| I'm a Lonesome Fugitive | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 4, 1967 | |||
| Recorded | August and November 1966 | |||
| Studio | Capitol (Hollywood) | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 31:02 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Ken Nelson | |||
| Merle Haggard and the Strangers chronology | ||||
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| Singles from I'm a Lonesome Fugitive | ||||
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I'm a Lonesome Fugitive is the third studio album by Merle Haggard and the Strangers released on Capitol Records in 1967.
The song "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" brought Haggard country stardom. Although it sounds autobiographical (Haggard had done time at San Quentin), David Cantwell states in his book The Running Kind that it was actually written by Liz Anderson and her husband Casey while driving cross country and was inspired by the popular television show The Fugitive starring David Janssen as Richard Kimble. Haggard felt a connection to the song immediately and when it was released it became his first number one country hit. When Anderson played the song for Haggard, she was unaware about his prison stretch. "I guess I didn't realize how much the experience at San Quentin did to him, 'cause he never talked about it all that much," Bonnie Owens, Haggard's backup singer, and then-wife, is quoted in the liner notes to the 1994 retrospective, Down Every Road. "I could tell he was in a dark mood...and I said, 'Is everything okay?' And he said, 'I'm really scared.' And I said, 'Why?' And he said, 'Cause I'm afraid someday I'm gonna be out there...and there's gonna be some convict...some prisoner that was in there the same time I was in, stand up—and they're gonna be about the third row down—and say, 'What do you think you're doing, 45200?'" [1] Haggard would address the issue on his next album, Branded Man .
In 1996, I'm a Lonesome Fugitive was reissued by BGO Records along with Mama Tried . [2]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [3] |
I'm a Lonesome Fugitive was released on March 4, 1967, and rose to number 3 on the Billboard country albums chart and made it to number 165 on the pop charts. As with his previous album Swinging Doors , Haggard wrote nearly all the songs himself. As David Cantwell observed in 2013, most of the songs find Haggard in some sort of trap, citing the prison song "Life in Prison" and "House of Memories" ("My house is a prison...") and describes the album as "hurtling and out of control even when standing still. [4] Merle can do nothing but sit and wait for phone calls that never come...It's a fantastic album, start to end..." George Bedard of AllMusic praises Haggard's cover of the Jimmie Rodgers classic "Rough and Rowdy Ways," insisting that Haggard "could evoke the Ghosts of Country Past in an absolutely convincing way without nostalgia or imitation." [3]
All songs by Merle Haggard unless otherwise noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" | Liz Anderson, Casey Anderson | 2:56 |
| 2. | "All of Me Belongs to You" | 2:40 | |
| 3. | "House of Memories" | 2:47 | |
| 4. | "Life in Prison" | Jelly Sanders, Haggard | 3:02 |
| 5. | "Whatever Happened to Me" | 2:57 | |
| 6. | "Drink Up and Be Somebody" | 2:30 | |
| 7. | "Someone Told My Story" | 2:32 | |
| 8. | "If You Want to Be My Woman" | 2:16 | |
| 9. | "Mary's Mine" | Jerry Ward | 2:56 |
| 10. | "Skid Row" | 1:57 | |
| 11. | "My Rough and Rowdy Ways" | Jimmie Rodgers | 2:23 |
| 12. | "Mixed Up Mess of a Heart" | Tommy Collins, Haggard | 2:06 |
with
and
| Chart (1967) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Country Albums | 3 |
| Billboard Pop Albums | 165 |
Merle Ronald Haggard was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler.
Same Train, A Different Time is the ninth studio album by American country music artist Merle Haggard backed by The Strangers, released in 1969, featuring covers of songs by legendary country music songwriter Jimmie Rodgers. It was originally released as a 2 LP set on Capitol (SWBB-223).
Branded Man is the fourth studio album by American country music singer Merle Haggard and The Strangers. It was released on Capitol Records in 1967.
Okie from Muskogee is the first live album by Merle Haggard and the Strangers released in October 1969 on Capitol Records.
The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers released on Capitol Records in 1968. It rose to number 6 on the Billboard country albums chart.
Mama Tried is the seventh studio album by American country music singer and songwriter Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released on Capitol Records in 1968. It reached number 4 on Billboard's country albums chart. The title song was one of Haggard's biggest hit singles and won the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.
Pride in What I Am is the eighth studio album by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers released in 1969 on Capitol Records.
Sing Me Back Home is the fifth studio album by American country singer and songwriter Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1968 on Capitol Records.
Swinging Doors and the Bottle Let Me Down is the second studio album by American country music singer Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1966 on Capitol Records. It is sometimes called Swinging Doors and has also been released with two fewer songs as High on a Hilltop.
A Portrait of Merle Haggard is the tenth studio album by American recording artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released September 2, 1969.
The Fightin' Side of Me is the second live album by Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1970. Like the song "Okie from Muskogee" led to a quickly released album, The Fightin' Side of Me was also quickly released because of the run of success of Haggard's patriotic hit single "The Fightin' Side of Me".
Let Me Tell You About a Song is the fourteenth studio album by American country singer Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1972. It reached No. 7 on the Billboard Country album chart and #166 on the Pop album chart. The lead-off singles were "Grandma Harp" and "Daddy Frank " — both reached No. 1.
The Land of Many Churches is the fifteenth studio album and the double live gospel album by Merle Haggard and The Strangers released on Capitol Records in 1971.
Ramblin' Fever is a studio album by American country music singer Merle Haggard, released in 1977. It was his first on the MCA label after recording for Capitol Records since 1965. It was also his first album without crediting the Strangers. It reached Number 5 on the Country album chart. Ramblin' Fever was reissued on CD in 2002.
Songs for the Mama That Tried is a studio album by American country music singer Merle Haggard with backing by the Strangers, released in 1981. A gospel album, it reached Number 46 on the Billboard country albums chart.
That's the Way Love Goes is the thirty-eighth studio album by the American country music singer Merle Haggard backed by The Strangers, released in 1983.
Ralph Eugene Mooney was an American steel guitar player and songwriter, he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1983. He was the original steel guitarist in Merle Haggard's band, The Strangers and Waylon Jennings's band, The Waylors.
Down Every Road 1962–1994 is a compilation album by American country singer Merle Haggard, released in 1996. It covers music from his earliest work in the early 1960s to his Epic releases of the late 1980s. The boxed set includes three CDs of material recorded for Capitol and one of Haggard's later MCA and Epic recordings.
Strangers is the debut studio album by American country music artist Merle Haggard. It was released on September 27, 1965, by Capitol Records.
Rainbow Stew Live at Anaheim Stadium is a live album by American country music artist Merle Haggard with backing by The Strangers. It was recorded in October 1980 and released in July 1981 on MCA Records.
