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

Distribution Source : PRNewswire

Date : Thursday - February 24, 2005


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 ...

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