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Merle Haggard resumes tour behind 'If I Could Only Fly'
Having finished a three-month tour in November, Merle Haggard will return to the road in February. Dates are currently scheduled through June, and hit most of the U.S.
With the success of last year's "If I Could Only Fly," released on punk label Epitaph's Anti imprint, one assumes that Haggard has acquired a new generation of fans. However, where his contemporary Johnny Cash followed a similar success in the mid-90s with shows at rock venues and theaters, Haggard's casino-laden itinerary suggests that he is not going out of his way to seek these new fans.
Prior to signing with Epitaph, Haggard released two CDs on his own, without a label deal. As he told the L.A. Weekly, "...what we're findin' out is, everybody since Gene Autry--including Bing Crosby and Bob Wills, all the people who pioneered modern recorded music--they never got paid! And people are still not gettin' paid. And I started realizin' it ..."
A popular choice of critics' year-end lists, "If I Could Only Fly" has spent 14 weeks on Billboard's Top Country Albums and Top Independent Albums charts, where it's No. 35 and No. 26, respectively.
A Feb. 7 show at Player's Casino in Metropolis, Ill., is not listed on the itinerary below, but is listed on Pollstar's itinerary. According to a casino spokesperson, the show is a semi-private party for regular patrons who have met certain unspecified requirements. The casino is not advertising the show.
