The Land of Many Churches is the fifteenth studio album by Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released as a double album by Capitol Records in 1971.

Background

The album collects four live performances: two are in churches proper—Big Creek Baptist Church and Assembly of God Tabernacle—one is at San Quentin's Garden Chapel inside the prison, and one at Nashville's Union Rescue Mission. The music offers a mix of country gospel and traditional hymns with preachers introducing some of the songs. Bonnie Owens and the Carter Family are also featured. The album reached number 15 on the Billboard country albums chart. It was reissued on CD in 1997 by Razor & Tie.

Reception

Al Campbell of AllMusic states "To his credit, Haggard had a greater need to shine light on the music that influenced him, more so than the need to release material that guaranteed a surefire hit... Highly recommended to traditional country fans." Writing in 2013, Haggard biographer David Cantwell calls it "one of the gems of the country canon."

Track listing

Personnel

The Strangers: with and

Chart positions