A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills)

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A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills)
Studio album by
Merle Haggard
ReleasedNovember 16, 1970
GenreCountry, Western swing
Length37:05
LabelCapitol
ProducerEarl Ball
Merle Haggard chronology
The Fightin' Side of Me
(1969) 		A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills)
(1970) 		Hag
(1971)

A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills) is the eleventh studio album by Merle Haggard backed by The Strangers, released in 1970.

Background

Although it is often assumed that Haggard, who was enjoying enormous success with the social commentary "

The Texas Playboys to record the tribute: Johnnie Lee Wills, Eldon Shamblin, Tiny Moore, Joe Holley, Johnny Gimble, and Alex Brashear. Merle's band The Strangers were also present during the recording but unfortunately Wills suffered a massive stroke after the first day of recording. Merle arrived on the second day, devastated that he would not get to record with him.[1]

Haggard spent a few scant months learning the fiddle, an instrument that he had not touched since his childhood violin lessons. Unlike Haggard's previous tribute album to

Western Swing music and inspire younger musicians like Asleep at the Wheel and Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
.

Haggard would do more tribute albums to Wills over the next 40 years. In 1973 he appeared on For The Last Time Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys. In 1994 Haggard collaborated with Asleep at the Wheel and many other artists influenced by the music of Bob Wills on an album entitled Tribute To The Music Of Bob Wills And The Texas Playboys. A Tribute was re-released on CD on the Koch label in 1995 with both the original Haggard liner notes and new notes by country music and western swing historian Rich Kienzle, who described the album's influence on his interest in delving deeper into Wills and his legacy.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[3]

AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album "a ragged, enthusiastic good time. Haggard, the Strangers, and the Playboys play their hearts out, breathing life into Wills warhorses... while bringing attention to lesser-known songs... The fact that Western swing re-established itself as a viable country genre after the release of A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player is a testament to the power and charm of this record."[2] Music critic Robert Christgau wrote "Now that's the Merle I trust. His uncountrypolitan formal sense has always gone along with a reverence for history, and his subtle, surprisingly tranquil, yet passionate singing style - all that yodel and straining head voice—was made for Wills's pop-jazz-country amalgam."[3]

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Brown Skinned Gal" (Bob Wills) – 2:50
  2. "Right Or Wrong" (Paul Biese, Haven Gillespie, Arthur Sizemore) – 2:36
  3. "Brain Cloudy Blues" (Tommy Duncan, Bob Wills) – 3:38
  4. "Stay a Little Longer" (Duncan, Wills) – 2:48
  5. "Misery" (Duncan, Tiny Moore, Wills) – 3:19
  6. "Time Changes Everything" (Duncan) – 2:36

Side two

  1. "San Antonio Rose" (Wills) – 2:53
  2. "I Knew The Moment I Lost You" (Duncan, Wills) – 3:00
  3. "Roly Poly" (Fred Rose) – 2:39
  4. "Old Fashioned Love" (James P. Johnson, Cecil Mack) – 2:32
  5. "Corrine, Corrina" (Bo Chatmon, Mitchell Parish, J. Mayo Williams) – 2:16
  6. "Take Me Back to Tulsa" (Duncan, Wills) – 2:38

Personnel

The Strangers:

  • Roy Nichols – lead guitar
  • Norman Hamlet – steel guitar, dobro
  • Bobby Wayne - rhythm guitar, harmony vocals
  • Dennis Hromek – bass, background vocals
  • Biff Adam – drums

with

and

  • Johnnie Lee Wills– banjo
  • Alex Brashear– trumpet
  • Joe Holley– fiddle

External links

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-292-71771-8
    .
  2. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  3. ^
    ISBN 089919026X
    . Retrieved February 24, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
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