Chicago Wind
{{About|the Merle Haggard album|the former American football team|Chicago Winds}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox album|
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| name = Chicago Wind
| type = Studio
| artist = Merle Haggard
| cover = Chicago_Wind_Haggard.jpg
| alt =
| released = October 25, 2005
| recorded =
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = Country
| length = 40:46
| label = Capitol Records Nashville
| producer = Mike Post
Jimmy Bowen
| prev_title = Unforgettable
| prev_year = 2004
| next_title = Kickin' Out the Footlights...Again
| next_year = 2006
}}
Chicago Wind is the fifty-eighth studio album by American country singer and songwriter Merle Haggard, released in 2005. It peaked at number 54 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. A video was made for the track "America First".
Critical reception
{{Music ratings
| rev1 =Allmusic
| rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}} {{cite web |first=Thom |last= Jurek |title= Chicago Wind > Review |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id= mw0000347706 |pure_url=yes}} |publisher=Allmusic |access-date=March 17, 2015}}
| rev2 =Robert Christgau
| rev2Score = (***) {{cite web |first=Robert |last= Christgau |title= Chicago Wind > Review |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Merle+Haggard |publisher=Robert Christgau |access-date=February 22, 2015}}
| rev3 = Freight Train Boogie
| rev3Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}} [http://www.freighttrainboogie.com/Archives/Archive-H.htm#ChicagoWind Freight Train Boogie review]
}}
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the album, writing "Chicago Wind is not the rough and rowdy honky tonk album some fans have been hankering for, but it is a poetic, thoughtful and empathic one that once more displays why Merle Haggard is the living king of country music."
Track listing
All tracks composed by Merle Haggard; except where indicated
- "Chicago Wind" – 4:08
- "Where's All the Freedom" – 3:22
- "White Man Singin' the Blues" – 3:47
- "Leavin's Not the Only Way to Go" (Roger Miller) – 3:38
- "What I've Been Meaning to Say" – 2:36
- "Mexico" – 3:11
- "Honky Tonk Man" (Dewayne Blackwell) – 3:04
- "America First" – 2:43
- "It Always Will Be" (Willie Nelson) – 4:01
- "I Still Can't Say Goodbye" (Robert Blinn, James Moore) – 3:38
- "Some of Us Fly" (with Toby Keith) – 6:38
Personnel
- Merle Haggard – vocals, guitar
- Don Markham – trumpet
- Thom Bresh – acoustic guitar
- Doug Colosio – keyboards
- Shannon Forrest – drums
- Scott Joss – fiddle, mandolin
- Leland Sklar – bass
- Brent Mason – electric guitar
- Alti Ovarsson – piano
- Herb Pedersen – banjo, background vocals
- Mike Post – guitar, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer
- Michael Rhodes – bass
- John "JR" Robinson – drums
- Billy Joe Walker, Jr. – acoustic and electric guitar
- Biff Watson – acoustic guitar
- Gabe Witcher – fiddle
- Reggie Young – electric guitar
Chart performance
| class="wikitable"
! Chart (2005) ! Peak |
| U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums
| align="center"| 54 |