Noel Haggard

about

"I’m proud to be a Bakersfield boy," Noel announces flatly. "That West Coast, California-style of country was the opposite of what Nashville was doing at the time…and it got to me! It wasn’t polished. It wasn’t really a rehearsed thing, which makes it hard to explain. Though Noel Haggard left Bakersfield at age 14, that country music mecca’s essence permeated his soul. Growing up the youngest son of Merle Haggard and his first wife, the freewheeling honky tonk spirit and beauty of the Kern River defined Noel’s outlook on both the world and music. "Raw is a good word for it. To me, that’s what traditional country music is: raw. It’s honky tonk and, of course, cheating. It’s smoke-filled bars, neon, booze and love." With his debut album One Lifetime, Noel Haggard began embracing his birthright. Produced by Muscle Shoals legend Barry Beckett, One Lifetime explores love’s possibilities, shortfalls, pains and regrets - and it does so with the same natural phrasing and richly sonorous baritone that one would expect from someone with such a loaded last name. There’s much yearning in country music – and Noel’s Atlantic debut is steeped in that sense of jagged desire. Whether it’s the classic verbal turnaround of profiting from another’s indifference in "The Palm of My Hand" or the rousing two-stepper "Left, Leavin’, Goin’ or Gone", Noel Haggard unsheathes an emotional core that’s both strong and vulnerable. Growing up the son of a man who has defined country’s possibilities, Noe

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