"Kentucky Gambler" | ||||
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Single by Merle Haggard and The Strangers | ||||
from the album Keep Movin' On | ||||
B-side | "You'll Always Be Special" | |||
Released | October 1974 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 2:42 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Songwriter(s) | Dolly Parton | |||
Producer(s) | Ken Nelson Fuzzy Owen | |||
Merle Haggard and The Strangers singles chronology | ||||
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"Kentucky Gambler" is a 1974 song written and performed by Dolly Parton. "Kentucky Gambler" was issued as a track from Dolly Parton's The Bargain Store album from 1975.
A classic Dolly Parton story song, "Kentucky Gambler" tells the story of a miner from Kentucky who abandons his wife and children for the bright lights of Reno, where he initially does very well at gambling, "winning at everything he played". Eventually, however, his winning streak comes to a halt, as he loses all of his winnings. Broke, he returns home, only to find that his wife has found someone else and has moved on without him. He concludes that "a gambler loses much more than he wins".
That same year, Merle Haggard and The Strangers covered "Kentucky Gambler" and it was their nineteenth number one song on the country chart. The Merle Haggard and The Strangers version stayed at number one for a single week and spent a total of eleven weeks on the chart. [1]
Coincidentally, Parton's The Bargain Store album featured a cover of a Haggard composition, "You'll Always Be Special to Me". The following year, Haggard would cover another Dolly Parton song, "The Seeker".
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The Bargain Store is the fifteenth solo studio album by American entertainer Dolly Parton. It was released on February 17, 1975, by RCA Victor. In the Parton-penned title track, one of her best-known compositions, she used worn, second-hand merchandise in a discount store as a metaphor for a woman damaged by an ill-fated relationship. The song was dropped from a number of country stations' playlists when programmers mistook the line "you can easily afford the price" as a thinly veiled reference to prostitution. Despite the decrease in airplay, the song nonetheless topped the U.S. country singles charts in April 1975.
All I Can Do is the seventeenth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. It was released on August 16, 1976, by RCA Victor. The album was co-produced by Parton and Porter Wagoner and would be the last of Parton's solo albums to have any involvement from Wagoner. It was nominated for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female at the 19th Annual Grammy Awards. The album spawned three singles: "Hey, Lucky Lady", "All I Can Do", and "Shattered Image".
"The Seeker" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Dolly Parton. It was released as the first single from Parton's 1975 album, Dolly, and was also a top ten single on the U.S. country charts. A spiritual, which Parton described as her "talk with God", the song was released as a single in July 1975, just missing the top spot on the U.S. country singles chart; it peaked at #2.
"Movin' On" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Merle Haggard and The Strangers. It was released in May 1975 as the third single and partial title track from the album Keep Movin' On. Originally, it was the theme song to the 1974-1976 NBC-TV series of the same name and references the lead characters of the series, Sonny Pruitt and Will Chandler, by name. A full-length version of the song was released as a single in 1975, and it topped the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart that July.
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.
If We Make It Through December is the sixteenth studio album by American country music singer Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1974. It reached number 4 on the Billboard country album charts. The title track was previously released on Haggard's Christmas release of 1973, A Christmas Present. The single spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart in December 1973 and January 1974, and cracked the Top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100. "If We Make It Through December" was the No. 2 song of the year on Billboard's Hot Country Singles 1974 year-end chart.
Keep Movin' On is the eighteenth studio album by American country music singer Merle Haggard and The Strangers released in 1975. It reached number one on the Billboard country albums chart. "Movin' On" was a full-length version of a song Haggard recorded as the theme song to the TV series Movin' On.
It's All in the Movies is the nineteenth studio album by American country music singer Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1976.
My Love Affair with Trains is the twentieth studio album by American country music singer Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1976. The LP rose to number 7 on the Billboard country albums chart.
"Always Wanting You" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers. It was released in February 1975 as the second single from the album Keep Movin' On. The song was Haggard and The Strangers twentieth number-one single on the U.S. country chart. It stayed at number one for two weeks and spent a total of ten weeks on the chart.
"The Roots of My Raising" is a song written by Tommy Collins, and recorded by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers. It was released in January 1976 as the first single and title track from the album The Roots of My Raising. The song was Merle Haggard and The Strangers twenty-third number one on the country chart. The single spent one week at number one and a total of ten weeks on the country chart.
Songs for the Mama That Tried is the thirty-second 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.
"It's All in the Movies' is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers. It was released in September 1975 as the first single and title track from the album It's All in the Movies. The song was Merle Haggard and The Strangers twenty-second number one single on the country chart. The single stayed at number one for a single week and spent a total of thirteen weeks on the country chart.
"Making Believe" is a country music song written by Jimmy Work. Kitty Wells recorded a chart-topping version in 1955. The song is on many lists of all-time greatest country music songs and has been covered by scores of artists over the past fifty years, including Thorleifs, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Don Gibson, Roy Acuff, Lefty Frizzell, Wanda Jackson, Connie Francis, Ray Charles, Anita Carter, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Ernest Tubb, Skeeter Davis, The Haden Triplets, Social Distortion and Volbeat. The song is occasionally called "Makin' Believe".
"I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am" is a song written and performed by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers. It was released in October 1968 as the only single from his album Pride in What I Am. The song peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It reached number-one on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks in January 1969. The song was covered by Dean Martin and released as a single in mid-1969. A tape recorder version of this song was played at the funeral of late Lynyrd Skynyrd vocalist, Ronnie Van Zant.
"Here Comes the Freedom Train" is a 1976 song written by Stephen H. Lemberg, best known for being performed by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers. It was released in May 1976 as the first single from the album My Love Affair with Trains. "Here Comes the Freedom Train" peaked at number ten on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It reached number-one on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks in July 1976.
"A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers. It was released in August 1977 as the lead single from the album of the same name, A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today. The song peaked at number 16 on the U.S. country singles chart and at number 8 on the Canadian country singles chart.
"Running Kind" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers. It was released in January 1978 as the second and final single from the album, A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today. The song peaked at number 12 on the U.S. country singles chart and at number 10 on the Canadian country singles chart. The song was later covered by Radney Foster for the Haggard tribute album Mama's Hungry Eyes: A Tribute to Merle Haggard. Foster's version was released as a single in 1994 and peaked at number 64 on the U.S. country singles chart. Johnny Cash also covered the song with Tom Petty on the Unearthed box set.
Songs I'll Always Sing is a two-record compilation album by American country music singer and songwriter Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1977. It reached #15 in the US Country Charts. The album collects many of Haggard's best known recordings during his successful run at the label, including nine of his twenty-four #1 hits dating back to 1966.
Kern River is the fortieth studio album by American recording artist Merle Haggard backed by The Strangers, released in 1985. It reached number 8 on the Billboard country albums chart.