Strangers (Merle Haggard album)

1965 studio album by Merle Haggard

Strangers

Studio album by

Merle Haggard

Released| September 27, 1965
Recorded| 1963–1965
Genre| Country
Length| 27:50
Label| Capitol
Producer| Ken Nelson, Fuzzy Owen
Merle Haggard chronology
|  | Strangers
(1965)  | Just Between the Two of Us
(1966)

|
|

Singles from  Strangers

1. "Sing a Sad Song"
Released: September 1963
2. "Sam Hill"
Released: April 1964
3. "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers"
Released: November 1964
4. "I'm Gonna Break Every Heart I Can"
Released: June 1965

Strangers is the debut studio album by American country music artist Merle Haggard. It was released on September 27, 1965, by Capitol Records.

## Background

[edit]

Haggard had already recorded several sides for Tally, a record label formed by cousins Lewis Talley and Fuzzy Owen, when he was approached by producer Ken Nelson to jump to Capitol. Initially Haggard refused, opting to remain loyal to Owen and Talley, but Tally Records did not have the resources to break Haggard, who was creating quite a buzz in California. In Daniel Cooper's essay for the 1994 retrospective Down Every Road, Nelson remembers, "So I called Fuzzy, and I said, 'Hey, come on, get down here and let's settle this thing. Because you're not gonna sell records. You don't have the facilities, you don't have the promotion department, you don't have anything.' So he came down, and we signed Merle, and I bought all of his masters. And that's how Merle came on the label." The deal meant Capitol obtained nearly two albums worth of material, including the recordings Haggard had made with Bonnie Owens. Fuzzy Owen became Haggard's manager and co-producer with Nelson at Capitol.[1] The name of the album inspired his backup band's name The Strangers.

Haggard depicted on a publicity portrait for Tally Records

## Recording and composition

[edit]

Haggard had recorded "Sing a Sad Song" for Tally, first hearing the Wynn Stewart composition when he played bass for Stewart in 1962. The song made it to number 19 on the Billboard country singles chart in 1963, but Haggard's first Top 10 hit was the Liz Anderson-penned "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers." In his 1981 autobiography Merle Haggard: Sing Me Back Home, Haggard recalls having been talked into visiting Anderson—a woman he didn't know—at her house to hear her sing some songs she had written. "If there was anything I didn't wanna do, it was sit around some danged woman's house and listen to her cute little songs. But I went anyway. She was a pleasant enough lady, pretty, with a nice smile, but I was all set to be bored to death, even more so when she got out a whole bunch of songs and went over to an old pump organ...There they were. My God, one hit right after another. There must have been four or five number one songs there..."[2] Anderson also wrote "The Worst is Yet to Come" and would be responsible for Haggard's future hit "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive." Haggard wrote or co-wrote half the songs on the LP, as he had been developing his own skills as a songwriter under Owen's tutelage at the time. At Haggard's first Capitol recording session in April 1965, he cut "If I Had Left It Up to You" and "I'm Gonna Break Every Heart I Can." The Strangers album is composed of new Capitol recordings, his early singles, and a couple of Tally leftovers. "Sam Hill," for example, had peaked at number forty-five after its June 1964 release. The song, written by friend and mentor Tommy Collins, was not one of Haggard's favorites, with the singer recalling in his 1999 memoir My House of Memories, "I'm glad 'Sam Hill' wasn't a big hit. I didn't much like the song and had it been a giant hit I would have hated to have sung it for the next fifty years."[3] Although Haggard came from the harder-edged Bakersfield Sound, five of the twelve songs are sweetened by strings, one of the hallmarks of the Nashville sound. In addition, a Marty Robbins influence is clearly evident in Haggard's singing on "I'd Trade All of My Tomorrows" and "You Don't Even Try."[citation needed]

## Critical reception

[edit]

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [4]

Strangers was a hit album, reaching number 9 on the Billboard country albums chart. In Merle Haggard: The Running Kind, Haggard biographer David Cantwell writes, "Haggard didn't come off as a particularly distinctive artist on Strangers, but his derivativeness was of a high and promising quality."[5]

Critic Steven Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic calls it "an impressive debut," conceding that "there is some filler on Strangers, but that was the case for nearly every country album recorded in the '60s. What counts is the good stuff and the best songs on the record richly illustrate Haggard's talent and his potential."[4]

