My Love Affair with Trains is the 20th studio album by American country singer Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1976. The LP rose to number 7 on the Billboard country albums chart.[1]
Background
The album recalls his 1969 tribute to Jimmie Rogers, Same Train, A Different Time but, with its between song narrations and freight train sound effects, more closely resembles Johnny Cash's 1960 concept album Ride This Train. Haggard, who was also a model train enthusiast, manages only one original composition, "No More Trains to Ride". "Here Comes the Freedom Train" would be the album's only hit single, peaking at number 10 and ending Haggard's incredible run of nine consecutive #1 hits.[2] Other notable selections include the Dolly Parton-penned title track and Jimmy Buffett's "Railroad Lady."
In addition to releasing three albums in 1976, Haggard also appeared on an episode of The Waltons, playing country singer Red Turner, a recovering alcoholic. He performs the song "Nobody's Darlin' But Mine."
Reception
Thom Jurek of AllMusic praises the album, maintaining that Haggard "weaves an iconographic history of the rails - from past to present to uncertain future - seamlessly and with great taste... [The album] may seem a bit quaint in retrospect, but its soul and emotion don't date. There is great truth in his performances of these songs, and like virtually everything he records, he tells the truth through these songs as he sees it."