On The Road: The Mega Years Plus

Performer: Henson Cargill
Engineer: Tommy Strong
Producer: Jim Malloy; Buddy Killen
Distributor: City Hall

Notes: Personnel: Charlie McCoy (harmonica). Audio Remasterers: Don Bartley; Don Bartley. Liner Note Author: Jason Odd. Omni's second collection of Henson Cargill recordings covers his recordings for Mega Records, the label he joined after leaving Monument in 1971. Cargill only released one LP for Mega, 1972's On the Road, which is included here in its entirety along with a bunch of 45s from both early and late in his career, all making their first appearance on CD . He had no hits during this stint -- he was still a couple years away from having his last run on the charts with 1974's This Is Henson Cargill Country -- but Cargill spent plenty of time adapting to the sounds of the passing times, covering hits by Wayne Newton, John Denver, Neil Diamond, the Band, and Merle Haggard, singing chugging Johnny Cash historical fables in the mid-'60s and slick crossover country-pop in the late '70s. Cargill was skillful enough a singer to sound convincing in all these settings, but the most memorable of the recordings here is indeed the On the Road LP, a cross between Cash's travelogues and Haggard's rolling country-folk, tempered with a considerable dose of Nashville studio craft and a touch of soft Glen Campbell-styled pop. Essentially, it's a period curio but it's a good one, not just because it captures its time, but because Cargill is an effective, plain-spoken country singer -- good enough that he deserved songs that weren't just of their times but rather transcended them. Even if he didn't have those in the '70s, he still eked out some good period recordings, all collected here. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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