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History occurs twice, first as tragedy, later as farce--or so the adage goes. With these new versions of old classics, Merle Haggard is somewhere between defying and fulfilling that fate. Some cuts are like faded carbon copies; others, given Hag's stately quaver, have a mellow poignancy; a few, like the duets with Jewel, Brooks & Dunn, and Alabama, are simply irrelevant. But just when you're ready to dismiss such misguided revisionism, there's a refreshed, superlative version of "Pancho and Lefty" and the perfected heartbreak of "Going Where the Lonely Go." To his credit, Haggard sticks with his long-running road band, and it's hard to imagine anyone else delivering these songs with more authority, more emotional insight. Anyone, that is, save their original interpreters: Merle Haggard and the Strangers of the '60s and '70s, whose definitive work can still be heard on collections like the four-CD Down Every Road and double-disc Lonesome Fugitive. Haggard may never make records that great again, but perhaps he'll find a new, and not redundant, way to harness his timeless gifts. --Roy Kasten, ISBN13: B00000JY9U ISBN10: B00000JY9U Material Type: audioCD