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I never saw him live, but I was in Wheeling for a Tammy Wynette show, in the third row, and for Stand By Your Man she walked to our row and looked my direction. I looked away and she grabbed the man next to me for a little pseudo-dance while she sang the song. Before that song she talked about the disparity between her love for George and why she wasn't apparently Standing By Her Man. I doubt there were many men in the audence who didn't empathize with her.
Country music today is just the veneer without the content. Hank Williams was asked once about being a country singer and replied (quote approximate): "You has to have seen a lot of Alabama over the back side of a mule to be a good country singer". But country music has always suffered a self-conflict in Nashville, because even though some of the hosts and members of the Opry would indeed empathize with the redneck sensibilities of many of the old stars, the more upscale folks who managed the recordings and distribution were always pulling a slightly different direction.
I heard Haggard a couple of times in the late 70's, and he and his cohorts were phenominal musicians then. There were some great shows there in Wheeling, and a few bad ones. The sound system was painfully bad sometimes. When I arrived home from the military in late 1969, I visited Edfred's records in downtown Akron, and Edfred was spinning Okie From Muskogee for a young lady who was obviously a hippie and not appreciating the sentiments of that song. That was an unforgettabe moment. I was not a fan then, and wasn't until 5 years later.
The recorded sound of many of my favorite country songs is splendid with a great sense of space, songs like Girl On The Billboard or Colorado Coolaid or the original Okie From Muskogee - I wish all modern pop recordings were as good.