[justanokie]

Country music legend Merle Haggard dies - CNN.com

Very sad to hear this. Probably my favorite country music artist.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PCL9W54QVw


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loT_pYzi3Vw


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pII_9yRyIbg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqSZSEHVqZA

[sourdough]

Okie from Bakersfield, Ca.
RIP
http://www.biography.com/people/merle-haggard-9542118

[ABQConvict]

RIP Merle

[Mattie Jo]

He was always my favorite.

[Bass&Catfish2008]

The very best of the best; the greatest singer/songwriter country music has ever known. He was also an expert level instrumentalist/guitar player as well. I'll miss seeing him play that custom Fender up there on stage. I was fortunate enough to get in another show a few years back; the man still had it!

He single-handedly took the durogatory term "Okie" (meaning all Southerners from Oklahoma/Arkansas/Texas who moved to California) and made it cool to be Okie. He wore it like a badge of honor, and so can we today.

He's a great man that has done much for our State; and, if you notice his tour schedule, he always made room for Oklahoma on his tours. He had some lined up this summer which I was preparing to go see him yet again. He was someone who really loved the birthplace of his parents. He was Oklahoma to the core. If I could take one individual and try to sum up what Oklahoma is all about, Merle Haggard would be the first one to come to my mind. He is not only my favorite musician, but one of my favorite Okies.

It's a great loss here, but Heaven sure gained one that can bend those guitar strings! No one like him and ain't ever be another close to him. The great Merle Haggard. Seeya on the other side, my Okie Brother.

[eddie gein]

Parents were dust bowl refugees from Checotah. Dude was born in a boxcar in Oildale, CA after they moved to Bakersfield.

[Rubi3]

Merle Haggard put Muskogee on the map, a map that goes around the world. The local newspaper, "The Muskogee Phoenix," pretty much devoted today's edition to honoring Haggard. He was all set to head a music festival in Muskogee in June.

Several years ago, while visiting in a small settlement on Cape Cod, MA I arranged to play bridge one evening with a group of strangers. When I arrived and was asked where I was from, the room echoed, "You're an Okie from Muskogee!"

[nightbird47]

I was in my early 20's and we were on vacation in Phoenix. We lived in socal. My mom knew how much I loved Merle's songs, and she and dad got tickets to his Phoenix concert.
It was wonderful, and as tired as he was he came out to wave and say hello to those of us waiting near the exit.

He always made me think of how extraordinary the 'ordinary' can be. He wrote of people who on the outside were ordinary but in the words of the songs, especially his early ones, was the strength to go on. And then some of his songs could be called country blues. He is a voice who will be missed.

[Bass&Catfish2008]

Originally Posted by nightbird47

I was in my early 20's and we were on vacation in Phoenix. We lived in socal. My mom knew how much I loved Merle's songs, and she and dad got tickets to his Phoenix concert.
It was wonderful, and as tired as he was he came out to wave and say hello to those of us waiting near the exit.

He always made me think of how extraordinary the 'ordinary' can be. He wrote of people who on the outside were ordinary but in the words of the songs, especially his early ones, was the strength to go on. And then some of his songs could be called country blues. He is a voice who will be missed.

Amen Brother. He was and forever will be "The Working Man's Poet." He was Blue Collar America's voice. We loved him in my family and always will.

[sunnyspring]

Nothing lasts forever and when your number's up your number's up. Just think how many country music artists he influenced and how his influence will prevail in spite of his loss. This is the sign of a true legend when you are able to keep hearing the great after the great has passed. Live on Merle.