Vanguard

Don’t let the song title “Under the Bridge” mislead you. It’s not the Red Hot Chili Peppers hit and Merle Haggard isn’t pulling a Rick Rubin late-career revival by covering contemporary tunes. Haggard’s track is a powerful original where a laid-off Michigan man stares down his cruel fate and makes the best of it. The title track remembers how Haggard was treated all those years ago in Nashville, while “Too Much Boogie Woogie” dresses down Music City for not playing enough Ernest Tubb. This living legend, who recently beat lung cancer, sings it like he feels it. “Laugh It Off” lays out the 74-year- old cowboy’s current philosophy (golf and Humboldt marijuana, folks). For fun, Willie Nelson and Merle’s son Ben add vocals and guitar to a remake of Hag’s classic “Workin’ Man Blues.”