A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills)
| A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills) | ||||
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| Studio album by Merle Haggard | ||||
| Released | 1970 | |||
| Genre | Country, Western swing | |||
| Length | 37:05 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Earl Ball | |||
| Merle Haggard chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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| Robert Christgau | (B+) |
A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills) is the twelfth studio album by Merle Haggard, released in 1970 (see 1970 in country music).
Although it is often assumed that Haggard, who was enjoying enormous success with the social commentary "Okie from Muskogee" and the politically charged "The Fightin' Side of Me" in 1969 and 1970, sought to distance himself from controversy by returning to his musical roots by recording a tribute to his childhood idol Bob Wills, this is not quite accurate; according to David Cantwell's book Merle Haggard: The Running Kind, by the time Haggard's live album The Fightin' Side of Me appeared in 1970, the Wills album had already been completed for four months. Haggard gathered up six of the remaining members of The Texas Playboys to record the tribute: Johnnie Lee Wills, Eldon Shamblin, Tiny Moore, Joe Holley, Johnny Gimble, and Alex Brashear. Merle's band The Strangers were also present during the recording but unfortunately Wills suffered a massive stroke after the first day of recording. Merle arrived on the second day, devastated that he wouldn't get to record with him.
Haggard spent a few scant months learning the fiddle, an instrument that he had not touched since his childhood violin lessons. Unlike Haggard's previous tribute album to Jimmie Rodgers, which gave the original songs a new sound, his Wills LP remained true to the original arrangements. As Cantwell observes, "The album's most charming quality, its attention to authentic period detail, is a built-in limitation it never entirely transcends." Completely apolitical, the album reached number 2 on the Billboard Country Albums Chart and peaked at number 58 on the Pop Album Chart, his highest showing there to date. The album would play a crucial role in the revitalization of Western Swing music and inspire younger musicians like Asleep at the Wheel and Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.
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