## Track listing

[edit]

No.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

1.| "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers"| Liz Anderson| 2:29
2.| "Falling for You"| Ralph Mooney| 2:18
3.| "Please Mr. D.J."| Merle Haggard| 2:26
4.| "You Don't Have Far to Go"| Haggard, Red Simpson| 2:31
5.| "Sing a Sad Song"| Wynn Stewart| 2:35
6.| "Sam Hill"| Tommy Collins| 2:28
7.| "I'm Gonna Break Every Heart I Can"| Haggard| 2:00
8.| "You Don't Even Try"| Haggard, Fuzzy Owen| 2:17
9.| "If I Had Left It Up to You"| Haggard| 2:24
10.| "I'd Trade All of My Tomorrows (For Just One Yesterday)"| Jenny Carson| 2:31
11.| "The Worst Is Yet to Come"| Anderson| 2:41
12.| "Walking the Floor Over You"| Ernest Tubb| 1:45

## Personnel

[edit]

* Merle Haggard – vocals, guitar
* Roy Nichols \- guitar
* Ralph Mooney \- steel guitar
* George French, Jr. - piano
* Tommy Collins \- guitar
* Wynn Stewart \- guitar
* Gene Moles – guitar
* Phil Baugh – guitar
* Clifford Hills - fiddle
* Bobby Austin – bass
* Robert Morris - bass
* Helen Price – drums
* Henry Sharpe - drums

## Chart positions

[edit]

Year  | Chart  | Position

|
|

1965  | Billboard Country LPs  | 9

## Reception

[edit]

1. ^ Down Every Road 1962–1994 compilation album. Liner notes by Daniel Cooper
2. ^ Haggard, Merle; Russell, Peggy (1983). Sing Me Back Home: My Story. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-45275-9.
3. ^ Haggard, Merle (2010). My House of Memories: An Autobiography. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-062-02321-6.
4. ^ a b Erlewine, Steven Thomas. "Strangers > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
5. ^ Cantwell, David (2013). Merle Haggard: The Running Kind. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71771-8.

* v
* t
* e

Merle Haggard

The Strangers

Norm Hamlet
Ralph Mooney
Tiny Moore
Roy Nichols
Gene Price
Eldon Shamblin
Gordon Terry

Biff Adam
Jimmy Belken
Eddie Burris
Gary Church
Wayne Durham
George French
Dennis Hromek

Don Markham
Johnny Meeks
Marcia Nichols
Ronnie Reno
Clint Strong
Jim Tittle
Jerry Ward
Bobby Wayne
Mark Yeary

Studio albums|

* Strangers
* Swinging Doors ‡
* I'm a Lonesome Fugitive ‡
* Branded Man ‡
* Sing Me Back Home ‡
* The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde ‡
* Mama Tried ‡
* Pride in What I Am ‡
* Same Train, a Different Time ‡
* A Portrait of Merle Haggard ‡
* A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills) ‡
* Hag ‡
* Someday We'll Look Back ‡
* Let Me Tell You About a Song ‡
* It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad) ‡
* If We Make It Through December ‡
* Merle Haggard Presents His 30th Album ‡
* Keep Movin' On ‡
* It's All in the Movies ‡
* My Love Affair with Trains ‡
* The Roots of My Raising ‡
* Ramblin' Fever
* A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today ‡
* My Farewell to Elvis
* I'm Always on a Mountain When I Fall
* Serving 190 Proof
* The Way I Am
* Back to the Barrooms
* Big City
* Going Where the Lonely Go
* That's the Way Love Goes
* It's All in the Game
* Kern River
* Out Among the Stars
* A Friend in California
* Chill Factor
* 5:01 Blues
* Blue Jungle
* 1994
* 1996
* If I Could Only Fly
* Roots, Volume 1
* The Peer Sessions
* Haggard Like Never Before
* Unforgettable
* Chicago Wind
* The Bluegrass Sessions
* I Am What I Am
* Working in Tennessee

Compilations|

* Songs I'll Always Sing
* Merle Haggard's Greatest Hits
* His Epic Hits: The First 11 (To Be Continued...)
* Down Every Road 1962–1994
* 16 Biggest Hits
* Hag: The Best of Merle Haggard

Live albums|

* Okie from Muskogee ‡
* The Fightin' Side of Me ‡
* I Love Dixie Blues ‡
* Rainbow Stew Live at Anaheim Stadium
* The Epic Collection (Recorded Live)
* Amber Waves of Grain

Gospel albums|

* The Land of Many Churches ‡
* Songs for the Mama That Tried
* Cabin in the Hills
* Two Old Friends (with Albert E. Brumley, Jr.)

