviews. I don’t think that Hank3 has rebounded quite the same way, whether it be in terms of artistry or sales. He just doesn’t have the name recognition that Hag does. And all respect to the late Lonesome Fugitive, I don’t think a “Free Merle Haggard” website would have blossomed into what you have now. You do good work.
April 18, 2016 @ 8:50 pm
I think it’s just about spot on. If not for the internet I’d have heard zero songs he made in the last 30 years. And some of those are some of the best damn songs the man ever wrote.
April 18, 2016 @ 7:22 pm
Great article, Trigger, I completely agree. I really do like about half of the songs on Blue Jungle.
April 18, 2016 @ 7:38 pm
There’s nothing terribly wrong with those Curb Records albums. The production on “1994” feels a bit forced, but it wasn’t the album’s fault nobody heard them. It’s that Curb didn’t care.
April 18, 2016 @ 7:23 pm
If there were a country music Hell Mike Curb should go their post haste!
If I’m not mistaken Merle charted top 10 in 1987 with twinkle twinkle little star after Natural High in 1985. On the Chill factor record which is a very underrated Haggard album.
April 18, 2016 @ 7:37 pm
If you look at Merle Haggard’s singles chart, as soon as he switches to Curb, it’s like falling off a cliff. This is not an instance of an aging artist just getting too long in the tooth that radio won’t play him. His “Chill Factor” album from 1988 had a #1 hit (“Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star”) and 3 other Top 25 singles. His next album “5.01” Blues had three Top 25 hits, including #4 “A Better Love Next Time.”
Then what happens after that? He moves to Curb, and his one and only single from “Blue Jungle” charted at #60. The single from “1994” charted at #58. I’ve never seen such an obvious decline. “1996” didn’t even have a single. Of course you had the “Class of ’89” and there was going to be some decline, but I don’t think anyone expected anything like that.
April 18, 2016 @ 7:52 pm
Great article. I wasn’t aware of some of this but I do think Merle like numerous great artists was doomed no matter what at this point in history. There are about a dozen all time great hall of famers like Waylon, Don Williams, Ronnie Milsap and on and on that were summarily dismissed by country radio at the time.
Would really be interested someday in a serious in depth look at this precedented time where almost an entire generation was shown the door at one time.
April 19, 2016 @ 9:59 am
I agree. Waylon Jennings and Don Williams had their last top 40 hits in 1991, and Ronnie’s last top 40 was in ’93. I personally think there was a factor of age discrimination going on. The labels and radio were looking for guys that were younger, also because of the popularity of music videos.
And of course Garth Brooks – who was selling albums like hotcakes.
Still, Curb really messed up.
April 18, 2016 @ 7:55 pm
I never heard the Zappa story before. Frank was on Verve Records in the mid 60’s, which was owned by MGM.
April 18, 2016 @ 8:09 pm
1994 is actually one heck of a good album.
April 19, 2016 @ 10:07 am
It is.
Strangely enough, 1994 was one of the only albums (if not the only) that Merle recorded without his band the Strangers (although I think a couple of them played on a few of the songs), but rather with the current top Nashville studio musicians at the time, including Dann Huff.
And also strange, those studio musicians were called possibly within the hopes of getting Merle played on the radio. Listen to any one of John Anderson’s 1990s albums on BNA Records, which actually gave John a “comeback” on radio from 1992 to 95, and the music sounds just like Merle’s 1994 album.
Another observation about the covers of 1994 and 1996. Age discrimination – Curb didn’t want Merle on the album covers because he was in his mid to late 50s, and by then everything was about young pretty-boys.
April 18, 2016 @ 8:11 pm
You’re absolutely right. At the time, it looked like Curb was DELIBERATELY trying to kill Merle’s career. The mi-’90s was the peak of the CD era. Major artist releases were issued with thick, color booklets, including multiple color photographs (unless they were going for an arty b&w look), complete song lyrics and info. (Just look at, say, an Alan Jackson or Reba McEntire CD from the era. Merle’s “1994” and “1996” discs didn’t even have photos on the cover–and the “booklets” were a single sheet with one fold. They gave the impression that these were extreme “budget” recordings or that Hag was in some funk and was refusing to promote them.
