Merle Haggard‘s death on April 6th, 2016, marked the passing of an undeniable country-music icon, one who existed in the same rarefied air as George Jones and Johnny Cash. In this unpublished ...

Merle Haggard is one of the most ubiquitous names in country music, thanks to classic cuts like “Okie from Muskogee” and “The Fightin’ Side of Me”. His professional trajectory was remarkable. He ...

Merle Haggard is a country music icon. He wrote, recorded, and released some of the most memorable songs in the genre’s history. Songs like “Mama Tried,” “If We Make It Through December,” “Sliver ...

His terrier was yapping at his feet but Merle Haggard seemed to have all the patience, calm and focus of a Zen master. He was explaining why, at age 73, he keeps hitting the road, plying what could be ...

Haggard, who died in 2016, spoke to Fresh Air in 1995 about his love of trains. When he became a star, he acquired his own observation car. Now that coach is part of the Virginia Scenic Railway. This ...

Looking back at at Lucky, her 2014 collection of Merle Haggard covers, Suzy Bogguss can't speak about Haggard's mark on her career without mentioning his influence on her as a country music fan. She ...

Born in 1937, Merle Haggard—nicknamed "The Hag"—was a man made for country music. Growing up in California during the Great Depression had Haggard, who passed in 2016 at the age of 79, living in a ...