I was bartending this night and its a wonderful memory of my days in NY. I remember being shocked Merle ordered a Pepsi cause we had all this great bourbon. Thanks for posting this Mr Lenz. I appreciate it
How lovely to see this. Whenever I see Merle Haggard performing, rest his soul, it always reminds me of the story of that time Johnny Cash played San Quinten jail the second time and Merle was on the bill. Apparently he said to Johnny backstage “I really enjoyed the first show you did here”. Cash said “Merle, I don’t remember you being on the bill”? He replied “no Johnny, I was in the audience”.
I seen the Hag at billy bobs n Ft worth. When the concert was over he yell everbody gets a drink on me as long as ya drink jack black. Lov me some merle
I would pay money to watch more of these! They're all great, but i love the ones with Merle, would've liked to see him play one of Les Paul's les pauls!!
It's incredible that Les was able to play as well as he could with his arthritis which can clearly be seen in this video. Funny thing is that Les still sounded like you'd expect, simply classic. Merle really sounded great also, a really full, honest voice. A very enjoyable video, thanks!
So much fun going on on stage.....all the hilarious inside jokes....just a group of old friends having a blast....a once in a lifetime opportunity to watch a show like this.....👍👍
Let's give it up for that "Bob Dylan" Lol You got love Les Paul. He was miles ahead of his time. It seems to me everyone was on the same level. All got treated the same. Thanks Mr. Paul for making it all happen.
He actually wasn't easy to please as i think of it... on that stage he had his band/orchestra/Mr. Freddy/solo/ hell the STRANGER'S!!! WHOMEVER GOT THE PRIVILEGE THAT GIG. MERLE WAS A PERFECTIONIST , A TRUE ARTIST AND POET WHEN HE MADE THAT STUBBORN OLD TELE SING AND THEN TONED DOWN GET READY BECAUSE HE IS ABOUT TO LOOK AT AND SOMETIMES NOD ORCHESTRATING ITS IT'S YOUR TURN!!!
Trouble in Mind - “the original record” was back in 1924 when Les would have been about 9 so that was a joke. Merle was a big fan of Bob Wills who recorded the song in 1936. Also in ‘36, Bing Crosby introduced Pennies from Heaven. Bing and Les had a classic hit at the end of WWII with Its Been a Long, Long Time. His friendship with Bing got Les very early reel to reel tape machines that led to his experiments in overdubbing and multi-track recording.
I have done a little more looking. Georgia White (who was black) sang the song in 1936 also and it’s reported that Les Paul is the guitar player. This would fit in with the time that Les was an accompanist for Decca. Then much later, Les Paul and Mary Ford did Trouble in Mind in 1962 on an album called Swingin’ South.
@@hackbritton3548 3:20 “You know he played on the original record ...”. At first I thought he was making a joke about how far back Les went in his career (like how old Les was). But later when I dug a little deeper, Les probably did play on the record in ‘36. Good of Merle to know, but the original was in ‘24.
Merle was referring to the 1936 version for sure here because when I saw him back in the day at the Lone Star Cafe downtown on 13th & 5th, he introduced the song as “here’s an old song from 1936 called Trouble in Mind…”
Merle is the best, though he's a bit ragged here and even that is captivating. The bass player seems a bit dry, Les Paul says he "doesn't know A" and they just wing it. Seems totally unrehearsed but still comes together well enough. A bit country, a bit jazz, and a lot Merle.
Merle did not want to play in front of Les. he knew Les was somewhat frail, and Merle was too much of a gentleman to cause Les any discomfort in any way. Good old country manners.
Love les I really do but you have to play in the singers key. Haggard did great with his 2nd choice of keys. The musicians here are great and I may be out of line. But crap from A to Bd ain't nothin on guitar- Maybe on piano.?
