Merle Haggard
Captures the most iconic moments from a one-night-only concert event honoring Merle Haggard and his music on what would have been his 80th birthday. Packed with captivating live performances, never-before-seen interviews and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage with some of music’s biggest superstars.
Jack White and T Bone Burnett invite today’s greatest artists to test their skills against the long-lost machine that recorded their musical idols and forebears. The producers have, over a decade rebuilt, a 1920s recording system, timed by a weight-driven system of clockwork gears. Stripped of the comforts and security of modern technology, Nas, Elton John, Alabama Shakes, Steve Martin Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, are among the artists who have three minutes and one chance to get their music etched into a revolving wax disc, before the weight hits the floor. The results are career defining performances and the very definition of "Lighting In A Bottle".
Merle Travis took the experiences of his early years growing up in Muhlenberg County, Ky., to the national stage and rode the rising tide of country music’s popularity in the years following World War II. His considerable talents as a singer, songwriter, bandleader, and guitar-picking pioneer still reverberate in the heartbeat of American music today, more than three decades after his passing.
'Country: Portraits of an American Sound' is a documentary film that explores the history and culture of country music through the lens of photography, which has portrayed the ideals, lifestyle and personalities of country music artists for over 80 years. The film features imagery and commentary from Grand Ole Opry photographer Les Leverett, the late celebrity photographer Leigh Wiener, documentary photographer Henry Horenstein, iconic music photographers Henry Diltz and Raeanne Rubenstein, and contemporary photographers David McClister and Michael Wilson. Over a dozen country music artists also appear, including Rosanne Cash, Roy Clark, Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett, Charley Pride, LeAnn Rimes, Kenny Rogers, Tanya Tucker, The Band Perry and Keith Urban. The film weaves iconic images, historical footage and over 25 country music hits into a dynamic look at this uniquely American sound.
Johnny Cash: American Rebel is built around 12 essential Johnny Cash tracks spanning four decades that each deliver the passion, musicality and messages against war, injustice, racism and prejudice, including “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Jackson,” “San Quentin,” “Man in Black,” “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” “Ring of Fire” and “Hurt.” Each song illustrates a chapter in his life, as well the story of an ever-changing America from the 1950s to modern day, as told through interviews, archival concert footage, photographs and personal artifacts from the Cash family.
This collection features Merle Haggard performances in his prime, featuring special guests: Bonnie Owens, Willie Nelson and Johnny Paycheck.
Haggard actually lived the rambling, gambling, love ‘em and leave ‘em, often brutal life that remains the bedrock of country music lyrics – he hopped his first freight train at the age of 10, became a chronic truant and drinker and was locked up some 17 times as a youngster. Serious criminal charges followed, including car theft. He was, literally, in the inmate audience in 1959, when Johnny Cash gave his New Year’s Day concert in San Quentin – and, as he’s said repeatedly, “my life changed forever.”
The film follows the lively exploits of activists for (and against) the movement for the legalization of the hemp plant in America. It features Woody Harrelson, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, and a whole host of farmers, politicians, businessmen, and laypeople as they search for the truth about this mysterious and demonized plant.
Cash's concert at Folsom State Prison in California in January 1968 touched a raw nerve in the American psyche and made him a national hero at a troubled time in American history. Using the stark images of rock photographer Jim Marshall, graphic techniques, archive footage and interviews with Merle Haggard, Cash's daughter Rosanne, band members Marshall Grant and WS 'Fluke' Holland, alongside former inmates of the prison, the film documents this explosive concert, the live album that followed and a transformative moment in the lives of Cash, the inmates of Folsom Prison and the American nation in the troubled year of 1968.
A profile of Country Music Hall of Famer Merle Haggard recalls his rocky personal life and his legendary status. Interviews include Jewel, Clint Black and family members.
