A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills)

A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills)
Compilation album by Merle Haggard
Released	1970
Genre	Country, Western swing
Length	37:05
Label	Capitol
Producer	Earl Ball
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Merle Haggard chronology
The Fightin' Side of Me (1970) A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills) (1970) Hag (1971)

A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills) is a 1970 (see 1970 in country music) album by Merle Haggard.

This album was recorded as a tribute to Merle Haggard's childhood idol Bob Wills. Haggard gathered up six of the remaining members of The Texas Playboys to record this tribute: Johnnie Lee Wills, Eldon Shamblin, Tiny Moore, Joe Holley, Johnny Gimble, and Alex Brashear. Merle's band The Strangers were also present during the recording.

Haggard would do other tribute albums to Bob Wills over the next 40 years. In 1973 he appeared on For The Last Time Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys. Unfortunately Wills suffered a massive stroke after the first day of recording. Merle arrived on the second day, devastated that he wouldn't get to record with "The Old Man".

In 1994 Haggard collaborated with Asleep at the Wheel and many other artists influenced by the music of Bob Wills on an album entitled Tribute To The Music Of Bob Wills And The Texas Playboys.

A Tribute was re-released on CD on the Koch label in 1995.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Brown Skinned Gal" (Bob Wills) – 2:50
2. "Right Or Wrong" (Paul Biese, Haven Gillespie, Arthur Sizemore) – 2:36
3. "Brain Cloudy Blues" (Tommy Duncan, Bob Wills) – 3:38
4. "Stay A Little Longer" (Duncan, Wills) – 3:38
5. "Misery" (Duncan, Tiny Moore, Wills) – 3:19
6. "Time Changes Everything" (Duncan) – 5:56

Side two

1. "San Antonio Rose" (Wills) – 2:53
2. "I Knew The Moment I Lost You" (Duncan, Wills) – 3:00
3. "Roly Poly" (Fred Rose) – 2:39
4. "Old Fashioned Love" (James P. Johnson, Cecil Mack) – 2:32
5. "Corrine, Corrina" (Bo Chatmon, Mitchell Parish, J. Mayo Williams) – 2:16
6. "Take Me Back To Tulsa" (Duncan, Wills) – 2:38

Personnel

• Merle Haggard – vocals, guitar, fiddle
• Roy Nichols – guitar
• Bobby Wayne – guitar
• Eldon Shamblin – guitar
• Dennis Hromek – bass
• Tiny Moore – fiddle, mandolin
• Norman Hamlet – steel guitar, dobro
• Johnnie Lee Wills – banjo
• George French – piano
• Alex Brashear – trumpet
• Biff Adam – drums
• Joe Holley – fiddle
• Johnny Gimble – fiddle

External links

• Merle Haggard's Official Website