His Epic Hits

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His Epic Hits album cover
Album Information
  • Artist: Merle Haggard (See All Albums by Merle Haggard)
  • Date Released: Jan 22, 1985

  • Genre: Country/Folk, Style: Contemporary Country

  • Label: Epic

Total Tracks: 11   Total Length: 39:23

eMusic Features

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Icon: Merle Haggard

By John Morthland, eMusic Contributor

There's never been a country music career anything like that of Merle Haggard. Launched soon after he was released from San Quentin, it presented him first as a reckless, paranoid, yet rather proud honky-tonk man, the electric guitar of Roy Nichols and the steel guitar of Norm Hamlin both reinforcing his workingman's grit. After discovering, through his prison songs, the value of autobiographical material, Haggard's writing grew even more personal, and more questioning. This led… more »

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A Field Report from the New Country

By Lenny Kaye, eMusic Contributor

Whither country music - or will it wither? Most of the c&w on strut at the recent CMA awards had more to do with 80's power-rock and 00's teen-pop than the morning farm report. In recent years, an alt-country movement in such Willy-billy suburbs as Brooklyn's Williamsburg has waved a country flag, along with a taste for trucker's caps and Pabst Blue Ribbon. This isn't a sudden outcropping on the range; ever since Gram Parsons… more »

They Say All Music Guide

As the title implies, His Epic Hits: First Eleven covers the first 11 hits Merle Haggard had on Epic Records, including “Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish A Buck Was Still Silver),” “Pancho & Lefty,” “Reasons to Quit,” “That’s the Way Love Goes,” “My Favorite Memory,” “What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My LIfe),” and “You Take Me for Granted.” Since most of his early Epic albums were uneven, His Epic Hits is especially useful, gathering his best material onto one disc. It should be supplemented by Greatest Hits of the ’80s, which covers his mid-’80s hits for Epic, as well as a few fine cuts that didn’t make this collection. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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