Merle Haggard : NPR

One Year After Merle Haggard's Death, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Sings 'Bad Actor'

Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Elsa Oldham play a Merle Haggard cover at "Drag City Limits." YouTube hide caption

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One Year After Merle Haggard's Death, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Sings 'Bad Actor'

April 6, 2017 • Watch Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Elsa Oldham perform the late-period Merle Haggard tune in a steam room.

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In Memoriam 2016

December 19, 2016 • NPR Music remembers musicians — singers, songwriters, instrumentalists — and other visionaries we lost in 2016. Explore and celebrate their musical legacies.

In Memoriam 2016

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His Songs Were Carved In Stone: Patterson Hood Remembers Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard on stage in California in 2010. Haggard died at 79 on April 6. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images hide caption

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His Songs Were Carved In Stone: Patterson Hood Remembers Merle Haggard

April 8, 2016 • Haggard, who died April 6, was singularly rebellious and rootless, and his songs are a graduate course in everything timeless and true about music, says the Drive-By Truckers singer.

Merle Haggard, shown performing in 1985, was a country music fixture for 50 years. He died Wednesday, on his 79th birthday. Ebet Roberts/Redferns/Getty Images hide caption

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Country Legend Merle Haggard Dies At 79

April 6, 2016 • Outlaw, "Okie from Muskogee," poet of working-class values and a fixture in country music for 50 years, Merle Haggard died Wednesday, April 6, his 79th birthday.

Country Legend Merle Haggard Dies At 79

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Remembering A Country Legend: Merle Haggard On World Cafe

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Remembering A Country Legend: Merle Haggard On World Cafe

XPN

April 6, 2016 • The "Okie from Muskogee" talks life, music and songwriting in this 2003 interview. Haggard died Wednesday morning.

Merle Haggard on World Cafe (2003)

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Merle Haggard Still Dreams Of Hopping Trains

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Travis Huggett/Courtesy of the artist

Merle Haggard Still Dreams Of Hopping Trains

April 22, 2010 • Diagnosed with lung cancer in 2008, Haggard is happy to be alive and recording new material.

Merle Haggard Still Dreams Of Hopping Trains

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Riki Feldmann

String Metal, A Country Legend, LCD Soundsystem

April 20, 2010 • Hear a preview cut from what's rumored to be the last LCD Soundsystem album. Plus Merle Haggard, Judgement Day, Radar Brothers, Cornershop, and more.

String Metal, A Country Legend, LCD Soundsystem

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The Grammys 2006

February 2, 2006 • All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen talks with NPR music reviewers Tom Moon, Will Hermes and Meredith Ochs about this year's Grammy Awards nominees.

The Grammys 2006

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Review: Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard, 'Django And Jimmie'

Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard's new album, Django And Jimmie, comes out June 2. Danny Clinch/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Review

Review: Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard, 'Django And Jimmie'

May 24, 2015 • More than three decades after Pancho & Lefty, the country titans pair up again, this time for an album that puts eclecticism front and center.

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All Songs Considered Holiday Music Special 2011

December 20, 2011 • There's more to the season than "Jingle Bell Rock." This week, the All Songs crew spins some holiday music you might not have heard before.

All Songs Considered Holiday Music Special 2011

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Vince Gill & Paul Franklin On World Cafe

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Vince Gill & Paul Franklin On World Cafe

XPN

November 28, 2013 • With Bakersfield, the duo pays tribute to two of country music's most respected artists: Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. Hear the musicians perform a set of songs from the album.

Vince Gill & Paul Franklin On World Cafe

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Merle Haggard Tries His Hand at Bluegrass

January 3, 2008 • Haggard has been churning out albums for nearly 40 years, fashioning a career as an iconoclastic country-music legend. Now 70, "The Hag" has just made a foray into bluegrass: The Bluegrass Sessions features revamped versions of songs both old and new.

Merle Haggard Tries His Hand at Bluegrass

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Review

The Happy Return of Christmas Oldies

November 27, 2007 • A vintage holiday record from Merle Haggard gets a new spin, along with releases from Michael Buble and Kellie Pickler. And, of course, there's another Charlie Brown Christmas tribute album.

The Happy Return of Christmas Oldies

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Review

Three Guys Named Willie, Merle and Ray

May 23, 2007 • Willie Nelson is 74; Ray Price is 81; and Merle Haggard is a mere 70. The three of them have collaborated on a new double-CD, Last of the Breed. But despite the many years that the trio share between them, the music is pretty fresh.

Three Guys Named Willie, Merle and Ray

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Review

Meredith Ochs' Top 10 CDs of 2005

December 17, 2005 • NPR music reviewer Meredith Ochs shares her picks for the year's best CDs, from the "sacred-meets-profane" rock of the White Stripes to outlaw country singer Merle Haggard.

Merle Haggard

June 9, 2001 • Scott talks with country singer Merle Haggard about his new album If I Could Only Fly and his various conspiracy theories.

Merle Haggard

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World Cafe Looks Back: Country And Bluegrass

Charlie Louvin (right) and his brother Ira, a.k.a. The Louvin Brothers.

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World Cafe Looks Back: Country And Bluegrass

XPN

February 13, 2012 • In this episode's tribute to country and bluegrass artists, hear from the Grand Ole Opry's Appalachian folk-inspired Charlie Louvin and the "Okie From Muskogee," Merle Haggard.

World Cafe Looks Back: Country And Bluegrass

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Not coincidentally, Merle Haggard's "Working in Tennessee" documents a young ruffian who pulled himself up by his bootstraps.

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Review

Merle Haggard: Lively And Spontaneous

October 19, 2011 • Not coincidentally, Haggard's "Working in Tennessee" documents a young ruffian who pulled himself up by his bootstraps.

Working in Tennessee

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Country Album Pays Tribute to Louvin Brothers

November 20, 2003 • NPR's Melissa Block talks with Carl Jackson, producer of the new Louvin Brothers tribute album Livin', Lovin' Losin': Songs of the Louvin Brothers. Jackson talks about growing up listening to the harmonies of Charlie and Ira Louvin, and about working with the artists who appear on the album, including Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, and Johnny Cash.

Country Album Pays Tribute to Louvin Brothers

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Buffalo Springfield Reunite After More Than 40 Years

Buffalo Springfield, circa 1970 Michael Ochs Archives/Michael Ochs Archives hide caption

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Michael Ochs Archives/Michael Ochs Archives

Buffalo Springfield Reunite After More Than 40 Years

September 15, 2010 • It's no secret that musical rifts are difficult to overcome. When it does happen, it's usually for a really good cause. Now the '60s folk band Buffalo Springfield is reuniting for Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit Concert in California.

Merle Haggard Reflects On His Outlaw Country Past

"I realized what a mess I made out of my life, and I got out of there and stayed out of there. Never did go back," Merle Haggard says of his time in prison. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Music Interviews

Merle Haggard Reflects On His Outlaw Country Past

Fresh Air

August 31, 2010 • The country singer reflects on his time in prison and several of his greatest hits in conversation with Terry Gross in 1995.

Merle Haggard Reflects On His Outlaw Country Past

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First Listen: Merle Haggard, 'I Am What I Am'

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First Listen

First Listen: Merle Haggard, 'I Am What I Am'

Folk Alley

April 12, 2010 • Back in January, Vanguard Records signed "the poet of the common man," country-music legend Merle Haggard, to its roster. His new album for the label, I Am What I Am, is his first recording since 2007, as well as an unapologetic declaration of self-awareness.