This is certainly a great collection of tunes from a set of 4 CDs on the four main topics of Country Music: Cheatin', Hurtin', Drinkin', and Prison. Merle knows whereof he speaks, having spent his formative years in various jails, until winding up in San Quentin. He finally hit rock bottom, waking up in isolation after binging on bootleg booze. Hearing the other prisoners talk about him and the path he was on, he finally decided to pursue a musical career instead of a criminal one. The final cut is Merle singing gospel with a jail house choir, recorded in San Quentin.

Mama Tried, I'm a Lonesome Fugitive, and Branded Man are stand out cuts. Merle does Folsom Prison, interestingly, in F# instead of E. It is almost impossible for anyone except Johnny Cash to hit the low note on that one. Another favorite of mine, in a more humorous vein, is I Made The Prison Band, a cover of a Tommy Collins tune. Tommy Collins was a pioneer of The Bakersfield Sound, and someone who gave Merle a lot of support and encouragment when he was coming up.

Merle sings it like he means it, and god knows, when he sings about prison, he's been there.

This music is absolutely fantastic, and I'm glad I decided to buy it. My favorite song on this album is 'Mama Tried.' Update to original review: I've been listening to this music over and over again, which is a sign of a classic country western album. The songs aren't just about being in prison behind bars - there's all kinds of prisons on the outside - the job you hate, the wife you can't get away from, and this music is the perfect soundtrack for modern life. I love it.

'Sing Me Back Home' is really emotional, the lyrics simple but beautiful.

'Huntsville' is a convict's vow to escape as he's on his way to prison. The lyrics are defiant, yet strangely upbeat, even in the face of overwhelming odds. (They got me chained in leg irons/I guess they got a good excuse/They know I'm gonna run the first chance/I get cause they're never gonna cut me loose.)

'I'm a Lonesome Fugitive' is another surprisingly upbeat and highly entertaining song, a fugitive resigned to his ultimate fate - he knows he'll get caught sooner or later. (Down every road there's always one more city/I'm on the run, the highway is my home/I raised a lot of cane back in my younger days/While Mama used to pray my crops would fail/I'm a hunted fugitive with just two ways:

Outrun the law or spend my life in jail)

The commercial bombast now known as "country music" left the prison scene behind long ago, but back when the musicians knew what they were singing about, Merle was laying it on the line about doing time. This album even has a great cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" I'd never heard before.

There are no bad songs on this CD, and by the end, you'll be scared straight. It's vintage Merle, with trademark Telecaster and lap steel, Bakersfield sound and no pop orchestrations or nothin'. The last song seems to be a long-lost copy of the San Quentin prison choir performing for a radio program.

Real country/western and some of Merle's greatest. No reference to the unsettling topic of soap-dropping, shower shenanigans and makeshift forced copulatory arrangements, but just as well.

There are 4 CDs in this series, so check them out. "Hurtin," "Cheatin," "Drinkin" and "Prison." I hope the series isn't finished, because I think they need a couple more thematically arranged albums, like "Bustin' Heads" and maybe "Grindstonin'" or "Hippie Slammin'".

Gram Parsons was a Merle fan. That's all a music lover needs to know. This album reminds me of the great NYC Country snger 'Cherokee'. Find a recording of him if you can, usually under the name of The Rockin' R's. You can't go wrong.

Keep it Country,y'all!!

I'm a big Gram Parsons' fan and I'd just like to alert newer Gram fans to this album and the accompanying Drinkin' album. Gram was a big Merle fan, and these albums certainly show how much he was influenced by Merle's vocal phrasing and his musical arrangements. There's also versions of Sing Me Back Home (a Merle composition) and Green Green Grass Of Home, both of which Gram covered. Buy these albums - and a Louvin Brothers compilation - to see what inspired young Gram.

May the spirit of Gram be with us always,

Cherokee Bonnet