Nobody should be shocked that Craft Recordings is dusting off HighTone Records and setting it loose again. This is the same outfit that’s been curating jazz with Prestige, Riverside, and Contemporary, not to mention diving deep into the blues with the relaunch of Bluesville. If anything, HighTone’s return feels like the next inevitable stop on Craft’s victory lap through American roots music.
Originally founded in 1983, HighTone carved its reputation by giving space to voices that didn’t quite fit Nashville polish or big-label gloss—blues bruisers, honky-tonk outsiders, rockabilly revivalists, and gospel torchbearers. Under Craft, the imprint isn’t just back—it’s being reimagined as a curated home for roots recordings that matter, past and present.
As part of that mission, HighTone isn’t just mining its own vaults—it’s also pulling from Rounder, Sugar Hill, and Vanguard to create a broader, more eclectic catalog. Expect thoughtfully curated vinyl and CD reissues, digital releases, streaming playlists, and original editorial content. The first volley sets the tone: the debut of the HighTone Highlights playlist (already streaming) and the long-overdue first-ever vinyl pressing of Tulare Dust: A Songwriter’s Tribute to Merle Haggard, landing November 7 with contributions from Lucinda Williams, Joe Ely, Dwight Yoakam, Dave Alvin, and more.
The Legacy of HighTone Records: From Robert Cray to Americana’s Finest
HighTone Records wasn’t just another indie label out of Oakland when Larry Sloven and GRAMMY-winning producer Bruce Bromberg launched it in 1983—it came out swinging with The Robert Cray Band’s Bad Influence. Over the next quarter-century, HighTone carved its name into the roots music landscape with nearly 300 albums spanning blues, country, gospel, rockabilly, and Western swing. The roster reads like a who’s who of Americana’s backbone: Dave Alvin, Joe Ely, Joe Louis Walker, Dick Dale, Rosie Flores, Gary Stewart, Geoff Muldaur, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, to name just a few. In 2016, Concord swooped in and picked up the catalog, handing it over to Craft Recordings, where it’s now being dusted off for a new generation.
Sloven summed up the label’s ethos best: back in the early ’80s, the indie scene already had its silos—Alligator had blues locked down, Sugar Hill leaned on bluegrass, Flying Fish stuck to acoustic. HighTone wasn’t interested in boxes. As Sloven puts it, he and Bromberg “just wanted to release music they believed in—music with grit, soul, and wide-open range.” That meant their first eleven records ran the gamut: blues, blues-rock, Bakersfield country, country-rock, Black gospel, Southern soul, and Texas singer-songwriter cuts. Decades later, the industry would slap the label “Americana” on it. HighTone was doing it before anyone bothered to brand it.
About Tulare Dust: A Songwriter’s Tribute to Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard (1937-2016) stands as one of country music’s greatest figures, but his reach went well beyond honky-tonks and the Nashville machine. A pioneer of the Bakersfield sound, Haggard pulled from jazz, blues, folk, and straight-up country to forge a style that was distinctly his own. His lyrics—clear-eyed, unsentimental, and rooted in the lives of working-class America—cemented him as both outlaw poet and chronicler of hard truths. Across his 50-plus-year career, he racked up ACM, CMA, and GRAMMY Awards by the armful, though for years his songwriting often took a back seat to his larger-than-life persona.
In 1994, Tom Russell and Dave Alvin set out to correct that imbalance. Convinced that Haggard’s catalog was one of the great songbooks of American music, they pulled together an all-star lineup of roots artists to record Tulare Dust: A Songwriter’s Tribute to Merle Haggard. Their aim was simple: spotlight Merle the writer, not just Merle the legend. As Alvin recalls, the idea was to prove Haggard belonged in the same breath as the best folk, blues, and rock storytellers, not only country. To drive the point home, they invited artists from across the roots spectrum—big names and obscurities alike—to filter Merle’s songs through their own styles. The result was a 15-track set that Merle himself approved of, and one that Russell and Alvin remain proud to have shepherded into existence.
Russell kicks off the record with a dustbowl-flavored medley of “Tulare Dust/They’re Tearin’ the Labor Camps Down,” while Alvin closes things out with a stirring take on Haggard’s 1985 hit “Kern River.” In between, the roster cuts deep into Haggard’s songbook. Lucinda Williams puts her world-weary stamp on 1964’s “You Don’t Have Very Far to Go,” while Dwight Yoakam leans into the barroom melancholy of 1974’s “Holding Things Together.” Country rocker Steve Young strips down “Shopping for Dresses” (1982), and Joe Ely brings a Texas roadhouse swagger to the trucker anthem “White Line Fever” (1969).
Haggard’s better-known songs get equally distinctive treatments. Billy Joe Shaver injects grit into the 1977 barnburner “Ramblin’ Fever,” Katy Moffatt pares back the heartbreak of 1970’s “I Can’t Be Myself,” and Iris DeMent lends haunting conviction to the 1982 chart-topper “Big City”—a performance Haggard himself praised as reaching emotional depths he hadn’t captured. Robert Earl Keen covers the No.1 hit “Daddy Frank” with help from the Sunshine Boys Quartet, while Rosie Flores turns the 1979 crowd-pleaser “My Own Kind of Hat” into a cow-punk showcase.
The set also widens the Americana tent, with artists from outside country taking their shots. Barrence Whitfield tackles the once-controversial “Irma Jackson” (1972), a bold ballad of interracial love. Marshall Crenshaw turns “Silver Wings” (1969) into shimmering pop, while John Doe dives into the bluesy grit of “I Can’t Hold Myself in Line.” Peter Case closes the loop with a rollicking rendition of 1977’s “A Working Man Can’t Get Nowhere Today.”
At the end of the day, Tulare Dust is exactly the kind of move you’d expect from a reborn HighTone under Craft. A label built on misfits and truth-tellers relaunches with a tribute to Merle Haggard—the ultimate outsider whose songs gave working-class America a voice. It’s a perfect statement of intent: honoring the past while reminding everyone that roots music was never meant to sit quietly in the background.
Tulary Dust: A Songwriter’s Tribute to Merle Haggard arrives November 7, 2025 on vinyl for the very first time. Pre-orders are open now—don’t sleep on it.
Where to buy: $25.99 at Amazon
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