NASHVILLE, TN. (Hag Records/ www.dept56.org) - Country music legend MERLE HAGGARD is teaming up with
Toby Keith later this week, as the country giants record a pair of duets. While a
James Stroud-produced track will appear on Keith's upcoming DreamWorks release, the big news is the track that the pair are laying down for HAGGARD's future release.
Not only is legendary Nashville producer and executive Jimmy Bowen taking a break from his well-deserved retirement to work with HAGGARD, but the duet is among several tracks Bowen is producing for a joint venture between HAGGARD's own Hag Records and his former longtime label, Capitol Records. The sessions are being co-produced by esteemed television composer Mike Post (THE ROCKFORD FILES, HILL STREET BLUES, LAW & ORDER, NYPD BLUE) at Post's Burbank, CA studio.
With negotiations between Capitol and HAGGARD in the final stages, "the most influential country singer of his generation" (as HAGGARD was dubbed by Robert Hilburn of the LOS ANGELES TIMES in a review earlier this year) looks to release his first album of new material for Capitol in over 25 years. This past March, Capitol released the double-disc compilation of HAGGARD classics, 40 No1 HITS, which continues to steadily sell between 600 and 800 copies a week nearly six months later.
Bowen, a key executive for Capitol, MCA, and Elektra (among others) since the 1970s, boasts one of the most impressive resumes of any producer in Nashville. From work with Rat Pack superstars Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr., to producing generations of country icons - including HAGGARD, Conway Twitty, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, Jr., The Oak Ridge Boys, Loretta Lynn & Patsy Cline, the Charlie Daniels Band, Kenny Rogers, George Strait, and many more - Bowen has had a hand in many of the most important releases of the past half century.
Yet, coaxing Bowen into one more turn behind the knobs was hardly a difficult task. "I just love Haggard," says Bowen. "I'm not really out of retirement, I'm doing this while in retirement."
It's a testament both to the singular mark HAGGARD has left on country music, and the passion and vitality he brings to that music even after a career spanning four decades and nearly 80 albums.