Holiday albums|

* Merle Haggard's Christmas Present
* Goin' Home for Christmas
* I Wish I Was Santa Claus

Singles|

| 1960s|

* "Sing a Sad Song"
* "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers"
* "Swinging Doors" ‡
* "The Bottle Let Me Down" ‡
* "The Fugitive" ‡
* "I Threw Away the Rose" ‡
* "Branded Man" ‡
* "Sing Me Back Home" ‡
* "The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde" ‡
* "Mama Tried" ‡
* "I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am" ‡
* "Hungry Eyes" ‡
* "Workin' Man Blues" ‡
* "Okie from Muskogee" ‡

|

1970s|

* "The Fightin' Side of Me" ‡
* "Jesus, Take a Hold" ‡
* "I Can't Be Myself" ‡
* "Soldier's Last Letter" ‡
* "Someday We'll Look Back" ‡
* "Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)" ‡
* "Carolyn" ‡
* "Grandma Harp" ‡
* "It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad)" ‡
* "I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me" ‡
* "The Emptiest Arms in the World" ‡
* "Everybody's Had the Blues" ‡
* "If We Make It Through December ‡"
* "Things Aren't Funny Anymore" ‡
* "Old Man from the Mountain" ‡
* "Kentucky Gambler" ‡
* "Always Wanting You" ‡
* "Movin' On" ‡
* "It's All in the Movies" ‡
* "The Roots of My Raising" ‡
* "Here Comes the Freedom Train" ‡
* "Cherokee Maiden" ‡
* "If We're Not Back in Love by Monday"
* "Ramblin' Fever"
* "A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today" ‡
* "From Graceland to the Promised Land"
* "Running Kind" ‡
* "I'm Always on a Mountain When I Fall"
* "It's Been a Great Afternoon"
* "Red Bandana"
* "My Own Kind of Hat"

1980s|

* "The Way I Am"
* "Misery and Gin"
* "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink"
* "Leonard"
* "Rainbow Stew"
* "My Favorite Memory"
* "Big City"
* "Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)"
* "Going Where the Lonely Go"
* "You Take Me for Granted"
* "What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life)"
* "It's All in the Game"
* "That's the Way Love Goes"
* "Someday When Things Are Good"
* "Let's Chase Each Other Around the Room"
* "A Place to Fall Apart"
* "Kern River"
* "I Had a Beautiful Time"
* "A Friend in California"
* "Almost Persuaded"
* "Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star"
* "Chill Factor"
* "We Never Touch at All"
* "You Babe"
* "5:01 Blues"
* "A Better Love Next Time"
* "If You Want to Be My Woman"

Collaborations|

| Albums|

* Just Between the Two of Us (with Bonnie Owens and The Strangers)
* A Taste of Yesterday's Wine (with George Jones)
* Pancho & Lefty (with Willie Nelson)
* Heart to Heart (with Leona Williams)
* Walking the Line (with George Jones and Willie Nelson)
* Seashores of Old Mexico (with Willie Nelson)
* Kickin' Out the Footlights...Again (with George Jones)
* Last of the Breed (with Willie Nelson and Ray Price)
* Django & Jimmie (with Willie Nelson)

|

Singles|

* "Bar Room Buddies" (with Clint Eastwood)
* "Yesterday's Wine" (with George Jones)
* "C.C. Waterback" (with George Jones)
* "Reasons to Quit" (with Willie Nelson)
* "Pancho and Lefty" (with Willie Nelson)
* "Wreck on the Highway" (with Chester Smith)

As guest|

* "Street Singer" (by The Strangers)
* "Walking the Floor Over You" (by Ernest Tubb)
* "Politically Uncorrect" (by Gretchen Wilson)

Related articles|

* Discography
* Marty Haggard
* Noel Haggard
* Bonnie Owens
* Leona Williams

‡ indicates a release performed with The Strangers

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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