The Running Kind: Listening to Merle Haggard

American Music Series

by David Cantwell

Merle Haggard enjoyed numerous artistic and professional triumphs, including more than a hundred country hits (thirty-eight at number one), dozens of studio and live album releases, upwards of ten thousand concerts, induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and songs covered by artists as diverse as Lynryd Skynyrd, Elvis Costello, Tammy Wynette, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Willie Nelson, the Grateful Dead, and Bob Dylan.

In The Running Kind, a new edition that expands on his earlier analysis and covers Haggard's death and afterlife as an icon of both old-school and modern country music, David Cantwell takes us on a revelatory journey through Haggard’s music and the life and times out of which it came. Covering the breadth of his career, Cantwell focuses especially on the 1960s and 1970s, when Haggard created some of his best-known and most influential music: songs that helped invent the America we live in today. Listening closely to a masterpiece-crowded catalogue (including “Okie from Muskogee,” “Sing Me Back Home,” “Mama Tried,” and “Working Man Blues,” among many more), Cantwell explores the fascinating contradictions—most of all, the desire for freedom in the face of limits set by the world or self-imposed—that define not only Haggard’s music and public persona but the very heart of American culture.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2013

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the sort of critical book I wish we found more often - it's not a biography, though it has biographical details. It's a thoughtful examination of the music itself, and it's place in American life. Cantwell has clearly listened closely to everything Haggard has ever sung, and his ability is impressive to get past the surface of these songs and into the nuances and contradictions of them. He'll make you want to hear records you don't know, make you want to hear ones you do know in a new way, and make you want to try to understand all the music you like as deeply as he does that of Haggard. He has the best analysis of the very concept of Christmas music I've yet read, too. Lots to say about class and race and the political relationships of country music and its fans. Some really good stuff about the reasons Johnny Cash had that huge rediscovery in the 90s while Haggard did not. Cantwell's writing is breezy, wickedly funny at times, sharp as a tack, and capable of distilling big thoughts down into the pithiest of essences. I really, really recommend this to anybody who likes to think music means more than just something to pass the time.

[Chris Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the way he weaved a little history and geography through the lyrics and songs of Merle Haggard. Fun read if you’re a Merle fan.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite simply, I wish every musician I liked had a book this sharp, extensive, and highly entertaining, Cantwell is a master of close listening - he understands the ways a James Burton guitar lick can emphasize the meaning of a song, or the way Haggard's voice fits in between the hot approach of a George Jones and the cool approach of a Willie Nelson.
Haggard released more than 80 albums during his lifetime, which ended only a few years after the original book was published. Cantwell has heard them all, in depth, and can place each song he discusses in the context of Haggard's career, in its place in American and country music culture, in its role as an influence or its carrying on of a tradition, and as a unique and timeless work of art. Merle Haggard was a complex artist, and Cantwell deals with all of his facets, good and bad. loved this book when it first came out, and the fact that there is more of it now only makes it better.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haggard has always been a touchstone of my life. On the day my parents brought me home from the hospital in August of 1971, my father propped me up on the couch and sang me every Merle Haggard song he knew, which is to say, all of them. He said that I needed to get used to them, as I would be hearing them a lot. From that time on, Hag's music has been one of the ways my father and I relate to one another; it was one channel of communication that was always open for us even when teen angst and working man's blues closed many of them at various times through the years.

This is a thoughtful and witty look at the Music and the Man. Cantwell's insightful examination of the songs, historical events, and biographical details of Haggard's career made me think about his work in a new way, and sent me running to my record and CD collection to hear them all again.

[Danny Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much more than a great book about a country music legend or a working class icon, The Running Kind is, first and foremost, a book about a musician and his artistic choices. When those artistic choices are being made by Merle Haggard, they are choices that define the hardest questions at the heart of the American identity. When those choices are being written about by David Cantwell, they are a series of revelations, like the sort of all night discussion that has you waving off the sunrise. Cantwell writes about music the way he hears it--closely, intimately, with a delight in the small things that make all the difference. If you love music, you don't just want this conversation, you need it.

