Across the Blue Ridge #18 - Merle Haggard, old time fiddler

On this edition of Across the Blue Ridge, host Paul Brown guides you through a heartwarming selection of old time and traditional music from great artists including Ola Belle Reed; Janet Beazley; Lightnin' Wells and more.  Plus, we take a moment to hear the fiddle playing of the late country music star Merle Haggard.  Many people don't even know he played the fiddle.  But Haggard did learn to do just that, with a down-home traditional sound and his typical outstanding sense of rhythm and phrasing.  Haggard also dedicated an entire album to his favorite fiddler, Texas swing master Bob Wills.

Program 18 Playlist

1. Frankie – Buddy Thomas
   Kitty Puss: Old-Time Fiddle Music From Kentucky
   Rounder Records 2011
    
2. Tennessee Breakdown – Rafe & Clelia Stefanini
   Never Seen The Like
   Yodel-Ay-Hee 2008
    
3. Old Ebenezer Scrooge – Fletcher Bright & Bill Evans
   Songs That Are Mostly Older Than Us
   Native & Fine Records 2016
    
4. Someone Took My Place With You – Flatt & Scruggs
   Flatt & Scruggs 1948-59 Volume 3
   Bear Family 1991
    
5. Fiddle Breakdown – Merle Haggard
   45 RPM disc
   MCA 1981
    
6. Right Or Wrong – Merle Haggard
   Tribute To The Best Damn Fiddle Player
   Capitol Nashville 2010
    
7. Stay A Little Longer – Merle Haggard
   Tribute To The Best Damn Fiddle Player
   Capitol Nashville 2010
    
8. BREAK 1
   Dixon County Blues #2 – Fiddlin' Arthur Smith & His Dixieliners
   Fiddlin' Arthur Smith & His Dixieliners
   County Records 2002
    
9. Hot Corn – Moonshine Holler (Bill Dilloff, Paula Bradley)
   Moonshine Holler Album of Old Time Melodies
   Montana Peak 2015
    
10. Hillbilly Highway – Carol Elizabeth Jones
    Cataloochee
    5-String 2008
     
11. Banjo Pickin' Girl – Laurelyn Dossett
    Lullabies and Leave-Takings
    Independent release
     
12.  Don't You Leave Me Here – Lightnin' Wells
    Shake ‘Em On Down
    CD Baby 2008
     
13. Black Eyed Susie – James Reams & the Barnstormers
    Barnstormin'
    Copper Creek 2001
     
14. BREAK 2 
    Birch Brook Exit – James Reams & the Barnstormers
    Barnstormin'
    Copper Creek 2001
     
15. Cumberland Gap – Morgan Sexton
    Shady Grove
    June Appal 1995
     
16. Twin Sisters – Sidna Myers
    Clawhammer Banjo Volume 2
    County Records 1995
     
17. Nitches Over The Hill – Wade Ward
    High Atmosphere
    Rounder Records 1995
     
18. South – Janet Beazley
    5 South
    Backcountry Music 2005
     
19. Going Up Home To Live In Green Pastures – Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys
    Man of Constant Sorrow
    County 2001