Songs for the Mama That Tried
| Songs for the Mama That Tried | ||||
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| Studio album by Merle Haggard | ||||
| Released | September 1981 | |||
| Recorded | Sound Emporium, Nashville Tennessee | |||
| Genre | Country, Gospel | |||
| Label | MCA | |||
| Producer | Merle Haggard | |||
| Merle Haggard chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Allmusic |   |
Songs for the Mama That Tried is the 32nd studio album by American country singer Merle Haggard, released in 1981. A Gospel album, it reached Number 46 on the Billboard country albums chart.
Songs for the Mama That Tried was Haggard's last principal release on MCA, having signed with Epic Records. The title alludes to Haggard's 1968 song "Mama Tried", a song which became a cornerstone of his career. Haggard had recorded a live gospel album in 1971 called The Land of Many Churches but this set is dedicated to his mother Flossie, who was seventy-nine years old when she posed with Haggard on the cover of the LP. Produced by Haggard, the album features background harmonies from both his second wife Bonnie Owens and his then current wife Leona Williams.
The album yielded no hit singles and was not a big seller.
Writing in the 2013 book The Running Kind, Haggard biographer David Cantwell calls the album "perfect," praising the singer's "reverent, soulful singing."
The album received five stars in the second edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide.
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Wikipedia