Country Music Hall of Fame member Merle Haggard [ tickets ], now in the midst of a coast-to-coast U.S. tour, is set to release his first album for the Anti Records label on Oct. 10. The 63-year-old icon is backed by his longtime band the Strangers on the self-produced CD.

"Wishing Old Things Were New," the debut single from the forthcoming album "If I Could Only Fly," has already gained praise from such disparate sources as Newsweek, Vanity Fair and L.A. Weekly.

Haggard signed a recording deal with Anti Records, an imprint of Southern California's independent, punk-oriented Epitaph label, earlier this year.

"I'm working with a rock and roll label on purpose in hopes that they have the knowledge to sell records, because the people in the circle I've been around don't seem to have the ability or the desire," Haggard said shortly after he signed with the label. "I feel, in judging my own music, that I'd be much more comfortable performing on the same show with Eric Clapton or Bonnie Raitt than pretty much any of the artists being billed as Country today."

Anti Inc., founded by Epitaph owner Brett Gurewitz (a former member of punk rock band Bad Religion), has already had a taste of success with the Grammy-winning 1999 Tom Waits album "Mule Variations," which the label clams has sold a million copies worldwide.

Haggard is scheduled to perform on "The Late Show with David Letterman" on Oct. 9.