I Am What I Am (Merle Haggard album)

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I Am What I Am
Merle Haggard - I Am What I Am - coverart.jpg
Studio album by Merle Haggard
Released April 20, 2010 (2010-04-20)
Genre Country
Length40:25
Label Vanguard
Producer Lou Bradley
Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard chronology
The Bluegrass Sessions
(2007) The Bluegrass Sessions2007		I Am What I Am
(2010)		 Working in Tennessee
(2011) Working in Tennessee2011
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]

I Am What I Am is the sixty-second studio album by American country music artist Merle Haggard. It was released on April 20, 2010 by Vanguard Records. The album peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. [2]

Country music, also known as country and western, and hillbilly music, is a genre of popular music that originated in the southern United States in the early 1920s. It takes its roots from genres such as folk music and blues.

Merle Haggard American country music song writer, singer and musician

Merle Ronald Haggard was an American country singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band the Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the twang of the Fender Telecaster mixed with the sound of the steel guitar, vocal harmony styles in which the words are minimal, and a rough edge not heard on the more polished Nashville sound recordings of the same era.

Vanguard Records Record label

Vanguard Records is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label throughout its heyday in the 50s and 60s, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal jazz, folk, and blues musicians. The Bach Guild was a subsidiary label.

Contents

The final song, “It's Gonna Be Me,” was only released on Amazon.com, despite having received positive review as a song which stands out with a heavy bass line and social-critical lyrics. [3]

Track listing

All songs written by Merle Haggard except where noted.

  1. "I've Seen It Go Away" – 3:00
  2. "Pretty When It's New" – 3:12
  3. "Oil Tanker Train" – 3:02
  4. "Live and Love Always" – 2:30
  5. "The Road to My Heart" (Freddy Powers) – 2:50
  6. "How Did You Find Me Here" (M. Haggard, Theresa Lane Haggard) – 3:55
  7. "We're Falling in Love Again" – 3:31
  8. "Bad Actor" (Doug Colosio, M. Haggard, Scott Joss) – 3:28
  9. "Down at the End of the Road" – 3:10
  10. "Stranger in the City" – 2:09
  11. "Mexican Bands" – 3:27
  12. "I Am What I Am" – 2:38
  13. "It's Gonna Be Me" - 3:27 (Amazon Exclusive)

Personnel

Bass guitar Electric bass instrument

The bass guitar is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, except with a longer neck and scale length, and four to six strings or courses.

Trombone Type of brass instrument

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. As on all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips (embouchure) cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate. Nearly all trombones have a telescoping slide mechanism that varies the length of the instrument to change the pitch. Many modern trombone models also use a valve attachment to lower the pitch of the instrument. Variants such as the valve trombone and superbone have three valves similar to those on the trumpet.

Piano musical instrument

The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700, in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings.

Chart performance

Chart (2010)Peak
position
US Billboard 200 [4] 77
US Top Country Albums (Billboard) [5] 18
US Independent Albums (Billboard) [6] 11

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References

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "I Am What I Am review". Allmusic . Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  2. ↑ "I Am What I Am Charts". Allmusic . Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  3. ↑ Best Music Writing 2010 p240 "One tune, called “It's Gonna Be Me,” stands out with its heavy bass line and lyrics that stake Haggard's claim to singing about what's wrong with the country today. “Who's gonna say the people's mad?” he growls. “Who's gonna say the music's .."
  4. ↑ "Merle Haggard Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
  5. ↑ "Merle Haggard Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard.
  6. ↑ "Merle Haggard Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard.
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