That may be superficial, but in the era before the ubiquity of the Internet, the physical packaging of a recording was an important element in how the product was perceived, particularly where as here, the cuts were not being played on the radio, so you’d have to decide whether to buy the CD without being able to hear it.
April 18, 2016 @ 9:31 pm
But it’s Merle Haggard. Shouldn’t you just buy it anyway?
April 18, 2016 @ 8:55 pm
Chill Factor came out in 1987 followed by 501 Blues in 1988 and I remember thinking 501 Blues came out quickly as we were still enjoying Chill Factor. I can remember all of my childhood by the year which each record came out. A new Haggard record was an event in our family and we’d always get together to hear it the day it came out.
I remember when Blue Jungle came out. The only thing letting us know that he had a new album out was the fact that he was on Nashville Now where he did a couple of songs from it. I never heard one song of Merle on the radio after 501 Blues came out. If you weren’t already a fan keeping your eye out for a new album, you would never have known he had a new album out from 1990 to 1996. They would just appear on the shelf one week and you’d buy it.
I would go into the record store and see these atrocious covers and think “What the hell is this? Are they ashamed to put Merle’s face on an album? Are they too damn cheap to take a proper photo?” It was absolutely absurd to see these records which my family and I really enjoyed, being distributed, but no one even knew it was out. Curb did nothing for Merle except throw his records out to record stores like a Hail Mary pass and hope for the best.
One of the best things to happen for Merle’s career in the late 90’s though was when Capitol put out Down Every Road, which meant for some tracks that it was the first time we could hear some of these great songs on compact disc. This release also reignited my total love for his music again since I spent a few years getting into other stuff and it cemented in my mind the fact that what was happening to his career was a travesty. Here was one of the greatest singers of all time and he’s even spending a few years without a record contract. It was ridiculous.
I think this all had to happen though because I think those lean years for Merle contributed to his growth as a person and it humbled him a bit. The kind of career he had post-Curb was like a re-emergence and he had more freedom to release whatever he wanted to put out. I love all those albums. No scratch that, I like most everything he ever did. Some might say there were a couple of good songs on an album, but I enjoyed every song and could see the musical growth in songwriting and in musicianship because he never rewrote the same songs over and over again.
Willie is a genius too. I hope everyone truly appreciates him too while they can.
April 18, 2016 @ 9:37 pm
The issues that lead to them notwithstanding, I’ve always found the “tombstone” cover design of 1994 and 1996 to be interesting. However, it’s not hard to infer that the years were less significant to the theme of the music but that Curb was just being lazy. I bet naming the albums for their release year was their attempt at “promotion” without promotion. After all, if it’s 1996 and you see an album of the same name, chances are you aren’t going to think it came out in 1986.
April 18, 2016 @ 11:22 pm
I seem to recall thinking the title was fine, but the cover art was lazy. Literally, some graphic artist spent five minutes on it.
But in matters like this it’s sometimes been my experience that it was Merle’s idea all along and likely this cover was chosen because they didn’t want to pay for art design. It was only done to cut costs. Considering what Merle was going through financially in the 90’s, this is probably the most likely explanation. In that case, I totally understand, but at the time I thought Merle was being neglected. Promotion wise he was.
For most of my life, I thought Merle absolutely hung the moon. Sometimes you can just love your heroes too much and not even realize that they are indeed mortal. I learned my lesson though.
April 19, 2016 @ 9:36 am
Actually, a lot of Curb releases had such a shabby or cheap appearance, that when you’d look at them in the rack at Tower Records (or wherever you shopped), you’d often be scratching your head wondering, “Is this something new from the artist–or is it a compilation of old or recent tracks that they randomly slapped together?
