Back in the early to mid 70’s I was doing some shows in Sparks, Nevada at The Shy Clown Casino while Merle Haggard was playing downtown Reno. He called me one afternoon and said, “David come on down and let’s get together”. So down I went. It was always great to be around Merle. We sat and passed the guitar back and forth singing songs we’d written or would sing a Lefty song (or two), we were the two biggest fans of Lefty’s and still are! I was working with Buck Owens out of Bakersfield California at the time and recording with Capital Records with Buck as the Producer. I said to Merle, “Merle I have got to get a hit song, I have to have a hit song, I have to have a hit and I know you have some”. Merle said, “David I’ll sing you something new I just wrote” and he sang “That’s The Way It Was In 51’. I fell in love with it. I said “Merle, I have to have that song!” Merle said, “David I can’t give that to you, it’s my next single”, I said, I don’t care if it is, I need this song”. Merle smiled and said, “David, I’ve just recorded my last session for the year but this is what I can do, I’ll send you ten songs and I guarantee you that six of them are hits”. I looked over at Merle and said, “Merle please underline those six for me cuz’ I’ll probably record those other ones”. We both laughed.
Fast forward to 2016…Merle was finally scheduled to do a Country Family reunion show with lots of guests. We were all so excited…then Merle passed away in April. We went on with the show but as a tribute to Merle. We were all still grieving from this loss but together. Everyone had a chance to pick their Merle song so I chose “That’s The Way It Was In 51”. September 2025 I have a new project called “David Frizzell Presents Frizzell & Friends A Tribute To Brother Lefty” and thanks to the Country Family Reunion team they have gave their permission to use the song for this special project with all these incredible musicians. So as Merle wrote in the song: Hank and Lefty crowded every jukebox, that’s the way it was in 51’
As you can see, I’ve got more for y’all real soon – stay tuned