Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson

Last year when country giants Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson teamed up at Mystic Lake Casino, Kristofferson had a bad cold so Hag had to carry the show. He was chatty and witty, he played some hot guitar licks on his partner’s songs and even sang one of them when it was clear that Kristofferson had lost all his vocal faculties (his singing voice is pretty limited to begin with). It doesn’t matter much if they have new albums (Hag put out the commendable “Working in Tennessee” last fall, Kris offered “Closer to the Bone” in 2009) because they have enough terrific songs to fill three nights’ worth of concerts. Jon Bream