April 18, 2016 @ 10:01 pm
Good story and perspective SanQ.
Sort of a completely different side of the music world, but think about Van Halen’s album “1984.” It wasn’t just the year, they were trying to make an artistic statement by naming the album after that year. Here was Eddie Van Halen, known for being a guitar God, and instead of opening the album with a big guitar riff, it’s opened with a synthesizer solo. It spoke to a particular time and place in music. What was the statements from Merle’s year-named albums? Beats me. But they’re both good records, and deserved more attention than they received.
April 19, 2016 @ 9:28 am
“1984” had a meaning in post WWII American–and all western culture as the title of George Orwell’s futuristic novel about totalitarianism, published in 1949. In that era, if you just said, “It’s like 1984” or “It’s 1984” regarding something or other, people got the reference. I’m not a Van Halen fan and I’m not familiar with that album, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were making some connection to Orwell’s “1984” by using that title.
April 19, 2016 @ 9:32 am
I totally think it was a reference to the Orwell book. They were referencing technology entering our everyday lives as they precursor to synthesized music being the new paradigm. Or that’s how I always interpreted it.
April 18, 2016 @ 8:58 pm
Great Article, Trigger! I do have 3 cd’s of Merle Haggard, of his disaster tenure with Curb Records, which was very good! It’s a shame he went nowhere with those on the charts during is stay with Curb Records. Blue Jungle, 1994, and 1996 which was solid treasures!
April 18, 2016 @ 9:34 pm
Is this Rick Blackburn SOB still alive????
Reading this article makes my blood boil!!!
April 18, 2016 @ 11:07 pm
He’s dead…no longer alive to further destroy country music.
April 18, 2016 @ 9:45 pm
Curb Records had released Merle Haggard’s 3 Greatest hits cd’s. 2 of them was is tenure with curb from his 3 cd’s with them and his 20 greatest hits from his early years in the 60’s and 70’s but they are not re-recorded versions.
April 19, 2016 @ 12:27 am
Rick Blackburn must have been a dumb son of a bitch to fire Johnny Cash and to not like Kern River.
April 20, 2016 @ 2:55 pm
Cash’s albums had not been selling for years, when CBS records declined to renew his contract. There’s nothing nefarious there. If something’s not working, why keep doing it? Heck, RCA terminated their deal with Hank Snow.
And I don’t think Merle Haggard would have been a Hall of Famer–or even a country star–if all of his music were on the level of “Kern River.”
April 20, 2016 @ 10:29 pm
How can you not like Kern River? Just a classic song.
June 8, 2019 @ 4:05 pm
Yeah, I know it’s been over 3 years since the post but I’m replying anyway. The oft repeated story about Rick Blackburn firing Johnny Cash is not true. In 1986 Johnny’s contract with CBS Record was coming to an end, Mercury Nashville reached out to Johnny and made an offer with a large cash advance. CBS Records was given an opportunity to counter offer but Blackburn said he couldn’t match the Mercury offer so Johnny signed with Mercury. The arrangement with CBS Records was that Johnny would announce his new Mercury deal and CBS was going to publicly wish him well, sadly it didn’t go down that way. A reporter from The Tennessean was in Blackburn’s office for an interview for an unrelated reason and spotted paperwork on Blackburn’s desk about Johnny’s departure from the label. This reporter ran back to the office wrote a story that Johnny Cash was being being dropped by CBS, no mention of his new deal at Mercury. The story was front page news in Nashville but was picked up nationwide. Johnny was pissed off because it made him look like a loser, not an artist that was leaving for a better deal. I think it ended up casting a negative shadow over Johnny’s Mercury stint which was unfortunate, I loved 1990’s Boom Chicka Boom.
As far as Kern River, I like it, it’s a good song but far from Haggard’s best stuff.
April 19, 2016 @ 5:29 am
Not to defend Mike Curb, but in all fairness, the early 1990s was about the time when radio stopped playing veteran acts across the board. While there is no excuse for Curb not promoting Haggard’s music and refusing to release new albums in a timely manner, it’s entirely possible that he would have gotten little airplay in that era — even if he had stayed at Epic.
