Now comes word that Merle Haggard has died Wednesday – his 79th birthday. It was the same day as his 79th birthday, and his youngest son, Ben Haggard, reveals that Merle knew it would happen this way. Haggard later said that he did not intend the song as a political anthem; in fact, he acknowledged his own drug use by stating that he often smoked marijuana before going out on stage.
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Haggard was known for his celebration of outlaws, underdogs and an abiding sense of national pride in such hits as “Okie From Muskogee” and “Sing Me Back Home”.
He continued to tour, though the venues became smaller as the advent of “new country” saw traditional singers like Haggard become passé. Haggard said their executions inspired him to change his criminal behavior. He turned to petty crime and spent several years in and out of institutions.
Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson play the pilot show for “Inside Arlyn” at Arlyn Studios. In his half century career, Haggard had 40 songs reach the top of the country charts. The combined evidence was enough to send Haggard to prison for three years.
Two of his best-regarded albums were tributes to early country star Jimmie Rodgers (“Same Train, A Different Time”, 1969) and Western swing bandleader Bob Wills (“A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World”, 1970).
Gale Perry is in a band that is playing in Longtown but hails from the Bakersfield area, Haggard’s old stomping grounds.
“He was an innovator – a singer, songwriter and guitar player all in one”, Powell said.
Checotah’s Selby Minner, who is preparing for 2016 Rentiesville Blues Festival this summer and the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame inductions at the end of May, said Haggard was just as big an influence in that genre as he was in country music.
Starting in 1966, Haggard scored 37 top 10 country hits in a row, 23 of them reaching No. 1.
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During a 2011 concert in Jackson, current country star Miranda Lambert called Haggard “one of my heroes” and performed his hit “The Way I Am” as part of her encore. Haggard wrote about them in a way that was more humanizing than sympathetic. He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 and a Kennedy Center Honor in 2010. His fifth wife was Theresa Ann Lane. He became a superstar in 1967, first with a cover of Liz Anderson’s “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive“, then with such originals as “Sing Me Back Home” and “The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde“, featuring Glen Campbell on banjo.
