Old is new on 'Last of Breed'

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NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Merle Haggard sometimes misses the old way of making records, when fixing an off-key note wasn't so simple and all the little mistakes were captured on vinyl.

He believes it gave the music a human touch that's missing today.

"It's unacceptable now to be slightly out of tune," Mr. Haggard said recently. "A lot of the records I made and Ray made and Willie made -- a lot of those were out of tune."

Mr. Haggard is speaking of his buddies Willie Nelson and Ray Price, whom he joined for a new double-CD set, "Last of the Breed," coming out Tuesday.

The collection, though perfectly in tune, harks back to the days Mr. Haggard is talking about.

Most of the 22 tracks are country standards, such as Floyd Tillman's "I Love You So Much It Hurts" and Lefty Frizzell's "Mom and Dad's Waltz," but there's also the new Nelson song "Back to Earth" and one from Mr. Haggard called "Sweet Jesus" that feel as vintage as anything on the CD. It's a record that reflects the honky-tonk and swing music that shaped their careers.

"It was a big party working with Ray and Merle and everybody on that record," Mr. Nelson said. "We were all open-minded about it. No one said no to anything."

Mr. Price, 81, hopes the record and tour will rekindle interest in traditional country music, something he thinks is missing from today's country radio.

"We want to let the kids hear what good songs sound like," he said. "It's really a different kind of music than they've been fed the last 20 years."