Finding Bear

Merle Haggard - Hag: The Studio Recordings 1969 - 1976 (2007) {6CD Bear Family Records BCD 16749}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.98 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.06 Gb | Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2007 Bear Family Records | BCD 16749
Country / Bakersfield Sound / Honky Tonk / Folk Rock / Progressive Country / Traditional Country / Western Swing Revival

Merle Haggard, RIP. In Memoriam. Merle Haggard, an icon of American music, died at his home in California on Wednesday, April 6, 2016. It was the singer, songwriter, and musician’s 79th birthday. In 2008 he battled lung cancer, and was hospitalized in December 2015 with double pneumonia. Haggard returned to the stage soon after, but was sidelined again in February due to continuing health concerns. “A week ago Dad told us he was gonna pass on his birthday,” Merle’s son and lead guitarist, Ben, revealed the day his father died, “and he wasn’t wrong.”

Merle Haggard - Hag: The Capitol Recordings 1968-1976 - Concepts, Live & The Strangers (2008) {6CD Set Bear Family Records}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.78 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.00 Gb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1968-76, 2008 Capitol / EMI / Bear Family Records | BCD 16782 FK
Country / Bakersfield Sound / Honky Tonk / Folk Rock / Progressive Country / Traditional Country / Western Swing Revival

Twelve years after they released their first Merle Haggard box, The Untamed Hawk, Bear Family delivered the sequel, Hag: The Studio Recordings 1969-1976. This picks up where The Untamed Hawk left off, which is more of a musical dividing point than it initially seems. If The Untamed Hawk caught Haggard as he was reaching full flight, Hag captures him in his prime, as every single he released reached the Country Top Ten – often capturing the number one slot – and as he sometimes crossed over into the pop Top 40. Hag was without a doubt the biggest star in country music but the remarkable thing about his reign at the top was that he never played it safe.

Various Artists - Acadian All Star Special (2011) {3CD Set, Bear Family BCD17206CK rec 1946-1959}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 541 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 442 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 1.84 Gb | 5% repair rar
© 1946-59, 2011 Bear Family Records | BCD 17206 CK
Country / Cajun / Folk / Traditional Country / North American Traditions

A labor of love and a monument to exhaustive research, Bear Family's 2011 box set Acadian All Star Special: The Pioneering Cajun Recordings of J.D. Miller contains every recording Cajun music producer J.D. Miller cut between 1946 and 1959. This simple description downplays the effort behind this triple-disc box. It took considerable effort to document each of these tracks, and more still for Lyle Ferbrache to assemble the notes, but the end result winds up as a cornerstone of Cajun music.