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PEOPLE & ARTS A29
Thursday 7 April 2016
Country icon Merle Haggard, champion of the underdog, dies
KRISTIN M. HALL In this June 28, 2015 file photo, Merle Haggard performs on Day 3 of the 2015 Big Barrel Country His music was rough yet
Associated Press Music Festival at The Woodlands on Sunday, June 28, 2015, in Dover, Del. sensitive, reflecting on
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — childhood, marriage and
Country giant Merle Hag- Associated Press daily struggles, telling sto-
gard, who rose from pover- ries of shame and redemp-
ty and prison to internation- lungs had forced him to tion, or just putting his foot
al fame through his songs cancel several shows this down in “The Fightin’ Side
about outlaws, underdogs year. Mull said his family of Me” and “I Think I’ll Just
and an abiding sense of was by his side when he Stay Here and Drink.”
national pride in such hits died at home and they His most beloved songs
as “Okie From Muskogee” were planning a funeral for included the prison bal-
and “Sing Me Back Home,” Saturday at his home. lad “Sing Me Back Home,”
died Wednesday at 79, on A masterful guitarist, fiddler the tributes to his mother
his birthday. and songwriter as well as “Mama Tried” and “Hungry
Haggard’s manager, Frank singer, the Country Music Eyes,” the romantic lament
Mull, said the country icon Hall of Famer with the firm, “Today I Started Loving
died in Palo Cedro, Cali- direct baritone recorded You Again” and such blue
fornia, of pneumonia that for more than 40 years, re- collar chronicles as “If We
he had been battling for leasing dozens of albums Make It Through Decem-
months. His publicist, Tresa and No. 1 hits. ber” and “Workin’ Man
Redburn, said no official “He was my brother, my Blues.” “We’ve lost one of
cause of death has been friend. I will miss him,” said the greatest writers and
determined. Willie Nelson, his longtime singers of all time. His heart
He had kept up an ambi- friend, in a statement. was as tender as his love
tious touring schedule, but The White House called ballads,” said Dolly Parton.
the pneumonia in both Haggard a “legend” and “I loved him like a brother.”
said President Barack Few faces in country were
Obama was sending his as recognizable as Hag-
thoughts and prayers to gard’s, with its wary, side-
Haggard’s family. White ways glance and chiseled,
House press secretary Josh haunted features that
Earnest said Haggard told seemed to bear every scar
stories that people from from his past.
all walks of American life General audiences knew
could relate to. him best for “Okie From
“His passing is a loss for Muskogee,” a patriotic an-
country music, but obvi- them released in 1969 at
ously is a loss for all the the height of the Vietnam
people who got to know War that quickly became
him personally, too,” Ear- a cultural touchstone for its
nest said. anti-hippie lyrics proclaim-
Haggard — along with ing “we don’t burn our
fellow California country draft cards down on Main
star Buck Owens — was a Street; we like living right
founder of the twangy Ba- and being free.”
kersfield Sound, a direct “Okie from Muskogee”
contrast to the smooth, made him a hero among
string-laden country re- conservatives, but he
cords popular in Nashville, softened on the counter-
Tennessee, in the 1960s. culture and released the
lighthearted “Big Time An-
nie’s Square,” a tribute to
a hippie girl and her “crazy
world.” More recently, he
was a backer of promi-
nent Democrats. In 2007
he unveiled a song to pro-
mote Hillary Clinton and
two years later he penned
“Hopes Are High” to com-
memorate Obama’s inau-
guration. In “America First,”
he even opposed the Iraq
War, singing “Let’s get out
of Iraq, and get back on
track.”
In 1970, Haggard was
named entertainer of the
year by the Country Mu-
sic Association, and “Okie
From Muskogee” won best
album and single.q