1. Great Balls of Fire 2. Chantilly Lace 3. Green Grass of Home (Tom Jones) 4. End of the Road (Tom Jones) 5. Who Will the Next Fool Be (Solomon Burke) 6. Today I Started Lovin' You (Solomon Burke) 7. Crazy Arms (Norah Jones) 8. Your Cheating Heart (Norah Jones) 9. Hadachol Boogie (Buddy Guy) 10.Don't Put Not Headstones on My Grave 11.Over the Rainbow (Chris Isaak) 12.Cry (Chris Isaak) 13.Rocking My Life Away (Ron Wood) 14.Lewis Boogie 15.Just A-Bummin' Around (Merle Haggard) 16.What'd I Say (Ivan Neville) 17.Once More with Feeling (Kris Kristofferson) 18.CC Ryder (John Fogerty) 19.Will the Circle Be Unbroken (John Fogerty and Kris Kristofferson) 20.Good Golly Miss Molly (John Fogerty) 21.Trouble in Mind (Ron Wood) 22.Jambalaya (Willie Nelson) 23.You Win Again (Don Henley) 24.Little Queenie with Kid Rock 25.Honky Tonk Woman (Kid Rock and Ron Wood) 26.That Lucky Old Sun (Ken Lovelace) 27.Roll Over Beethoven 28.Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin'
Traditional Western swing and good ol' fashioned honky-tonk music just doesn't get any better than this. With a short run of 15 performances in 2007, the Last of the Breed tour united Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and Ray Price to celebrate their elder-statesmen status as Country Music Hall of Famers with over 150 years of shared experience between them.
A documentary about the life of Johnny Cash and the making of Walk the Line (2005).
The Live From Austin, Texas series takes the classic performances from the award-winning Austin City Limits TV show and makes them available to consumers with improved audio quality and bonus songs that were cut from the original broadcast. This latest set includes performances from some of country musics Outlaws including Merle Haggard, trailblazers who didn't follow the trends and refused to play by the rules set by Music Row. Merle is in fine form here in his October 1985 performance from Austin City Limits studios.
A faux documentary about the rise and fall of fictional country singer Guy Terrifico, featuring some legendary real-life performers.
The performances come from a 2004 Willie Nelson Special aired on cable television; guests include many well-known musicians.
Documentary - Ernest Borgnine, star of the classic train movie Emperor of the North, hosts and narrates this remarkable examination of the uniquely American Hobo.
The economic and cultural growth of town of Centennial, Colorado, through the intertwining lives of the brave men and women inhabiting it. Spanning two centuries from the settling of the area in the 1700s, to the late 1970s.
Huckleberry Finn, a rambuctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes his humdrum world and his selfish, plotting father by sailing a raft down the Mississippi River. Accompanying him is Jim, a slave running away from being sold. Together the two strike a bond of friendship that takes them through harrowing events and thrilling adventures.
From Nashville With Music is another slim plot that gives an excuse for Nashville country stars to perform. The stars are Leo G. Carroll, Marilyn Maxwell, Jose Gonzalez-Gonzalez, Marty Robbins (singing "El Paso"), Buddy Allen, Bill Anderson, Don Gibson, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Cousin Jody, Buck Owens, Bonnie Owens, Charley Pride, Susan Raye, Carl Smith, Wynn Stewart and Tammy Wynette. (from http://archive.tennessean.com/article/20070511/SPECIAL0907/705110501/1969-Movie-From-Nashville-Music)
America's DJ Dick Clark and Robert Walker Jr. star as two country boys who decide to rob a pile of cash from a bootlegger, assisted by the man's restless wife (Diane Varsi). But the heist doesn't go as planned and takes a tragic turn. The trio of would-be thieves then takes off for California, but with the police already on their tail, it's clear that a trail of blood and death is going to follow them all the way there.
Country singers on their way to Nashville have car trouble, forcing them to stop at an old haunted mansion. Soon they realize that the house is not only haunted, but is also the headquarters of a ring of international spies after a top secret formula for rocket fuel.
