A LEGEND DIES
A ‘poet for the common man,’ Haggard was the son of Okies who left the state during the Depression and headed west.
Merle Haggard wasn’t born in Oklahoma, but you never would’ve guessed it from the singer of “Okie From Muskogee.”
“It’s what we used to refer to as ‘back home,’” he told The Oklahoman in a 2015 phone interview. “I’m just one generation away from being born there. Everybody in my family was born either in Arkansas or Oklahoma ... so it’s almost like I was born there. You know, it’s a severe connection.”
The Country Music Hall of Famer died on his birthday
Wednesday at the age of 79, reportedly from pneumonia complications. Ben Haggard, his son and lead guitarist for his band the Strangers, said on Facebook that his father had predicted he would die on his birthday.
“A week ago dad told us he was gonna pass on his birthday, and he wasn’t wrong. (An) hour ago, he took his last breath surrounded by family and friends. He loved everything about life and he loved that everyone of you gave him a chance with his music. He wasn’t just a country singer. He was the best country singer that ever lived,” Ben Haggard wrote Wednesday.
Okie at heart
Haggard’s connections to Oklahoma ran so deep that he was scheduled to headline June’s inaugural G Fest music festival in Muskogee. Before his death, Haggard canceled many concerts due to health concerns, including his April 13 appearance at the Enid Event Center. Jamey Johnson and Ryan Bingham are covering for Haggard at the Enid concert.
A spokeswoman for G Fest said Wednesday that organizers will provide an update on the event in the coming days.
Haggard recently played a run of 2015 shows at the Grand Casino Hotel in Shawnee and alongside fellow outlaw country legends Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville.
In 2014, Haggard headlined the first OKCFest music festival in downtown Oklahoma City.
“He was one of a kind and he made the first OKCFest an incredible success,” festival organizer Fred Hall said. “The surprise appearance of Toby Keith with the legendary Merle Haggard on stage in downtown Oklahoma City is something I will never forget. It was a music moment for the ages. Countrywestern music has lost a part of its soul today with the passing of Merle.”
Although Merle Ronald Haggard made his debut April 6, 1937, near Bakersfield, Calif., where his parents moved from Checotah during the Great Depression three years earlier, the country music legend was one of the first inductees into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 1997. His iconic signature song “Okie From Muskogee” undoubtedly double-knotted the ties that bind him to his ancestral homeland.
“I think there’s several different messages in that song, but I think the most important was that I’m proud — and I am. I’m proud to be a secondgeneration Okie, and I’ve fought for the name. You know, I’ve shed blood over ‘Okie.’ … I’ve been in fistfights about being called an ‘Okie’ when it wasn’t complimentary,” he told The Oklahoman. “Of course, over the years we’ve developed a lot of friendships, played (there) many times. I don’t know how many times we’ve played there in the state of Oklahoma, but it’s been many a time.”
A ‘way to survive’
Known as “a poet for the common man,” Haggard, along with fellow Bakersfield superstar Buck Owens, popularized the West Coast country music sound in the 1960s and ’70s.
The singer, songwriter, guitarist and fiddler, who famously served five years in California’s San Quentin State Prison for a botched burglary before embarking on his music career, will be remembered for his outlaw anthems like “Mama Tried,” “The Bottle Let Me Down” and “Workin’ Man Blues,” as well as for ballads like “Today I Started Loving You Again,” “Always Wanting You” and “Sing Me Back Home.” He also wrote songs for and appeared in various TV shows and films over the years.
The 2010 Kennedy Center honoree shared with The Oklahoman that writing songs and making music was his “way to survive.” Despite mounting health problems, Haggard said last year he had no intention of giving up touring. He had recently invested a couple million dollars in a new band bus and a new coach for himself “and I probably wouldn’t do that if I was thinking about quitting.”
“You know that’s what we do, it’s what we’ve done all our lives. Should we stop doing it, we’d be dead shortly,” he said. “It gets in your blood, I guess: The movement, always a new town, always somebody wanting you to show up and sing. So that’s what I do.”
Musician and friend
Musicians ranging from Sheryl Crow to members of The Flaming Lips took to social media Wednesday to express their admiration for the singersongwriter affectionately known as “The Hag.” Naturally, the loss was particularly hard felt among country music artists.
“The greatest singersongwriter of my lifetime is gone,” Toby Keith said in a statement. “Thanks for the music and friendship. R.I.P. Hag.”
Haggard’s outlaw influence will no doubt continue to ripple throughout the country music sphere. Oklahomans Garth Brooks and Carrie Underwood are among Haggard’s many famous fans.
Brooks marked Wednesday as the date “we lost the greatest country artist of all time” in a statement, while Underwood took to Twitter to share her regards: “Love and prayers for the Haggard family. Merle was a pioneer... a true entertainer... a legend. There will never be another like him.”
Fellow Country Music Hall of Famer Nelson and Haggard released the collaborative album “Django and Jimmie,” a dual tribute to jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and legendary country singer Jimmie Rodgers, in June 2015. They also worked together on the 1982 duet LP “Pancho & Lefty,” a country chart-topper for eight weeks and charting LP for two years.
“He was my brother, my friend,” Nelson shared in a statement. “I will miss him.”
Haggard is survived by his wife, Theresa Ann Lane; their children, Jenessa and Ben Haggard; and his children from previous marriages, Marty, Noel, Dana and Kelli. Married five times, his second and third wives were stage and recording partners Bonnie Owens and Leona Williams, according to Variety.