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 ...

Sixty-eight years ago today, Johnny Cash played his first-ever prison concert and unknowingly changed the country music world.

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

Author Marc Eliot knew the subject of his latest released biography, "The Hag: The Life, Times, and Music of Merle Haggard," for 25 years before his death in 2016. The writer's exposure to music, ...

A&E aired a concert special called Merle Haggard: Salute to a Country Legend on Monday, April 13. The "Mama Tried" singer and Toby Keith were good friends before Merle died on April 6, 2016. Toby once ...

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.

Hailed as "the Poet of the Common Man," there's no question that the late Merle Haggard's reputation as one of the most important singer-songwriters in country music was well-deserved. Now, nearly ten ...

Author Marc Eliot has written a new biography of country music icon, Merle Haggard. The Hag details Haggard's quite extraordinary life; from breaking into a restaurant (that turned out to be open) and ...

New York Times best-selling author Marc Eliot knew the subject of his latest released biography, "The Hag: The Life, Times, and Music of Merle Haggard," for 25 years before his death in 2016. The ...

What's one of Alan Jackson's favorite Merle Haggard stories? Well, it starts — and ends — with a slice of lemon pie. Haggard and Jackson got to know each other on tour years ago, the latter told The ...

Many of his songs are better known by other singers’ interpretations, like Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee,” Johnny Cash’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down” and more. By Lindsay Zoladz Nine tracks from ...

A Christmas miracle. In 2021, Cody Johnson released his A Cody Johnson Christmas album, which is a ten-song project full of holiday classics, including Merle Haggard’s "If We Make It Through December.