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Image: Merle's Haggard's-1985 Album Amber Waves Of Grain Live
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"Amber Waves Of Grain" was recorded at The Holiday Star Theatre in Merrillville, Indiana & The Bob Devaney Sports Complex in Lincoln, Nebraska as part of 1985's 'Farm-Aid' tour. This is one of the rarest performances ever recorded of Merle due to the sheer fact that 5 of the songs do not appear anywhere else in Haggard's catalogue. This is the last 'live' album the great Roy Nichols would be a part of. Nichols had been on the road for nearly 50 years going from playing 7 nights a week with The Maddox Brothers And Rose at age 16, to playing live radio shows in California, then as Lefty Frizzell's guitarist, then onto Wynn Stewart. Roy finally ending up as Merle's 'right-hand man' for 23 years. Nichols would briefly share the stage with a new up and coming picker named Clint Strong. Clint had a totally different style of picking. In fact he played a totally different kind of guitar; a Gibson Les Paul hollow-body versus Roy's solid-body Fender Telecaster. Strong's style was more of 'let me see how many notes I can squeeze into this solo', whereas Roy tended to let the music breathe allowing his notes to simply melt into the music. It's also important to note that Clint's girlfriend Theresa Lane would become Merle 5th wife in 1993. Merle states that he and Theresa weren't involved in anyway during this period and had nothing to do with Strong's firing. I would have to agree being that Merle married Debbie Parret in 1985. He and Parret divforced in 1991. Merle and Theresa would have 2 children Ben and Jenessa. Ben now plays lead guitar for all of Merle's live shows. This album is a real treasure representing a 'time-capsule' marking the crisis of how America's farmers were being forced to bow down to huge corporations. We all know how that turned out eh? Be sure to check out Merle Haggard's Official Site! |
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