''Seashores of Old Mexico'' is a studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled af ...

and

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...

. It is a sequel to their enormously successful 1983 duet album ''

Pancho and Lefty "Pancho and Lefty", originally "Poncho and Lefty", is a song written by American country music singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Often considered his "most enduring and well-known song", Van Zandt first recorded it for his 1972 album '' The Late ...

'' and was released in 1987. They are backed by The Strangers. The only charting single was a cover of a 1979

Blaze Foley Michael David Fuller (December 18, 1949 – February 1, 1989), better known by his stage name Blaze Foley, was an American country music singer-songwriter, poet, and artist active in Austin, Texas. Background Foley was born Michael David Fuller ...

song, "If I Could Only Fly", which peaked at number 58 on the 1987 ''Billboard''

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

singles chart.

Background

Haggard and Nelson, who would each be plagued with financial problems in the years ahead, chose to produce the album themselves. However, it did not contain a hit single like their previous duet album had and peaked on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' country albums chart at number 31. The album is dominated with songs composed by Haggard, although Nelson does contribute "Why Do I Have to Choose." Two remakes are included: the title track, which Haggard had written and recorded in 1974, and Haggard's 1969 ballad "Silver Wings." Perhaps the biggest surprise on the album is the inclusion of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

classic ballad " Yesterday", a song that Nelson had performed regularly in concert in the sixties but Haggard had cited as a marker of the end of the good ol' days on his 1982 hit " Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)."

Critical reception

Martin Monkman of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

believes the album pales in comparison to its predecessor, writing, "Alas, little of what made the earlier album so great is in evidence. At times the album sounds like a Merle Haggard record with Willie Nelson on hand as support." In his 2013 book ''The Running Kind'', Haggard biographer David Cantwell is especially critical of Haggard's singing on "Yesterday": "His rich baritone, in especially fine form on ''Seashores every other track, feels like it's been unexpectedly pumped with air and left out overnight in the chill and damp. His phrases, which normally snap off crisply or, more often, fade slowly like a sunset, here merely crumple."

Track listing

#" Seashores of Old Mexico" (Merle Haggard) #"Without You on My Side" (Haggard) #"When Times Were Good" (David Lynn Jones) #"Jimmy the Broom" (Haggard, Freddy Powers) #" Yesterday" (

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

) #"If I Could On'y Fly" (

) #"Shotgun and a Pistol" (Haggard) #"Love Makes a Fool of Us All" (Glenn Martin,

Hank Cochran Garland Perry "Hank" Cochran (August 2, 1935 – July 15, 2010) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting during the 1960s, Cochran was a prolific songwriter in the genre, including major hits by Patsy Cline, Ray Price, Eddy ...

) #"Why Do I Have to Choose" (

) #"Silver Wings" (Haggard)

Personnel

– vocals, guitar, fiddle *Willie Nelson – vocals, guitar The Strangers: *

Roy Nichols Roy Ernest Nichols (October 21, 1932 – July 3, 2001) was an American country music guitarist best known as the lead guitarist for Merle Haggard's band The Strangers for more than two decades. He was known for his guitar technique, a mix o ...

– guitar *

Norm Hamlet Norm Hamlet is an American steel guitarist and a member of Merle Haggard's The Strangers band for the past 49 years.Terry Downs: ''The Strangers'', http://www.terrydownsmusic.com/Archive/strangers_article.pdf, n.d., downloaded May 6, 2012.The Ste ...

– steel guitar *Clint Strong – guitar *Mark Yeary – piano *Dennis Hromek – bass *Biff Adams – drums *Jimmy Belken – fiddle *Gary Church – trumpet *Don Markham – saxophone with: *

Johnny Gimble John Paul Gimble (May 30, 1926 – May 9, 2015) was an American country musician associated with Western swing. Gimble was considered one of the most important fiddlers in the genre. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 i ...

– fiddle and: *Spencer Starnes – bass *Dean Reynolds – upright bass *Donna Faye – backing vocals

References

{{Authority control 1987 albums Collaborative albums Merle Haggard albums Willie Nelson albums Sequel albums Epic Records albums