Throughout his career as an R&B revivalist,
Eli "Paperboy" Reed has centered his attention on the soul made in the back half of the 1960s and the early years of the '70s -- a period that happens to coincide with
Merle Haggard's ascension to the upper echelon of American music. During this period, country and soul intermingled in a variety of fashions, but
Haggard didn't quite partake. He sang blues and jazz, he wrote a pioneering song about interracial romance called "Irma Jackson," but he didn't delve into the gritty, funky sounds emanating out of the south. Despite this,
Reed's decision to record a full-length tribute to
Merle Haggard not only seems right, it seems logical.
Haggard's music encompassed so many different sounds, styles, and emotions that they could easily be rearranged into retro-soul numbers, which is precisely what
Reed does on
Down Every Road. Sticking with the material
Haggard wrote and recorded for
Capitol -- all but one of the songs here can be found on the landmark 1996 box set
Down Every Road 1962-1994 --
Reed recasts these songs as slow-burners and ravers, anchoring his interpretations on funky backbeats, dressing them in reverb and tremolo, then delivering them with potent efficiency. The 12 songs here have the punch of a stack of old 45s: most of them clock in well under three minutes, which gives the album a swift momentum. Despite its rapid clip,
Reed packs a lot of imagination into this record, turning "Mama Tried" and "It's Not Love But It's Not Bad" into insistent soul romps while teasing out the blues in "If We Make It Through December" and "Today I Started Loving You Again." Keeping things succinct means that
Reed places equal emphasis on his vocals and guitars, making sure to keep the melody and message of the songs in the forefront and letting
Haggard's songbook shine through. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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