It's been 42 years since Merle Haggard sung about fading American ideals in "Okie From Muskogee," and he's only gotten more obsessed with the subject. On his ninth disc in 11 years, the 74-year-old rails against shady politicians, chemtrails and the current country scene. But the album – recorded at Haggard's California ranch – benefits from a relaxed, among-friends vibe, and Haggard's more upbeat singing about his past, from his rough early Nashville days to the hazy period when he lived on California's Lake Shasta on "Down on the Houseboat." "The party's not over/Or so it seems," he sings, sounding both grizzled and hopeful. "We're still together/And we've still got dreams."

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“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."