Merle had another feud at Sony right before the “Kern River” incident. He had written “Me and Crippled Soliders” and wanted it released as a single while the flag-burning issue was still in the headlines. Sony wanted to wait until his next album release which was more than a year away. It was a bit surprising when it was released by Curb as a B side instead of an A side.
April 19, 2016 @ 6:54 am
Yeah, the early 90s was the death knell for many veteran acts. I charted out the top 40 country hits from that era and calculated that the average age of a top 40 country artist went from 39.5 years in 1988 to 32.7 years by 1996 with many veteran artists just dropping suddenly off the charts even though they were still making albums. Unfortunately Merle was hardly the rare case.
April 19, 2016 @ 12:26 pm
I’ve always thought it must have been so weird for some of these greats to just cruise along with hit after hit and then just like that it all stops even though you have not changed in any way. You would see a couple reactions from these some would just keep doing there thing while others would try adapt to the new trend and would often come off as more sad than anything.
April 19, 2016 @ 2:32 pm
I agree. Curb needs to be called out for their part in Merle’s demise, but when the country music industry figured out that there was a younger demographic interested in buying country music made by younger, hipper, better-looking artists, the old guard was pretty much kicked to the curb across the board. Besides Hag, Willie Nelson, Conway Twitty, Don Williams, Hank Williams, Jr., Waylon Jennings, and a handful of others saw their chart success drop dramatically in the same timeframe.
In addition, I felt that Hag’s last couple of Epic albums – or at least the singles released from those albums – represented an artistic low point for him. “Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star” was the lone bright spot, but his other chart success from those albums was based more on his merits as a legendary artist than the merits of the songs themselves. Just my opinion, of course, but I was working in country radio at the time and pretty much everyone I spoke to felt the same.
Again, not giving Curb a pass, but I don’t believe they really killed Haggard’s commercial career; it’s more like they removed his dying career from life support.
April 19, 2016 @ 6:25 pm
“In addition, I felt that Hag”™s last couple of Epic albums ”“ or at least the singles released from those albums ”“ represented an artistic low point for him. “Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star” was the lone bright spot, but his other chart success from those albums was based more on his merits as a legendary artist than the merits of the songs themselves. Just my opinion, of course, but I was working in country radio at the time and pretty much everyone I spoke to felt the same.”
I wouldn’t go quite that far but I do think things got a little stale for Merle near the end of his stint with Epic. The first time I heard Clint Black on the radio, I thought it was Merle and thought I hadn’t heard anything that energetic from him in a very long time. That being said, I’ve gone back and listened to a lot of those Epic albums over the past two weeks. They may not be as good as his earlier output on Capitol but they are still pretty damn good.
April 20, 2016 @ 10:12 am
I think it’s largely a matter of perspective. Knowing what we know now makes everything Merle Haggard has ever recorded sounds pretty damn good. I’d love to be able to turn on the radio today and hear something like “A Better Love Next Time” or “Chill Factor”.
But in 1988-1989 those singles not only represented an artistic low point in Haggard’s career, they simply weren’t legitimate top 10 hits when compared to the contemporary music of that era both from the legendary artists who were still getting airplay and the plethora of young neo-traditionalists active at that time (not to mention the Class of ’89). His singles from that era only charted as high as they did due to heavy promotion from the record label and the respect of radio programmers and music buyers.
Shame on Curb for not actively promoting his music, because if more people had been aware that he had new music available he might have realized a few more album sales and possibly avoided some of his financial woes. But his lack of chart success was a sign of the times more than anything.
April 20, 2016 @ 3:07 pm
I agree with you. “Kern River” or “Friend In California” sound as if Hag “wrote” the songs while he was singing them. They bear none of the craftsmanship of songs like “Mama Tried” or “Always On a Mountain When I Fall.”
