CMT News

Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson -- two artists in their 70s who continue to create compelling music -- each released their first albums on new labels Tuesday (April 20). Haggard's I Am What I Am (Vanguard) was recorded with his band, the Strangers, at his Shade Tree Manor studio in northern California. Nelson revisited an array of classic songs on his aptly-titled Country Music (Rounder), his first project with producer T Bone Burnett. Other new albums arriving this week include David Ball's Sparkle City (E1 Entertainment), Whitney Duncan's Right Road Now (Warner Bros. Nashville), the Infamous Stringdusters' Things That Fly (Sugar Hill) and Shelby Lynne's Tears, Lies and Alibis (Everso).