During his 1977-1981 tenure at MCA Records, Merle Haggard radically revamped his music. Haggard's first decade atop the music business was spent at Capitol Records, where he cultivated a spare sound built around James Burton's guitar, Norman Hamlett's dobro, and Bonnie Owens' backing vocals. As the '70s progressed, Haggard expanded his band, probably in an effort to emulate his hero Bob Wills. Following Wills' lead, Haggard started swinging the beat on more of his recordings. His song writing (which had flagged in the early 1970s) sharpened again, and the combination of all these factors resulted in some of the best music of Haggard's career. All of Haggard's MCA albums--I'M ALWAYS ON A MOUNTAIN among them--are well worth owning. MOUNTAIN includes three top ten hits: the title track, the hangover-inspired "It's Been A Great Afternoon," and "Love Me When You Can." Much of the rest of the album is given over to touching melancholy ballads, including "There Won't Be Another Now," "The Dream," and a cover of Hank Cochran's "Don't You Ever Get Tired Of Hurting Me."

Rovi