RIP, MH.
Living-Willie Nelson is 82, Kris Kristofferson is 79, Glen Campbell is 79.
Dead-Merle, Waylon, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and maybe a couple of others, there is a passing generation of great C&W - popular music stars.
All born in the 1930s.
Old time country is the best:
Merle Haggard — Okie From Muskogee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iYY2FQHFwE
my sister and brother used to sing to his songs every morning going to school...loved merle the pearl
Are The Good Times Really Over
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFHJ41ktt3Q
Merle wrote songs, some better than others... but he never did write a bad one.
R.I.P., Merle. I hope you’re in Hobo Heaven, drinking free Bubble-up and eating Rainbow Stew.
Saw him a couple of years ago on his last swing through this part of Montana, great show, remember thinking at the time this was probably last time he’d get here...
RIP
That’s The Way Love Goes. RIP, Merle. Thanks.
Wow. Frank Sinatra Jr. dies a week after playing Jacksonville. Now Merle dies before his June 9th concert in Jax.
He epitomized country music. REAL country music.
Momma cried.
Not sure if these have been posted, but two pretty ones (see links below) I only just discovered while in a Merle loop on You Tube.
When I told my mom the news he had died, she reminded me that he was one of my dad’s faves. Not sure if my dad would remember him or not at this point. Maybe so. Probably if we played the music for him.
Merle Haggard - Sing me back home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDDyyDjWM_0
Merle Haggard - Silver Wings “LIVE”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w99UIu9N44w
Saw a recent interview in Gods and Garden magazine. He said “I don’t like what they call country music today. I wish I could say something good about it. But I can’t.”
My Merle Haggard story: Back in 1984 I was with the UCSB College Republicans and we were asked to work an event for President Reagan called “In Concert at the White House.” Only it wasn’t at the White House, and it wasn’t at Rancho del Cielo, because the facility was too small. It was over the hill at the ranch of a friend of the Reagans.
My job was driver. The Secret Service cleared me to drive the celebrities, namely Merle and his band, plus the hostess, Beverly Sills, in the van up the highway after they got through the SS checkpoint. I saw Merle, but he rode in a different van. I took his band and Ms. Sills up.
When I got there, I awaited my next assignment on a bale of hay, when in walked Ron and Nancy, about six feet from me. I wanted to jump up and shake his hand, but this was not long after his assassination attempt and we had been told (warned?) that there were SS snipers on the hills. I honestly was afraid that if I made a movement toward him they’d haul me away, so I missed my chance to shake RR’s hand.
The concert was good, Merle did “Okie from Muskogee” and had a great fiddle player. Among those in the audience were Bo Derek (looking hot!), Mike Connors (”Mannix”), Ron Ely (”Tarzan”), and sitting right behind me in the bleacher was Fred MacMurray (”My Three Sons”).
One of my favorites.