Merle Haggard - Live From Austin, TX '85 [Blue & Black]

Merle Haggard and The Strangers hold court on the Austin City Limits stage in Live From Austin, TX '85, pressed for this anniversary edition on blue and black vinyl.

By 1985 Haggard was a country institution, the Bakersfield firebrand whose plainspoken songs about hard living had shaped a generation of the genre. This performance, first released as part of the Live From Austin, TX series in 2006, finds him relaxed, wry and in superb voice, fronting one of the tightest bands country music has ever produced.

"Mama Tried" still lands with the weight of autobiography, while "Silver Wings" floats on a gentle, aching melody that seems to hush the room. Haggard tips his hat to his western swing heroes on "Take Me Back to Tulsa", giving The Strangers plenty of space to swing, and the set opens with "Okie From Muskogee's Comin' Home", a playful twist on his most famous anthem.

Across fifteen songs, the mix of honky-tonk heartbreak, barroom humour and easy, unshowy musicianship makes this a superb snapshot of Haggard in the middle of his career, long past proving himself and simply enjoying the music.

For country fans, it is a warm, unvarnished reminder of why his songs remain the bedrock of so much country music today, and a handsome addition to any collection.