MERLE HAGGARD - I AM WHAT I AM - TIE FOR #11

Merle Haggard's latest, I Am What I Am, is another album from 2010 that I really enjoyed but just missed making my top 10.

I remember talking about this album on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick, and Larry saying that he preferred this album to the Johnny Cash American series.  I was like, "what?" I love that series.  But he felt that this album was less forced, and I have to concede that that's true. No big name producers, no bold faced collaborators, no attention grabbing covers.

It's a great title for the album: Hag isn't trying to appeal to new audiences on it, but hopefully some younger people may happen upon the album and want to hear more from him.  Starting with "I've Seen It Go Away," Hag's observations of the way culture has changed (or declined) over his lifetime. That kind of unflinching honesty is all over the album, and it's not just negative.  "We're Falling In Love Again" is lovely.

Interesting that I'm writing this just days after seeing the televised broadcast of the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors, where Merle was honored along with Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey and other cultural icons were celebrated for their contributions to American culture.  Hag could have retired decades ago and still deserved this honor.  But it's amazing that he is still putting out great albums; his story isn't over. In fact, he says as much in this recent Rolling Stone interview.  He talks about doing an album with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson (Hag and Willie, along with Ray Price, released an album, Last Of The Breed, in 2007).  He also decries the right wing attacks on our President, a nice touch from the guy who wrote "Okie From Muskogee."

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: ARE YOU READY FOR THE COUNTRY

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ. I am a weekly contributor to The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. This week I will be talking about country music.

At the risk of sounding like I'm pimping the company I work for, I should mention that most of this music is stuff that you can hear on the SIRIUS XM channel Outlaw Country, which was one of the reasons why I subscribed in the first place (before I even worked there!).

Elizabeth Cook, in fact, is a DJ on the channel. She's a great reason to wake up in the morning: she is so entertaining to listen to. Add that to her music, and she's a star in the making. So listen to her now, so you can brag to your friends when she's a big star next year! Really, though, her music is great. She reminds me of Loretta Lynn or maybe Dolly Parton. She's able to do total ass-kicking songs that are funny ("Sometimes It Takes Balls To Be A Woman") and then heartfelt ballads that really hit you ("Heroin Addict Sister"). Her new album, Welder, comes out next week.

Reckless Kelly is a band who, like The Drive-By Truckers, I would not have gotten into without Outlaw Country. Great, great southern rock band. Their new album, Somewhere In Time, is a tribute to a songwriter named Pinto Bennett -- all the songs were written by him. There are just so many great songs on the album. They are so catchy, you can almost hear them on a mainstream country format (but not quite).

Willie Nelson's new album is called Country Music, and was produced by T-Bone Burnett. My opinion? It's another great (or maybe classic) Willie album. But you know I love Willie. By the way, while you can hear him on Outlaw Country, you can also hear him on his own channel, Willie's Place. Tomorrow night, Willie's Place will broadcast - live - Willie's concert from the Manhattan Center. At this show, and this show only, he'll be backed up by T-Bone's guys, who played on Country Music, as opposed to Willie's usual "band of gypsies."

I'm not sure what else we'll get to.  I have one track from Merle Haggard's new album I Am What I Am (I gotta be careful after the Johnny Cash American VI album didn't go over well a few weeks ago). A couple of tracks by Dallas Wayne, another Outlaw Country DJ who is also a singer/songwriter, The Court Yard Hounds (sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire of The Dixie Chicks), and The Drive-By Truckers again: what can I say, The Big To-Do is my favorite album of 2010 so far.

PETER WOLF DUETS WITH SHELBY LYNNE ON NEW ALBUM

Former J. Geils Band singer Peter Wolf returns with a new album, Midnight Souvenirs, in April. Dude gets insanely great reviews in Rolling Stone magazine, but somehow he is still kind of underrated. I dig some of his old J. Geils stuff, but what I really dig is his last solo album, 2002's Sleepless. It has this amazing song with Mick Jagger, called "Nothing But The Wheel," and Mick really sounds like he means it when he's singing. Another song features Keith Richards, "Too Close Together." I mean the fact that he can get Mick and Keith on an album, come on! Peter is a great frontman, a great singer and has great taste.

