Merle Haggard - That's the Way Love Goes (2015) [Hi-Res]

Here's one of the great, lost Haggard albums, originally released in 1983 and telling his side of the story of his then-recent divorce from Leona Williams. The tone is bleak, funereal, without a single uptempo stomp to break up the succession of one beautiful, heartbreaking ballad after another. Highlights are 'What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life),' which suggests that only time can heal these wounds and time can't move quickly enough; the deeply ambivalent 'Love Will Find You'; and the title track, one of Lefty Frizzell's most agonizing and resigned deathbed compositions. Haggard ends his remake with a weary, defeated moan that sums up the whole album and all his contradictory feelings of pain, pride, defiance, pessimism, futility, and disgust. The crack band is more Western than country, effortlessly supporting the mood of the songs. But there's no drawing attention away from the star, whose rich, stunning performances make the case for him as the stylist of his era.

Merle Haggard, vocals, guitar
Roy Nichols, guitar
Reggie Young, guitar
Greg Galbraith, guitar
Dave Kirby, guitar
Glenn Martin, guitar
Red Lane, guitar
Norm Hamlet, steel guitar
Dennis Hromek, bass
Mike Leach, bass
Gene Chrisman, drums
Kenny Malone, drums
Biff Adams, drums
Tiny Moore, fiddle, mandolin
Jimmy Balken, fiddle
Bobby Wood, keyboards
Mark Yeary, keyboards
Terry McMillan, harmonica
Don Markham, horns

Tracklist:
01. Merle Haggard - What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life) (3:34)
02. Merle Haggard - (I'm Gonna Paint Me) A Bed of Roses (2:10)
03. Merle Haggard - Someday When Things Are Good (3:37)
04. Merle Haggard - That's the Way Love Goes (3:03)
05. Merle Haggard - Carryin' Fire (2:56)
06. Merle Haggard - Don't Seem Like We've Been Together All Our Lives (2:56)
07. Merle Haggard - If You Hated Me (2:41)
08. Merle Haggard - Love Will Find You (2:35)
09. Merle Haggard - The Last Boat of the Day (3:40)
10. Merle Haggard - I Think I'll Stay (4:44)