"Since 'Okie from Muskogee' was released in 1969 and made Haggard a lightning rod, he's been perhaps the most-written-about artist in country music history. Yet all that writing has been in periodicals... Now here is a book that takes a serious look at Haggard's place in American culture and art, and that is no small thing... This book is long overdue and will hopefully open up a dialogue on an artist who provides plenty of fodder." -- John Morthland, music writer and former editor at Rolling Stone, Creem, and Country Music
Music critic and longtime Haggard fan, David Cantwell is the coauthor of the acclaimed Heartaches by the Number: Country Music’s 500 Greatest Singles, and his work has appeared in the Oxford American, Salon, and No Depression, among other publications.
"Cantwell (coauthor, Heartaches by the Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles) provides fans with a serious analysis of the music from the original "Okie from Muskogee"...Particularly interesting is Cantwell's discussion of the seeming contradictions in the artist's work: his endorsement of both politically conservative and liberal viewpoints at different periods in his career."--Brett Rohlwing, Milwaukee Public Library, Library Journal "...a revelatory journey through Merle Haggard's music and the life and times out of which it came"--Publishers Weekly "There will be no shortchanging the grizzled country star after David Cantwell's astute and entertaining Merle Haggard: The Running Kind. In it, the music writer mixes biography with incisive critical assessments to deliver a full portrait of the man, his music and the forces that shaped them [...] The book tracks along Haggard's major albums, interjecting bits of his life story along the way. Cantwell's knowledge of the country icon's catalog is that of a hardcore fan, but his critical stance is clear-eyes and objective. He recounts the high times when the Hag could seemingly do no wrong, as well as his lost decade of the 1990s, when the hot country radio format pushed the old man aside in favor of guys with hats and gals named Shania." - Hannibal Courier-Post "Merle Haggard: The Running Kind does what a music book should do: it enriches our experience of the music. When we go back to the records, we enjoy them more for having read the book. Cantwell finds themes running Haggard's work that we have all sensed without quite articulating them." - Paste "With a hundred or so country hits, dozens of albums, nearly ten thousand concerts under his belt, induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, his songs covered by Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Tammy Wynette, Willie Nelson, the Grateful Dead, and many others, and in 2011 becoming a Kennedy Center Honoree, it is no exaggeration that 'Merle Haggard has enjoyed artistic and professional triumphs few can match.' David Cantwell lays out all that and more in Merle Haggard: The Running Kind (University of Texas Press). Selected Discography." - Jazz House "The Running Kind is one of those critical/biographical works that you will want to read again, so prepare yourself to succumb to its charms. It's worth it." - PopMatters
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