April 19, 2016 @ 6:31 am
A Beat Farmers mention!? Made my day!
April 19, 2016 @ 6:45 am
Curb Records is a disaster. Of course they would fuck things up with Hag. He wrote from the heart, clearly something Mike Curb doesn’t have.
April 19, 2016 @ 8:51 am
Actually, alot of radio (not all,but a lot) stopped playing true country legends in the mid 80’s.They started with a few veteran acts,and it gradually got bigger.The more the years went by,the more legends radio stopped playing.No matter how many times people call or wrote to request the stars new song,the more a lot of radio would use every excuse they can to get off the hook with the listener who request that legends’ favorite song,no matter who it is.
This is why I’m always suggesting to people: If you are one of the few people in the US or Canada who has a station in your area that plays real country music,and the legends,support that station.Listen to the station,and patronize the stations sponsers,thanking them for advertising on that station (and give the stations call letters).
For those of you who don’t have such a station in your area,I suggest listening on line to WSM,or what ever station that plays real country music that streams their signal on line.I also suggest Willies Roadhouse,or listening to CD’s.(Like I do).
April 19, 2016 @ 10:28 am
Years that some veteran country artists had their last top 40 country hit:
â–ª Charlie Rich 1981 ‘Are We Dreamin’ The Same Dream’
â–ª Johnny Paycheck 1986 ‘Old Violin’
â–ª Johnny Rodriguez 1987/88 ‘I Didn’t (Every Chance I Had)’
â–ª Michael Martin Murphey 1989 ‘Never Givin’ Up On Love’
â–ª Merle Haggard 1989/90 ‘If You Want To Be My Woman’ (Merle would only visit the top 40 one more time over 15 years later, via his top 40 duet with Gretchen Wilson called ‘Politically Uncorrect.’)
â–ª Charley Pride 1989/90 ‘Amy’s Eyes’
â–ª Willie Nelson 1990 ‘Ain’t Necessarily So’ (he had a brief resurgence on radio with two top 40 duets, one with Lee Ann Womack and one with Toby Keith in the early 2000s)
â–ª Waylon 1991 ‘The Eagle’
â–ª Don Williams 1991 ‘Lord Have Mercy On A Country Boy’
â–ª Hank Williams, Jr 1991 ‘If It Will It Will’ (Bocephus would go on to see an occasional top 40 hit from 1999 to 2005 or 06)
â–ª Kenny Rogers 1991/92 ‘If You Want To Find Love’ (he had a brief resurgence on radio starting in 1999 with ‘The Greatest’, ending in 2005 with ‘I Can’t Unlove You’)
â–ª Ronnie Milsap 1993 ‘True Believer’
… just to name a few.
April 19, 2016 @ 12:36 pm
Can throw in Conway Twitty also who had his last top 40 in 1991. Vern Gosdin had his last top 40 in 1991. George Jones also started really struggling to get airplay about this time. Eddie Rabbitt had his last top 40 hit in 1991. The Oak Ridge Boys had their last top 40 hit in 1991.
What really happened was the Class of ’89 came along with Garth, Jackson, Black, Tritt, etc. and they had there initial success from late 1989 through 1990 while mixing with the previous generation and then labels saw the success of the younger generation and they completely shifted all their resources to finding and promoting younger performers and that led to all these older acts getting shown the door at the same time.
Really was an interesting time for country music.
April 19, 2016 @ 9:17 am
Kern River is the first Merle song I listened to after I heard he died. I love that song. The instrumentation is a little odd or dated, but the song is great.
Mike Curb is a terrible person. It makes sense that he would be a Republican politician, as well.
If staying in the spotlight means you have to pander to the trenchcoat mafia like sad old Johnny Cash did, then I’m glad Merle Haggard didn’t.
April 19, 2016 @ 12:35 pm
Johnny Cash pandered to nobody.
April 20, 2016 @ 3:14 pm
Artists like their product to be seen/heard.
