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<h1><em>Ramblin' Fever</em></h1><h2>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</h2><p><br></p><h2><strong><em>Ramblin' Fever</em></strong> is the 22nd <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_album" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">studio album</a> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">American</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">country</a> singer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merle_Haggard" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Merle Haggard</a>, released in 1977. It was his first on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCA_Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MCA</a> label after recording for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Capitol Records</a> since 1965. It was also his first album without crediting <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strangers_(American_band)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Strangers</a>. It reached Number 5 on the Country album chart.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramblin%27_Fever#cite_note-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[1]</a><em>Ramblin' Fever</em> was reissued on CD in 2002.</h2><h2>Background</h2><p>Haggard had enjoyed an immensely successful artistic and commercial run with Capitol and producer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Nelson_(United_States_record_producer)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ken Nelson</a>, accumulating twenty-four #1 country singles since 1966. According to music journalist Daniel Cooper's essay for the 1994 Haggard retrospective <em>Down Every Road</em>, there was no animosity or disillusionment with the Capitol brass, and the change was made simply because MCA had made a better offer.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramblin%27_Fever#cite_note-DER-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[2]</a> In his 2013 Haggard biography <em>The Running Kind</em>, David Cantwell notes that by the latter half of the 1970s the singer had placed forty-three singles on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_(magazine)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Billboard</em></a><em>'</em>s country charts, had won the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_Music_Association" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Country Music Association</a>'s top prize, "Entertainer of the Year," had been pardoned by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">California</a> governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ronald Reagan</a>, had performed for President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Richard Nixon</a>, and had made the cover of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_(magazine)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Time</em></a> magazine, and in response, "He ran. As the Seventies wound to an end, he was more restless than usual.... He even moved to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nashville</a> for a while, and in 1978, divorced <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Owens" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bonnie Owens</a> and married <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leona_Williams" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Leona Williams</a>. Then, in 1979, he announced he was quitting music entirely." Haggard's tenure with MCA would be far shorter than his stay at Capitol; he would sign with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Epic Records</a> in 1981.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramblin%27_Fever#cite_note-RK-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[3]</a></p><h2>Recording and composition</h2><p>Haggard's final two Capitol albums, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Love_Affair_with_Trains" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>My Love Affair with Trains</em></a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roots_of_My_Raising" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>The Roots of My Raising</em></a>, contained only two Haggard-written songs, a far cry from his earlier albums when he would routinely compose most of the songs himself. <em>Ramblin' Fever</em> only features a couple Haggard originals: the southern rock-tinged title track, which rose to #2 on the country charts, and "I Think It's Gone Forever," a co-write with Leona Williams. "I wrote it at Leona Williams' house in the Seventies there one afternoon," Haggard remembers in the 1987 concert video <em>Poet of the Common Man</em>. "I don't recall what in the hell caused me to write it."^[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^{<em>citation needed</em>}</a>^] His first single at MCA, "If We're Not Back In Love By Monday," had also peaked at #2. According to Daniel Cooper's <em>Down Every Road</em> liner notes, Haggard hated his vocal on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Throckmorton" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sonny Throckmorton</a> tune.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramblin%27_Fever#cite_note-DER-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[2]</a> In his 1999 memoir <em>My House of Memories</em>, Haggard wrote of the song: "That one rose to number two for two weeks in 1977, but its melody sounded too much like "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_We_Make_It_Through_December" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">If We Make It Through December</a>", which was number one for four weeks in 1973."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramblin%27_Fever#cite_note-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[4]</a></p><h2>Reception</h2><p>In his 2013 Haggard biography <em>The Running Kind</em>, David Cantwell writes that while the "Ramblin' Fever" single showed promise, "there doesn't seem to have been much good stuff coming from Merle at this time, or much new stuff at all."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramblin%27_Fever#cite_note-RK-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[3]</a></p><h2>Track listing</h2><ol><li>"Ramblin' Fever" (Merle Haggard) – 3:11</li><li>"When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again" (Wiley Walker, Gene Sullivan) – 3:18</li><li>"Ghost Story" (Joe Allen) – 2:45</li><li>"Set Me Free" (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curly_Putman" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Curly Putman</a>) – 2:41</li><li>"Love Somebody to Death" (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Lane" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Red Lane</a>, Glenn Martin) – 3:16</li><li>"If We're Not Back in Love by Monday" (Martin, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Throckmorton" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sonny Throckmorton</a>) – 3:16</li><li>"I Think It's Gone Forever" (Haggard, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leona_Williams" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Leona Williams</a>) – 2:57</li><li>"Ain't Your Memory Got No Pride at All" (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Lane" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Red Lane</a>, Royce Porter, Bucky Jones) – 2:35</li><li>"My Love for You" (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeannie_Seely" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jeannie Seely</a>) – 2:26</li><li>"Last Letter" (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Griffin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rex Griffin</a>) – 3:33</li></ol><h2>Personnel</h2><ul><li>Merle Haggard – vocals, guitar</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grady_Martin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Grady Martin</a> – guitar</li><li>Dave Kirby – guitar</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Lane" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Red Lane</a> – guitar</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Moore" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bob Moore</a> – bass</li><li>Joe Allen – bass</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Harman" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Buddy Harman</a> – drums</li><li>James Isbell – drums</li></ul><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>