Merle’s individuality and unique style will leave a gap in country music, a gap that cannot be filled by anybody, present or future.
I was in the recording studio working on an album on April 6 when I received a text from my manager with only one line.
“Merle Haggard has died.”
I immediately shared it on Twitter and almost as immediately, Paula, our publicist, started receiving calls from media outlets looking for reaction about Merle’s death from industry people, and within an hour or so we had the first of three TV crews who came out to tape interviews.
Such was the stature of Merle Haggard in Music City and the music community in general and as the entertainment reporters scrambled to get something together for the early news, I had occasion to express the way I feel about the Hag, the legend that he was, the songs he wrote and sang and the long shadow he cast over American music for five decades.
You can count on your fingers the number of people in country music who reached the status of being recognized by just their first name. Elvis, Hank, Loretta, Willie, Dolly, Garth, and a precious few others ever breathed that rarified air and Merle was one of them. When you said Merle, anybody who knew the least thing about country music knew who you were talking about.
You could hear one of his songs you’d never heard and after you’d listened to the first line you knew it was Merle.
[…]
