Chill Factor (album)

Chill Factor
Studio album by Merle Haggard
Released	1987
Genre	Country
Length	35:42
Label	Epic
Producer	Merle Haggard, Ken Suesov
Merle Haggard chronology
Out Among the Stars (1987) Chill Factor (1987) Seashores of Old Mexico (1987)

Chill Factor is an album by American country music singer Merle Haggard, released on the Epic label in 1987.

Background

Chill Factor was released in the midst of the "new traditionalist" movement in country music, which saw new, younger country stars such as Randy Travis begin to dominate the charts. While several country music vets saw their presence on country radio diminish, Haggard was one of the few from the old guard who remained relevant, with Chill Factor reaching number 8 on the Billboard country album chart. However, it would be Haggard's last Top 10 album until 2007. Haggard, who had experienced drug and alcohol problems in the eighties, would be further distracted by financial difficulties in the ensuing years. In addition, long time Stranger guitarist Roy Nichols, who Haggard had played with since the early sixties, informed him that he would be retiring from the road due to ill health.^[1]

After the relatively disappointing chart performance of his previous album Out Among the Stars, Chill Factor was a commercial comeback for Haggard, who wrote or co-wrote all the songs on the album except one. In addition to the chart-topping "Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star", the title track was also a top ten hit, peaking at number 9, but two other singles, "We Never Touch at All" and "You Babe," failed to crack the top 20.^[2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
Robert Christgau	(B-)[4]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote "...while this sound dates the album somewhat, it’s also easy to hear beyond it, to recognize that this is one of Haggard’s strongest collection of songs of the '80s, a record where he remains a peerless craftsman and has yet to succumb completely to the streak of bitter nostalgia that sometimes tainted his records of the '90s."^[3]

Track listing

All songs written by Merle Haggard unless otherwise indicated.

1. "Chill Factor" – 3:20
2. "Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star" – 3:22
3. "Man from Another Time" (Haggard, Freddy Powers) – 2:42
4. "We Never Touch at All" (Haggard, Hank Cochran) – 3:41
5. "You Babe" (Sanger D. Schafer) – 3:50
6. "Thanking the God Lord" – 2:31
7. "After Dark" – 3:45
8. "1929" – 3:38
9. "Thirty Again" – 3:09
10. "I Don't Have Any Love Around" – 3:19
11. "More Than This Old Heart Can Take" (Haggard, Powers) – 2:25

Personnel

• Merle Haggard – vocals, guitar, background vocals
• Biff Adam – drums
• Jim Belken – fiddle
• Gary Church – trombone
• Steve Gibson – guitar
• Norm Hamlet – dobro, pedal steel guitar
• Jim Haas – background vocals
• Jon Joice – background vocals
• Bonnie Owens – background vocals
• Red Lane – guitar
• Mike Leech – bass
• Don Markham – saxophone, trumpet
• Grady Martin – guitar
• Clint Strong – guitar
• Bobby Wayne – guitar
• Mark Yeary – keyboards

References

1. Haggard, Merle; Russell, Peggy (1983). Sing Me Back Home: My Story. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-45275-9.
2. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 148.
3. Erlewine, Steven Thomas. "Chill Factor > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
4. Christgau, Robert. "Chill Factor > Review". Robert Christgau. Retrieved February 22, 2015.