Folk/Country — All Formats  

An earnest, often largely orchestrated gospel-ish album This Lusty Land is his earliest inspirational foray. If you only know ol' Ern from "Sixteen Tons" and the Davy Crockett theme, or from his appearance as a Branson, MO dwelling ghost on the Simpsons, you're really missing out on a singular vocal talent – a man who cut some of the greatest hillbilly pop and proto-rockabilly vocal tunes ever! 12 tracks in all: "John Henry", "Trouble In Mind", "Chicken Road", "The Rovin' Gambler", "In The Pines", "Nine Pound Hammer", "The Last Letter", and more.

Let's get this straight. Merle Haggard SINGS "Okie From Muskogee" but he is not THE "Okie From Muskogee". Nevertheless, this is the record that put the honky in honky tonk. Merle sure pretended to not like hippies back in '69, and story has it he even refused an invitation to produce Gram Parson's GP album on the basis that Gram was just another damn dirty hippie. Of course that's just a story – Merle simply didn't fancy himself a producer. Okie From Muskogee is pretty much the definitive portrait of the Hag at his most reactionary, and if the ignorant politics of the title track gives us a few goosebumps along the way, it's well worth it to hear him perform some of his best tracks at the very peak of his career. Besides, what's an outlaw if he doesn't scare you a little? Many of the great ones are here, including "Mama Tried", "No Hard Times", "In the Arms Of Love", "If I Had Left It Up To You", "White Line Fever", "Blue Rock", "Okie From Muskogee", and a medley of "Swinging Doors", "I'm A Lonesome Fugitive", "Sing Me Back Home", and "Branded Man".

Includes tracks by Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers, Jimmie Revard & His Oklahoma Playboys, the Saddle Tramps, the Modern Mountaineers, the Tune Wranglers, Milton Brown & His Brownies, and Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers.