Merle Haggard -- Lonesome Fugitive

Having set up my drumkit yesterday and even made a clip from it that I posted on YouTube, I decided that it was time to sit down and practice a little drums. It was Friday night, so I got a few brewskies and let iTunes play some random songs that I could drum along with. After a while, I came across Merle Haggard's old hit "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" and I instinctively fell into a bossanova sort of groove.

When I woke up this morning, I kept hearing that song in my head. I have always loved the song and it makes me feel compassion for that Lonesome Fugitive. I think it is very sad when the words I am on the run. The highway is my home. come out of the speaker.

I decided to practice a little drums after breakfast and laundry so once that was out of the way, I played this song and jammed along with it. Today, I took a more focused approach to the groove than last night. After playing the song 3 or 4 times, I had worked out a basic groove and had the tempo right as well. I made a test video first but messed up in the 2nd bar of the song. The test clip came out really well and after practicing the groove for a little while without any music, I felt it was pretty close to being acceptable.

I then made the recording and although there may be one or two hits that are not on the money, almost all of them are, so I posted the video.



Merle Haggard is a country musician that spent some time in prison but eventually turned around his life and focused on his singing. It is a good thing that he did, because some really good music came out of that. My dad is the one that owns credit for introducing me to Merle Haggard. He likes a lot of old-style country from the 60ies and during my childhood, a lot of his music spoke to the musician within me.

I didn't know it at the time, but I was a musician and there was something good about many different songs. Only later did I discover that I like a steady beat and a good tune.