Dressed head to toe in black including his hat and sunglasses, country music legend Merle Haggard received a standing ovation when he took the stage in front of a nearly-full crowd at the Christopher Cohan Center Wednesday night. He picked up his guitar, didn’t speak a word and launched into his first song, accompanied by his long-time band The Strangers.
Backed by the nine-piece band consisting of three guitarists, two keyboardists, a steel guitarist, bassist, tenor saxophonist and fiddler, Haggard moved quickly through five songs. It seemed about that long before Haggard and the band got completely on beat and in harmony, but when they hit it, they hit it strong.
Haggard, at this point, finally introduced himself and the band to the audience and removed his hat and sunglasses. For a 72 year-old, Haggard’s voice was surprisingly clear and not marred from smoking cigarettes the majority of his life. As the concert progressed he continued to get more loose, doing a little kick-shuffle here a little yodel there and some bebop over there. Halfway through the set Haggard’s sense of humor showed up. From introducing his band The Strangers to each other, to quipping, “Every convict’s goal is to be an ex-convict,” Haggard kept the audience laughing.
More and more surprises continued to show up as the set continued. A cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” got the middle-aged wives screaming. Haggard, whose youngest son Benny, only 16 years old, was one of two searing lead guitarists for the band, took a few solos himself.
An ex-convict himself, who spent a four years in San Quentin for robbing a café (and was inspired by Johnny Cash’s performance’s there) Haggard sang a string of his hit songs including, “Sing Me Back Home”, “Workin’ Man Blues” and “Okie from Muskogee.” The audience joined in for many of the choruses.
Preparing the audience for Haggard were The Malpass Brothers, a young twenty-something duo self-proclaimed in North Carolina twang as, “all about keeping old country music alive.”
With their fifties-style, Elvis reminiscent hairstyles and long fringe shirts, brothers Chris and Taylor worked the audience up with jokes, lively songs and praise to for Haggard, who had recently signed the brothers to Hag Records. Included in their set was a cover of the Haggard song, “I Can’t Be Myself When I’m With You.”
For the finale, Haggard brought out the Malpass Brothers and another son, Noll, to do a rowdy rendition of “I’ll Fly Away.”
The audience stood again and gave Haggard his second ovation of the night. The audience left in a sea of smiles, laughter and loud proclamations that follow a good show by a musical icon.