Merle Haggard - Down Every Road

Merle Haggard is a rarity: a complex artist whose rich scope can accurately be summarized through singles, but who has far more great material than can be fit on one or two discs. Which, of course, makes him the perfect candidate for a box set, and Capitol released the first comprehensive Hag retrospective in 1996 with the four-disc set Down Every Road. Since Haggard has such a rich, consistent body of his work -- the best of his MCA and Epic periods, two eras that are covered here, hold their own next to his seminal Capitol material -- even four discs leave behind many a great song, yet only those who already own all the albums would argue about omissions, because this offers a generous 100 songs, spanning from his earliest work for Talley in the early '60s to his Epic sides of the late '80s, containing all of his big hits and an expert selection of album tracks, such as "Tulare Dust," "Holding Things Together," and "Living With the Shades Pulled Down," that reveal the depth of his music. Read More