Swinging Doors & Bottle Let Me Down
Exemplary early Hag,Swinging Doors and the Bottle Let Me Downis the album that solidified the then-newcomer's standing as a budding force in country music. Indeed, Haggard's third album set a high bar that Merle quickly proved he could clear with remarkable consistency. This 1966 collection features a dozen tracks cut between the winter of '65 and the following summer, including a couple of Haggard-penned classics--the two title tracks. A cover of Bakersfield crony Tommy Collins's stately "High on a Hilltop" is yet another highlight in this uniformly strong set. A key building block in any Haggard collection.--Steven Stolder