Merle Haggard & The Strangers – Same Train, Different Time

I got up one morning and decided to pull out an LP at random to rip so that I’d have something to listen to while eating breakfast. The pick that day: Getting to Know Merle Haggard’s Strangers. It is one of a series of mostly instrumental LP’s, sans Merle.

I was trolling around looking for some info on these various albums when I stumbled into a forum offering a special CD re-issue of Merle’s Jimmie Rodgers tribute: Same Train, Different Time.

This is about as rootsy as Haggard gets. He’s no Johnny Cash, but he tries hard. His version of Train Whistle Blues is quite authentic, right down to the yodelling – something I bet Cash could have never pulled off.

Jimmie Rodgers, the Yodelling Brakeman, was the father of country music. He died in 1933. More on Jimmie here.

Track Listing:

1) Jimmie the Kid – 2:04
2) My Rough and Rowdy Ways – 2:24
3) California Blues – 2:51
4) Narration, No. 1 – 0:49
5) Hobo’s Meditation – 2:45
6) Waiting for a Train – 2:52
7) Mother, the Queen of My Heart – 2:42
8) My Carolina Sunshine Girl – 2:53
9) Narration, No. – 2 0:38
10) Train Whistle Blues – 3:16
11) Why Should I Be Lonely? – 3:21
12) Jimmie’s Texas Blues – 3:38
13) Midnight Turning Day Blues – 3:14
14) Narration, No. 3 – 0:54
15) Mule Skinner Blues – 3:25
16) Peach Picking Time in Georgia – 2:59
17) Down the Old Road to Home – 2:04
18) Travelin’ Blues – 3:18
19) Miss the Mississippi and You – 3:16
20) Frankie and Johnny – 3:47
21) No Hard Times – 2:50
22) Narration, No. 4 – 0:55
23) Hobo Bill’s Last Ride – 2:49
24) My Old Pal – 3:03
25) Nobody Knows But Me – 2:47
26) Narration, No. 5 – 1:34
27) Jimmie Rodgers’ Last Blue Yodel – 3:09
28) Mississippi Delta Blues – 3:35
29) Gambling Polka Dot Blues – 2:37