Kern River
The title song of his 1985 album, a narrator's lament for a girlfriend lost to the river; the album's only single.
Merle Haggard, from Kern River (1985)
"Kern River", written and recorded by Haggard with the Strangers and produced by Grady Martin, was the only single from the album, released on July 1, 1985 on Epic, 3:23 on the single with "Old Watermill" on the B-side. It reached number ten on Billboard's country songs chart and on RPM's country tracks. The narrator's girlfriend drowns in the Kern River, and David Cantwell, in The Running Kind (2013), calls it a scary record. No interview in which Haggard explained the song was found.
Dave Alvin recorded it on West of the West (2006) and Emmylou Harris on All I Intended to Be (2008). Setlist.fm lists it in 40 of his setlists. It is not to be confused with "Kern River Blues", his final recording, released on May 12, 2016; which of the two our upload is has not been confirmed.
Covers and versions
- Dave Alvin (2006) On West of the West.
- Emmylou Harris (2008) On All I Intended to Be.
More songs by Merle Haggard
Sources
- Kern River (song), Wikipedia
- Kern River (album), Wikipedia
- Merle Haggard statistics, setlist.fm