Ditmas Park Tribute To Merle Haggard & His Bakersfield Sound This Thursday

Bourbon Sprawl will bring a little bit of Brooklyn to the Bakersfield sound when the local band pays tribute this week to country-music legend Merle Haggard, who passed away April 6.

In the mid-60s, Haggard was one of the pioneers of the Bakersfield sound, named for the California city where he and others recorded, which brought the vitality of honky-tonk music back to a country-and western-scene dominated by slickly-produced Nashville-based artists.

On Thursday (4/28), Bourbon Sprawl will present a program of music by Haggard and others at Bar Chord.

Bourbon Sprawl typically plays songs rooted in the country music of the 70s and earlier, so Haggard “looms large in our playlist,” singer/guitarist Ben Ratliff said. “Obviously, with his passing, we knew we had to pay tribute to one of the greats of country music.”

The mix of twanging Fender guitars and the pedal steel of traditional country music was a hallmark of the Bakersfield sound. With Drew Fleming providing lead guitar on top of Ratliff’s rhythm playing, and Jeff Lampert on pedal steel, Bourbon Sprawl has the line-up to match the classic tone of Haggard’s long-time band, the Strangers. Ezra Gale on bass, and drummer Vincent Giangola deliver the crucial back beat.

Haggard died on the morning of April 6, his 79th birthday. Ratliff reflected on his legacy and gave a preview of Bourbon Sprawl’s tribute to the singer.

“Merle had a huge impact on country music. Mentored by Johnny Cash, he had the same plain-spoken sensibility in his music, telling stories the way country music should. He truly lived his story, probably more than any other country artist – ‘Mama Tried’ (his 1968 hit song) is basically autobiographical.”

At the Bar Chord show, “you can expect to hear ‘Big City,’ ‘Mama Tried,’ ‘I’ll Leave the Bottle on the Bar,’ ‘Swinging Doors,’ as well as some non-Merle songs,” Ratliff said.

A band playing a set that covers classic songs can come off sounding like a human jukebox, but Bourbon Sprawl won’t have that problem “because we’re not good enough,” Ratliff jokes.

More seriously, he explained, “just like Charlie Parker said: ‘It’s all about the stories, man’ and most of Bourbon Sprawl is from New York — only Drew and I grew up in Texas.” Using iconic works of country music to tell their own stories, the band puts Brooklyn in every show, even when they’re presenting the best of Bakersfield.

Bourbon Sprawl’s set will start about 9 PM on Thursday at Bar Chord. As always, there’s no cover, so be sure to tip the band.