Merle Haggard Joins Bob Dylan for Spring Tour; 'Unforgettable' Album of Standards Gets Rave Reviews

Merle Haggard Joins Bob Dylan for Spring Tour; 'Unforgettable' Album of Standards Gets Rave Reviews

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- When country music legend MERLE HAGGARD hits the road in March, it will be as the special guest act for another giant of American songwriting, Bob Dylan. HAGGARD joins Dylan's spring tour on March 7 at Seattle's Paramount Theatre, and continues on the tour through their performance at the Beacon Theatre in New York on April 30.

HAGGARD, himself responsible for countless country standards, digs into the American songbook on his latest album, UNFORGETTABLE. Featuring such timeless classics as "Pennies From Heaven" and Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust," UNFORGETTABLE marks Merle's return to his longtime label, Capitol Records.

People magazine raves that "No modern country singer would have been a better choice" to sing this material, noting that "This 12-track album is splendid, with Haggard's rich, warm voice wrapping itself comfortably around such tunes as 'Stardust'."

Rating the album as a "classic," the San Francisco Chronicle's assessment is similarly glowing: "When you can take a song that's been done a million times, say, 'Unforgettable,' and make it entirely your own, you have the magic of a master musician. That magic is all over a new collection of standards by country music immortal Merle Haggard ... This is not country music, jazz or pop -- this is Merle Haggard the incomparable."

Dubbed "the most influential country singer of his generation" by Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times, HAGGARD's next project with Capitol -- his first new album of original material for the label in over 25 years -- teams HAGGARD with legendary Nashville executive and producer Jimmy Bowen and renowned television producer/composer Mike Post. The album, which features a duet with Toby Keith, is due later this year.

Dates with Bob Dylan are as follows:

DATE CITY VENUE
March 7-9 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre
March 11-12 Portland, OR University of Portland -- Chiles Center
March 14-16 Oakland, CA Paramount Theatre
March 21-23 Los Angeles, CA Pantages Theatre
March 25-26 Los Angeles, CA Pantages Theatre
March 28-29 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium
April 1-3 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
April 5-6 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
April 8-9 Milwaukee, WI Eagles Ballroom
April 15-17 Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre
April 22 Mashantucket, CT Fox Theater
April 24 Atlantic City, NJ Borgata Resort Spa & Casino
April 25-26 New York, NY Beacon Theater
April 28-30 New York, NY Beacon Theater

More dates to be announced ...

Source: Hag Records

CONTACT: Tresa Redburn of Dept. 56, +1-818-702-6253, or fax,
+1-818-883-4941, tmumba@aol.com, for Hag Records

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