Kern River

The Kern River is a river in the U.S. state of California, approximately 165 miles (270 km) long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by snowmelt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for whitewater rafting and kayaking. It is the only major river in the Sierra Nevada mountain range that drains in a southerly direction.

The Kern River formerly emptied into now dry Buena Vista Lake and Kern Lake via the Kern River Slough and Kern Lake in turn emptied into Buena Vista Lake via the Connecting Slough at the southern end of the Central Valley. Buena Vista Lake when overflowing, first backed up into Kern Lake and then upon rising higher drained into Tulare Lake via Buena Vista Slough and a changing series of sloughs of the Kern River. The lakes were part of a partially endorheic basin that sometimes overflowed into the San Joaquin River. This basin also included the Kaweah and Tule Rivers as well as southern distributaries of the Kings that all flowed into Tulare Lake.

Kern River (song)

"Kern River" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Merle Haggard. It was released in July 1985 as the only single and title track from his album Kern River. The song peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.

Chart performance

Covers

"Kern River" was covered by Emmylou Harris on her album All I Intended to Be.

References

Kern River (album)

Kern River is an album by American recording artist Merle Haggard, released in 1985. It reached number 8 on the Billboard country albums chart.

Background

The album is best remembered for its title track, which hit the Top 10 in the summer of 1985. The LP alternates between smooth, country/pop melancholy, such as "You Don't Love Me Anymore" and "There's Somebody Else On Your Mind," and nostalgic nods to big band western swing like "Old Watermill" and his cover of Louis Armstrong's "Big Butter and Egg Man." The LP also contains a rendition of the 1980 Dolly Parton #1 "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You." The version of "Natural High" found on this album differs from the one on Haggard's previous album It's All in the Game in that it features Janie Fricke on background vocals. Haggard had originally recorded "I Wonder Where I'll Find You at Tonight" on his 1972 album It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad).

Reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic states that while the LP "isn’t his best record of the ‘80s, it’s possibly the best example of Haggard’s far-reaching, varied tastes as he settled into his veteran status." In the 2013 book Merle Haggard: The Running Kind, biographer David Cantwell calls the title track "a scary record" that "screamed quiet and startled you alive."