[Jack Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merle Haggard was difficult. He never quite squared with popular notions of what was tasteful, musically or politically, which might explain why I heard so little of him even as I grew up in the country-inundated suburbs of Texas and Oklahoma (we were a Garth Brooks family through and through; and, as liberals, more inclined to dig the progressive classic sounds of Willie and Cash). But "difficult" often makes for good music, and it definitely makes for good reading in Cantwell's intelligent, sensitive, and witty book. I don't know if I'm entirely convinced that Haggard belongs in the esteemed company, in terms of artistic achievement and historical significance, of James Brown (as Cantwell suggests) (I just see one too many songs about disdaining people on welfare for my liking), but I definitely wanna get more Hag records now. As Cantwell notes early on, his book is not a biography, it's criticism. The writer shows you the man on several occasions (we get the requisite chapters on Haggard's prison time, and a few wonderfully concise paragraphs on his relationships with his many wives), but his primary goal is to show you the artist. Like any good critic, Cantwell wants to complicate Haggard. Against the cliche that Haggard was an "authentic" voice who wrote exclusively about personal concerns, Cantwell demonstrates how often Haggard toyed with his own life story in verse, and how frequently he re-interprets the visions of other songwriters. Cantwell does not celebrate the implied hatred in many of Hag's lyrics, but he doesn't dodge the issue, either: in a move straight out of Jefferson Davies' wonderful "Stayin Alive," he writes about how Haggard captured the zeitgeist of the white working class in a way that bounced between the poles of ironic distance and passionate involvement (in this way, Haggard ought to be championed the way the similarly un-P.C. voices of hip-hop have been). Best of all, Cantwell digs deep into Haggard's songs: his chapter-long close reads of tracks both hits ("Mama Tried" is not a song about Mama... it's a song about having no regrets, sorry ma) and misses ("Me and the Crippled Soldiers"... ouch) are revelatory; they'd make Dave Marsh proud. The focus is the music here, and Cantwell writes about music very, very well. I'd love to find his "Heartaches by the Number" soon. And I'd love to get some more Merle Haggard. Cuz I already have every Prince album, fools.

[Tom Choi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel biography (the story of the life and cultural/historical significance of Merle Haggard) is a good complement to the 2 autobiographies/memoirs written by Merle Haggard (the first, ok; the second, 1/2 great). The two autobiographies, which were written about 20 years apart, are surprisingly evocative and well-written about Haggard's upbringing and wayward, delinquent (i.e., criminal) ways, but lacking in any attempt to provide insight into his artistry or into his career as an artist (which is different from the artist's career, which could be satisfied by recounting what happened when and where). It's telling that Haggard wrote 2 autobiographies at all: it's like he wanted to set the record straight (the second book is much funnier and has more intense reflections on criminality and life in the penal system), but the very fact that there is even a second one at all determines the failure and shortcoming 'a priori'. In Cantwell's biography-as-exegesis, there's more emphasis on Haggard's early songs and albums, and like in most biographies or works of criticism, the enthusiasm and words peter out with the late career (exception: Beethoven?). The biographer injects elements from his own personal journey of discovering and growing up (and old) with the career and music of Merle Haggard, and his deep familiarity and reverence for the music is evident as he parses meaning and greater, overlooked significance from the golden nuggets buried in Haggard's mid-career.

Above all, it's great to read about the music as the thoughts evoke more vivid impressions, and even prompt the reader to explore songs that might have been overlooked. Merle Haggard is great: he's the greatest country singer after Hank Williams, a songwriter of sensitive poetry and bold imagination, a well-rounded MUSICIANS (Haggard defaulted as a lead vocalist begrudgingly because he realized that he could not play the guitar as well as he wanted to, to rival his heroes), and a passionate music historian who create groundbreaking and artistically supreme tribute albums to his heroes and favorite music (Bob Wills, Jimmie Rodgers, Elvis, gospel music, jazz inflected blues, songs about trains and fast automobiles), and this novel biography rises to the challenge of doing justice to what the music can well do on its own.

