I’m a Lonesome Fugitive

Nah not for me

Pre Listen:
Merle Haggard and The Strangers are complete strangers to me. The album cover doesn't give me the vibes of something I'd likely enjoy, but I'm keeping an open mind.

Notable Tracks:
Life In Prison - A stand-out song to me as one I enjoyed more than the rest. Not my favorite, but for the overall country sound that most of the album has, this one does it best.
If You Want To Be My Woman - My favorite track on the album. It stood out to me from the rest as being closer to classic rock than country. Reminds me of Elvis. Good sound.
My Rough And Rowdy Ways - Least favorite track on the album. One of the few that felt like it realllyy dragged. Boring lyrics about being useless.

Post Listen:
It was pretty much what I expected with little exception. I do prefer this sort of classic-country to modern day pop-country. The lyrical work of this album compared to today's country songs which without fail talk exclusively about either guns, girls, god, beer, or trucks, is great.

The lead singer's voice is consistently good, and he strikes great harmonies with the other vocalists. The sliding electric guitar throughout the album is another highlight, I love that nostalgic feeling it carries. Sadly this is another such case where the songs start to really blend. No least favorite track, nothing terribly offensive, just nothing amazing again.

The album felt like it was dragging towards the end. I can absolutely see how anyone could enjoy the sleepy melodies, it is quality music, it's just too sleepy for me. Sounds like something I'd hear in Fallout New Vegas. 3/5

Love me some old country. Why do they always kill a woman though? 🤔

There wasn't anything wrong with the album, but nothing really stood out to me from it. I can appreciate the occasional country song, but I wasn't hooked.

I was going to say “like George Jones but not as dark!” Then I heard “Life in Prison!” 🙀

Not my favorite type of Country. That is, a little too corny and there’s a lot of tropes. Some nice playing obviously, Glen Campbell is on here and there’s shades of the Bakersfield sound some proto-rockin’-country that seems like the only thing I heard in the 90s. It’s alright, Haggard has a nice voice, and some of the songs evoke the later outlaw country trend. Too polished for me though.

When Hag passes on
To the great unknown
They'll find written on the front
Of his headstone
"Here lies a man
Who had a hell-of-a-band
And who would never had made it alone."

Some country. Maybe slightly edgier/better than other country, but......

In this house, we like two kinds of music... Country and Western, and this album is the real deal. It's pure Bakersfield Sound, with the kind of honesty you just don't get in the shitty pop country these days. The steel guitar is amazing, and Merle's voice? It's like a warm hug from a 1967 Ford truck AM radio.

The stories are great, too, with themes of prison, heartbreak, and life on the run. Even without the big hits, every song feels essential. It's a quick 30 minute lesson in Americana that shows why Merle Haggard is a legend. If you want some good, old-fashioned country to listen to and think about life, this is it.

Even though I’m not a fan of the genre, I have found some Country albums throughout this that I have really enjoyed. This is not one of them.

I did really like the track If You Want To Be My Woman. Unfortunately I absolutely hated everything else about it.

It's pretty generic sounding country music.

A few of the slower songs were not good, but mostly this was good old country.

3.0/5.0: Good

a buddy of mine opened for merle once and merle bit his fingers off. aside from that the album is great

*Cries about country music, gives Limp Bizkit a 5. Fuckin teens man.

Also, while I'm reviewing reviews: 'Okie from Muskokie' is not jingoistic. Amazing that you know that word but have zero grasp of subtly or irony. Old mate probably holds that belief whilst concurrently being that reddit guy who blows up when people mistakenly treat 'Born in the USA' as patriotic. Fuck, I'm the reddit guy now.

Didn't mean to get this riled about a middling Merle album but this list is boring me and I've had 5 beers, here's the real review:

Some good Merles on here. Not sure it's his best but I'm no expert.

This was a great listen!
I’m not a huge listener of country music but the old stuff sounds the best to me.
Like gangsta rap music, the outlaw, fugitive, on-the-run thing, doesn’t mean much to me but makes for great fantasy.
The thing that really rwaonates though are the love songs including the broken hearted kind.
Now that I can relate to!
The clincher though is that Merle Haggard has a great voice!
The tone of his voice as well as how he enunciates and sings his words sound so damn musical!
I have heard his music before and it just came and went but this one finally clicked with me.
I hope I have some time left in my life to dive into the rest of his vast discography!

"It gets longer in between each time you call me"

If I was going for the cheap laugh I'd make a penis joke about that line, but I think he means the time between phone calls.

Plenty of heartbreak, men a-doin' what a man's gotta do and jail time. Even, in If You Want to be my Woman, a bit a sexual coercion that really hasn't aged well.

"Mary's mine" brings a bit of happiness, about a man who was living a life without meaning, but who found a reason for carrying on in the love a true hearted girl gave him.

But the next song is about a man whose girl left him and now he's om skid row, so maybe Mary wasn't so true after all.

Then Jimmy Rogers song about a man who found a good woman but can't give up his rough and rowdy ways.

Then a song about a man who had his mixed up mess of a heart torn apart by a little bitty woman.

This guy really has some problems with his attitude to the ladies.

Seriously, it's probably A grade, old style country, but I admit I find myself listening to it as a sort of camp kitsch.

So let's give it a three and move on

Perfectly enjoyable classic country music. Nothing too mind blowing here. Really good vocal performances. Favorites were the title track, Drink Up And Be Somebody, Skid Row, and Mixed Up Mess Of A Heart.

I have mixed feelings about Country music that can be summarised by: Johnny Cash = Good/Dixie Chicks = Bad. This album was definitely leading over to the good side, despite the twang in his lovely voice. I wouldn’t buy it though so 3 stars is suitable.

The Good: Realizing that Merle isn’t selfish, so he goes on the lam alone…
The Bad: Us not understanding why such an outstanding fella like Merle would be a fugutive…
The Ugly: He’s not running from the law… he’s running from his ex-wife!

I am playing catch-up as this album was presented to me during a great trip I had to Japan, and at the time I was actually NOT enjoying this album much…
So, I thought that I would give the album some time, listen to it more attentively, to see if I would start liking it better…

Middle of the road for me… I much preferred some of the other country music that has been presented to me on this list…

2* upgraded because I can...

One of the best Country singers from this era, good to see he's represented on this list. I'm A Lonesome Fugitive isn't the first album I'd pick, but it does come from his best era. It's a really traditional Country album with exactly 6 songs a side, working around to a pretty short total album length, as was often the case for the Capitol albums of this era. It's a nice collection of songs and Merle Haggard is great at telling stories and hardship in his work. Just a simple, yet lovely Country album.

1001 denkt schon Country ist mein Lieblingsgenre obwohl es nicht stimmt, aber dann kommt wieder ein altes Country Album und es ist Gangster Shit der nur 4 Sterne bekommen kann