I’m sure it gave Johnny Cash a lot of pleasure and pride–and vindication– in his final years that he was relevant again and was reaching a new generation of fans
April 21, 2016 @ 6:17 am
That’s not the same as pandering.
April 21, 2016 @ 6:42 pm
Of course not. Cash produced a lot of great work in his “Rick Rubin” period. Truth be told, I’d never heard the original artist versions of most of the modern songs that Cash did on American Recordings–“Rusty Cage,” Trent Reznor’s “Hurt,” (Heck, I’d never heard of Trent Reznor!), even Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” so they sounded like new material–not covers–to me.
April 20, 2016 @ 12:32 pm
No less on my feelings about Curb but radio changes in 1996 affected everyone. More consolidation meant less choices by dj’s and in country that meant singles from younger acts. I bought a lot of music that year of which maby 20 percent was programed on my local station.
April 20, 2016 @ 1:21 pm
Looks like Curb was controversial even as far back as 1997:
http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/can-mike-curb-be-as-clean-as-he-looks/Content?oid=1181622
April 29, 2016 @ 7:37 am
I interview Merle for the Boston Herald in 1999 and as soon as I asked my first question he tore into his unhappy situation with Curb.
http://thekatztapes.com/merle-haggard-1999/
February 4, 2018 @ 4:14 pm
Interesting
Merle the greatest ever
London UK
June 2, 2018 @ 12:30 pm
I think what happened was a whole new era in country music began while merle was trying to keep his career a float. Back then it was all about Garth brooks Aaron Tippin John Michael Montgomery etc.
July 6, 2018 @ 10:44 am
Remember few people can match his blue collar soul ,his songwriting drove his career. He had a creative wildness in his personality of “ Hey I wear my own kinda hat”… doesn’t always work with record executives. Merle lamented the simple fact that his artistic direction no longer was enough to garner him , not fame , not so much money, but personal satisfaction to write and do what Merle wanted. His real concern was having the pleasure of employing and paying his long time faithful musicians.Merle loved being a bandleader..Merle Haggard for all his faults was an American Ikon and a great gift to music.
June 8, 2019 @ 4:20 pm
Mike Curb is an asshole, there is no doubt of that but sadly the early 90’s was a horrible time to be a classic country artist. I had a short stint in country radio from 1990 to 1993 and was the music director when MCA signed George Jones. I witnessed MCA and Nancy Jones busting their collective asses to try and get George radio air play and other than I don’t need your Rockin’ Chair were not successful. I think that sent a message to the labels to not even waste their time. If the legendary greatest living country singer couldn’t get played what chance did other classic artists have? None!
Thank goodness for the internet because we are no longer dependent on country radio to find out about new music.
October 8, 2019 @ 2:26 am
They Never Mention The Bankers From Wall Street Who Secretly Bought Up All The Record Label ‘s And the Radio Stations And Now Control All That Is Played On all mainstream Radio In The world This info. Us Brought to lite In A Documentary Called Country Music Behind The Music This DVD I Found On Netflix You Couldn’t Stream It But I Ordered It On DVD And It tells The Whole Story. It’s So Sad What’s Happened To Country MUSIC I Won’t Listen To Any Country Music Channel TODAY Because It’s All CRAP.
The people Need To Request REAL COUNTRY MUSIC BE PLAYED ON ALL WHO CALL THEMSELVES COUNTRY MUSIC STATION’S PLAY REAL COUNTRY MUSIC OR QUIT CALLING WHAT THEY PLAY COUNTRY MUSIC!!!!! DAN SHEPHERD
May 8, 2021 @ 10:26 am
Dan – Am really ‘late’ to the game (saw article come up checking on Merle’s exact passing) – your notes were fantastic and very relevant. Have never stopped listening to real country music – and DON’T listen to what they call country today, it’s basically mild hip hop. Keeping in mind, some ‘current’ country singers like Thomas Rhett and Eric Church can sing ???? real country really well. And guys that do, like Sam Outlaw, play it in Europe all the time.