Haggard Like Never Before (2003)

Do not mistake Haggard Like Never Before -- a deceptively jaunty, brief (a tad over half an hour) album -- as minor Merle Haggard. While the title song invites you to apply the pun of his surname to his aging musical prowess, the music refutes his joshing. There's a lotta spunk in the old coot: Beyond the typically anti-media, anti-Iraq-war-policy politics behind the single ''That's the News,'' ''Never Before'' has a fun novelty song (''Garbage Man''), a great ballad (''The Downside''), and a beautiful ballad (''Because of Your Eyes''). And, except for the novelty number, he wrote all those, and he sings them in a voice that, impossibly, has grown smoother and more flexible with age.