Merle Haggard lives, Garth Brooks is long gone

[Chip Fossa]

Well, I guess I'll jump into the foray.

Merle Haggard has moved me ever since the early days.

OK - what are those early days? - around 1968.

That man has shaped and molded me as much as my other influences - Dylan; Lightfoot; Paul Simon; Dave Van Ronk; and on and on.

WHY? - Because all of the above have talked to me in a special way. By talking in a special way, I don't mean literally.

Not just Garth Brooks, but this whole latest generation of "country singers", just don't have it.

Garth, Toby, Shania, all of em' ....

I guess I'm just old; but this new crop impresses me not a whit.

I can not name, sing, hum, recite, or whistle any songs from any of these new so-called COUNTRY SINGERS. I don't know any of their stuff, and really don't care to. It sounds good, but it is 100% empty -
unconvincing.

AND - they haven't lived life long enuff to come up with something believable.

Go ahead, fire away.

[Tony Prior]

We are not supposed to like everything that everyone else likes..

if we did we could have stopped with Gary Lewis and the Playboys and ended it there !

[Joey Ace]

Hi Chip,
I hear what you're saying and mostly agree, but
has there been a new Hag song in the last generation that has touched you?

For me the answer is no. I purchased his recent CD "The Bluegrass Sessions" because I'm a fan of the Rob Ickes, who played Reso on it. As good as he was, I really missed the PSG on classics such as "Big City".

The classics are just that, but since 1989, Garth, Alan, and their peers have penned more songs that touched me than that Merle, Willie, and their peers.