Only Merle Haggard. Never one who was shy or too scared to speak his mind, Merle was good friends with Ray Benson, frontman of Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel, who recalled a great story about ...

Vince Gill will sometimes share this sweet tribute to his friendship with Merle Haggard during his live shows, and we don't blame him.

Merle Haggard’s legacy lives on. When the country music legend passed away on April 6, 2016, his three sons, Marty, Noel and Ben -- who are all country singers -- wasted no time picking up their ...

Merle Haggard was an escape artist. The future country music legend broke out of juvenile hall and prison 17 times by his own count as a teenager and young man. But his greatest escape was getting out ...

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Merle Haggard fans are about to have not just one, but two once-in-a-lifetime moments to celebrate the country icon's life and career. After the all-star tribute to Haggard on Thursday (April 6) in ...

Sturgill Simpson thinks Merle Haggard was a legend. And he’s infuriated that the Academy of Country Music has named an award after him. “In Bloom” singer Simpson savaged the Academy of Country Music ...

Ethan Hawke, 55, is a longtime admirer and friend of Willie Nelson and has appeared with the country music legend at events ...

"Merle forever changed the course of country music," said the Oscar winner. By Farnoush Amiri Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey was on hand at the American Country Countdown Awards on Sunday night to ...

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Haggard's biographer Marc Eliot about his book: The Hag. Haggard spent his early years going from family tragedy to odd jobs to broken marriages to petty crime to prison.

When Merle Haggard died on his 79th birthday, April 6th, the world lost one country music's greatest performers and writers. Haggard originally began learning to play guitar at the age of 11, but his ...

The Bakersfield singer-songwriter, who thrived after an early life of crime and a prison term in San Quentin, died on his birthday. By Chris Morris Merle Haggard, who overcame a youth of deprivation ...