Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggardwas an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, fiddler, and instrumentalist. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band the Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the twang of Fender Telecaster and the unique mix with the traditional country steel guitar sound, new vocal harmony styles in which the words are minimal, and a rough edge not heard on the more polished Nashville sound recordings of the same era...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCountry Singer
Date of Birth6 April 1937
CityOildale, CA
CountryUnited States of America
To be part of what you're singing about is somewhat painful. You've got to climb inside it all.
Hey, hey, the working man, the working man like me. I ain't never been on welfare, that's one place I won't be.
It's a long way from Graceland across Jordan to the Promised Land, but Jesus finally came to lead him home.
There's two or three kids out there trying to make good music, and the rest of them sound like it's been strained through some kind of white toast or something. It all sounds just too neat and perfect, with no surprise to it at all. No story, no nothing. It's like building cars, like an assembly line. It doesn't sound like anything that came from a guitar.
This is America. We're proud. We're not afraid of a bunch of terrorists. But this government is all about terror alerts and scaring us at airports. We're changing the Constitution out of fear. We spend all our time looking up each other's dresses. Fear's the only issue the Republican Party has. Vote for them, or the terrorists will win. That's not what Reagan was about. I hate to think about our soldiers over in Iraq fighting for a country that's slipping away.
Willie Nelson's the one who told me the reason it costs so much to get divorced is because it's worth it.
If I hear another line dance song I think I'm going to puke.
Running down on a way of life our fighting men have fought and died to keep. If you don't love it, leave it.
Keep your opinions to yourself. I think it's important that I stay neutral on politics and remain hard to understand. I don't want to be pigeonholed as conservative, liberal, independent or anything. I back the man for the things the man believes in, not whether it says "R" or "D" down there beside his name.
The only thing that I miss lately in all music is somebody that will put out a melody that you can whistle. It doesn't seem like there's anything happening like that.
I wish coke was still cola and a joint was a bad place to be.
Faith is the only way we're going to make it. None of us are smart enough to do it on our own.
Momma tried to raise me better, but her pleading I denied, and that leaves only me to blame, cause Momma tried.
I'll tell you what the public likes more than anything, it's the most rare commodity in the world - honesty.