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Although Merle Haggard is past the age of mandatory retirement, the Okie From Muskogee is no less ornery in 2005 than he’s ever been. Since news reporters and rock stars aren’t asking the tough questions about the sorry state of the Union , Hag steps up with Where’s All The Freedom (That We’re Fightin’ For), which takes on the issue of the erosion of civil rights since 9/11. And there’s more: along with some of his sweetest honky-tonk blues ballads in years, he throws in a duet with redneck rabble-rouser Toby Keith as a smokescreen for the real controversy-starter, America First (“Freedom is stuck in reverse / Let’s get out of Iraq and back on track / And let’s rebuild America First”), which has been cleverly arranged with fist-shaking audience shout-alongs in mind. It looks like it could be a concert-closing fave for years to come.