Anyway, this new album has a duet with Shelby Lynne, "Tragedy," which is on iTunes, and it's another great song.  There are also duets with Neko Case and Merle Haggard, so I guess it's an Outlaw Country kind of vibe.

BEST OF THE '00S: WILLIE NELSON

Most people might not think of Willie Nelson as one of the top artists of the '00s. But the problem with "most people" is that they don't pay enough attention to things that aren't being shoved down their throat. Willie has put out some incredible music this decade, including what may be my favorite Willie album ever, 2004's It Will Always Be.

Talk about being vital: by my count, he's put out thirteen albums of new material this decade. Not all of them were great: the reggae album (2005's Countryman), the children's album (2001's Rainbow Connection) the collabo-heavy album (2002's The Great Divide) and the blues album (2000's Milk Cow Blues) aren't really classics. But they are all ambitious and all have their moments. Two of his other albums got slammed but also had some cool moments: the Ryan Adams produced Songbird (from 2006) and the Kenny Chesney produced Moment Of Forever (from 2008).

But lets get to the good stuff: other than It Will Always Be, there was You Don't Know Me: The Songs Of Cindy Walker from 2006, 2003's Run That By Me One More Time with his old boss Ray Price, Last Of The Breed, a 2007 double album collaboration with Ray Price and Merle Haggard, and this year's collaboration with Asleep At The Wheel, Willie and The Wheel.

Then there's the one off stuff: his hit single with Toby Keith, "Beer For My Horses," "You Are My Flower" from the 2004 Carter Family tribute album, his daring cover of Bob Dylan's "He Was A Friend Of Mine" for the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack, the equally daring (but funnier) follow-up single, "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond Of Each Other." There was the collaboration with Gillian Welch, "I'm Not Afraid To Die," the much funnier iTunes single "Superman." He did a cool cover of Fats Domino's "I Hear You Knockin'" for the Goin' Home tribute album. And another Dylan cover, an amazing verion of "Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)" backed by Calexico for the I'm Not There soundtrack (which made me think he should do a full album with Calexico). And, oh yeah, he covered Waylon Jennings' "Good Old Boys" for the Dukes Of Hazzard soundtrack. He also appeared in the movie. Who else worked with Gillian Welch and Jessica Simpson this decade? Oh yeah, he co-starred in the movie as well, and he also was in Toby Keith's Beer For My Horses flick too.

He still runs Farm Aid, and is a political activist for everything from the legalization of pot to the banning of slaughtering wild horses for meat. Also, he is the proprieter of Carl's Corner Truck Stop in Texas, and also of the great SIRIUSXM Channel Willie's Place.

We should all be so vital in our 70s! Here's to another great decade, Willie.

More Best Of The '00s: Bob Dylan

MERLE HAGGARD: MIGHT WANT TO UPDATE THAT "OKIE" LYRIC

The great Merle Haggard threw down the gauntlet in the "culture wars" of the 1960s in his song "Okie From Muskogee": the song started out with the lyric "We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee." It was a pretty outright anti-hippie and anti-rock and roll song. It didn't change the way many rock and rollers felt about him though: noted marijuana enthusiasts The Grateful Dead covered his classic "Mama Tried." But in a recent Reuters story, he says that he's been having a hard time kicking pot - he's quitting both pot and tocacco after having a lemon-sized tumor removed (he had lung cancer).

I saw Merle open for Bob Dylan a few years ago, he was pretty bad-ass, and at least as good as Bob. I hope he goes on for a long time. I've actually enjoyed some of Merle's recent albums, like If I Could Only Fly (on the punk label Anti-) and his collaboration with (another) noted pot user Willie Nelson and Ray Price, The Last Of The Breed.