Track Listing
1. The Road Takes The Blame
2. High Desert Rain
3. Close Your Eyes
4. The Only Thing I Do
5. Hurtin’ Side Of Town
6. Back To Oklahoma
7. Tascosa Rose
8. Leavin’ Chama
9. Someone To Hold Me
10. Horseman
11. She Still Loves Him
12. On My Way Home
All Songs by Joe Merrick
Lunasong Music (BMI) 2017
Layout by LunaVision
Recorded At Studio Seven/Lunacy Records, OKC
Produced By Dave Copenhaver
This and other works by Joe Merrick are also available on CD for your high quality listening pleasure. Contact Dave Copenhaver at Lunacy Records to get your CDs today! Phone (405) 236-0643 or email [email protected]
“Mention the Merricks of Sayre, Oklahoma, and you will get a nod of recognition from just about any horseman or woman over the age of 40 and in many cases much younger, too.”
Joe Merrick
With horses named Easy Marble, Easy Six, Extra Easy, My Easy Credit, Easy Date and, of course, the inimitable Easy Jet, with whom the line was brought to prominence, it is all understandable today when Joe Merrick tells you that many people associate his name only with quarter horse racing, despite the many other endeavors he has undertaken since his father, Walter, became one of the legends of quarter horse breeding and racing. One of the founding members of the American Quarter Horse Assn., Walter Merrick rose from a dollar a day ranch hand to alter the course of the American quarter horse. He bred several Hall of Fame horses, including Easy Jet, Jet Deck, Easy Date and the champions Byou Bird and Toast the Host.
Merrick was inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s Hall of Great Westerners and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. He died in 2006 at 94 years of age.
“Walter Merrick has had a greater impact than any other human on the horse industry.”
-Frank Holmes, 2001
Walter Merrick
Walter sent Joe to Canterbury Downs in 1986 for the track’s first quarter horse meet, and Joe has been back many times in the last quarter century. For more on the Merrick Family History you can read the full article here.
Joe Merrick’s adventuresome spirit and willingness to give new projects a try is why some of the younger folks, for instance, might associate the Merrick name solely with the Professional Bull Riders Assn. The Merricks ran the bull registry and helped set up PBR shows at arenas around the nation for four years.
“We would have stayed on, but they moved their headquarters to Pueblo, Colo,” Joe said. “We didn’t want to move.” Why leave all that history and family connection, he reasoned.
The Merrick name got its early recognition, of course, with Easy Jet, and Walter Merrick’s decision to infuse thoroughbred blood into the short-horse line. It transpired like this: Merrick chose one of his best mares, Lena Valenti, and bred her to the thoroughbred Three Bars. The result was Lena’s Bar, an outstanding race horse later bred to Jet Deck.
Easy Jet
Their foal was Easy Jet, a quarter horse racing and breeding legend who now has his final resting place on the Merricks’ 14 Ranch outside Sayre, founded by Walter and still part of the family.
“You will understand Joe’s love of horses, too, by his forgiveness for their misdeeds, even major ones, or as Merrick also put it: “There are things in this business that will test your mettle.”
So, there are quarter horses, thoroughbreds and bulls in the Merrick family history. There is also music. Joe has recorded three albums now with songs he has written that would draw solid reviews on any two-step floor. Or you can simply sit and enjoy some of the tunes inspired by Merrick’s life and the people in it.
On the album “Ranches and Rodeos” he has recorded a song called ‘Wild Horses’ and ‘Easy Jet’. On the album “New Bad Habits” there is ‘Quarter Horse Rider,’ ‘What Makes a Cowboy’ and ‘Don’t Give Up.’ Culminating in Joe’s latest work the album’s title track “Horseman” brings it all home.