[Tim Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Not so much a biography of Haggard as it is an analysis of his music within the context of the time it was recorded, Cantwell does a great job of mixing biographical anecdotes and analysis of Haggard's music. The focus is mostly on Haggard's career during the 1960s and 1970s, his most creative and successful period.

I would give this 5 stars other than there are some long portions of this book that are rather dry, especially during the first quarter of the book. Once Cantwell starts analyzing Haggard's music and giving us a look at his life as a country music star the book is fantastic however.

[Lauren Ingraham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was really blown away with this book and how it got to me in personal ways even though I didn't know much about Merle Haggard before reading. I think David Cantwell beautifully writes about music and artists in a way that makes their story a part of everyone.

[Bob Entwistle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kind of music biography. We don’t have to sit through a long drawn out family history before ever getting to the music and music career that brought us to the book.

Cantwell steps through key musical moments and songs chronologically and brings in enough related history and a bit of conjecture to explain what was going on in Haggard’s life at the time. He brings in insights from interviews at the time to add key info but it’s the focus on the songs and what they are saying that take center stage here.

[Nate]

Great book about Merle Haggard. It's not a strict biography, though Cantwell does proceed chronologically through Haggard's life, using critical analysis of Haggard's songs (and broader cultural importance) as a means of discussing his story. It's very well-written, readable, and insightful. Cantwell is a clear Hag fan, his enthusiasm shining through on every page. Like any good critic, he's able to describe what makes a song great in a way that makes you want to listen to it and hear what he's saying. Cantwell's insights made me appreciate and understand Hag even more.

[David Kintore · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not easy to write well about music, but David Cantwell has done it superbly here for Merle Haggard. Cantwell immerses himself in Haggard's lyrics and this enriches the book, keeping it authentic and grounded in Haggard's life. After reading the first few chapters I couldn't resist seeking out Merle's early albums 'I'm A Lonesome Fugitive' and 'Branded Man', which still sound superb today.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything you want to know about Merle Haggard !

[Shannon Heaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-sourced and engaging, book didn't skip around too much in laying out Haggard's career, which certainly took a lot of turns.

[Eric Schumacher-rasmussen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely riveting critical discussion of one of the greatest American singers and songwriters. David Cantwell brings his encyclopedic knowledge and deep love of country music to bear on Merle Haggard's entire career, with just enough biographical details and sociopolitical analysis to provide context. He explores all of the complexities and contradictions of Haggard's populist vision and romantic heart, but what really stands out is his unparalleled ability to write about how the music sounds in a way that crackles and bursts off the pages. Whether you're a Haggard fanatic or a neophyte—or somewhere in between—this is consistently compelling, and often quite funny (though usually darkly so, just like Hag himself). What's more, the prose is as light on its feet as it is substantive. One hell of an accomplishment from one of the best music writers working today.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A country music legend, Merle Haggard was always a bit contradictory, if you believe his actual views had anything to do with his music. David Cantwell's books analyzes Haggard's career through his music. It's not a biography -- no one-on-one interviews with the subject -- but rather an attempt to explain the songs and chronicle his amazing success in the music industry. It's an interesting approach, and I think it falls short a little but for country music fans, or just Merle Haggard fans, it's a quick and interesting read.

[Betsy Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried at the end of this book, which was not really what I was expecting from music criticism. But it's a really beautiful book and Cantwell is, as ever, such a lovely writer and the ending, with Haggard just destined/cursed/blessed to be Haggard all the way, just hit me right in the feelings.

[Chris Craddock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an awesome book that went over Merle Haggard's career, talking about his music. It only brought in biography where it had bearing on his music. He had a very good assessment of the highs and lows and the cultural currents that affected Merle.

[Jon D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every bit as good as I expected it to be - a model for how to write about country music.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Merle deserves this scrutiny, but, dammit, also deserves footnotes.
This is more career criticism than biography. Still, it's about great stuff, and well written.
Recommended, with caveats.