Unforgettable

The new CD from Merle Haggard bridges the gap between country music and jazz | Gene Edward Veith

Country music is simple, just "three chords and the truth"; jazz is complex, with complicated key changes and improvisation. Country music is rural and down-to-earth; jazz is big-city and sophisticated. Country music is Merle Haggard. Jazz is Nat King Cole.

So how do you explain Merle Haggard's Unforgettable? The new CD from one of the most hard-core of country singers, famed for "Okie from Muskogee" and "The Fightin' Side of Me," is a jazz album, featuring standards like "As Time Goes By," "Cry Me a River," and "Stardust."

But this is nothing new for Mr. Haggard, who was on the cover of the jazz magazine Downbeat 25 years ago. He has always traced his sound to Bob Wills, whose Western Swing countrified big band music, and to Jimmie Rodgers—hailed as the father of country music—who added a yodel to the blues and recorded with Louis Armstrong.