Merle Haggard makes honky tonk of Dodge Theatre
By CHRIS HOLLY
Get Out
July 2, 2004

With the 2002 passing of Waylon Jennings and last year's death of Johnny Cash, country music is left with very few of the artists that laid the genre’s foundation. Fortunately for fans of classic honky tonk, Merle Haggard, arguably the greatest country songwriter of all time, is still recording and touring — but who can say for how much longer?

“This may be the last time we get to see Merle,” said Rebecca Chartier, 43, of Glendale.

The 67-year-old Haggard graced the classy confines of the Dodge Theatre Friday to play his second Valley stop in support of his fantastic 2003 release “Like Never Before.” He played to about 900 people at the Marquee Theatre in February.

Receiving a standing ovation from the decidedly larger crowd as he emerged onstage to the accompanying western swing beat provided by his band, Haggard, dressed casually in jeans, boots, western jacket, work shirt, and cowboy hat, picked up his Fender Telecaster guitar and launched into his 1966 smash hit “Swinging Doors,” setting the honky tonk tone for the evening's festivities.

Supported by his group, collectively known as The Strangers (whom Haggard jokingly introduced as “the world's oldest beer joint band“), Haggard has put together perhaps his finest backing band ever for this tour. Featuring fiddle player Scott Joss, a Haggard and Dwight Yoakam band veteran, and guitarist Tom Bresch, son of influential guitar picker Merle Travis, The Strangers provided top-notch Bakersfield twang played to perfection in the Haggard tradition.

Long underrated as a guitarist, Haggard, the only country musician ever to be featured on the cover of venerable jazz publication Downbeat, played a mixture of the pure country leads with jazz swing overtones that have been a staple of his finest work for decades. Backed by trombone and saxophone on this night, he was able to drift effortlessly between jazz, western swing, and pure honky tonk, giving new flavor to songs he has been playing for decades.

The audience, made up of cowboys, bikers, punk rockers, senior citizens, and seemingly everyone in between, cheered Haggard's biggest crowd pleasers such as “Mama Tried,” “I Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink,” and the beautiful ballad “Today I Started Loving You Again.” By the time Haggard got to his signature closer “Okie From Muskogee,” the crowd was on its feet for another standing ovation to bring the 75-minute set to a close.

“Awesome show,” said Tim McNieil, 38, of Chandler, a self-proclaimed number one Haggard fan who vows that Merle's music will be the first to grace his two-year old's ears. “Just awesome.“

Show opener Trent Willmon, a West Texas native who joked that he had to change half of his set to exclude all the Haggard covers his band does, played a well received thirty minute set of neo-honky tonk that included his single “Beer Man,” currently garnering country radio airplay in the Valley.

Set List:
Swinging Doors
Sing A Sad Song
Big City
Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star
Motorcycle Cowboy
Farmer’s Daughter
Singing Star
Mama Tried
Footlights
I Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink
If We Make It Through December
Today I Started Loving You Again
Take Me Back To Tulsa
If I Could Only Fly
The Fightin’ Side Of Me
Ramblin’ Fever
Okie From Muskogee