Most holiday songs celebrate joy, family and festive cheer. In 1973, Merle Haggard took a very different approach.

It all started when several 6-foot-tall black-and-white portraits of Bakersfield Sound legends like Buck Owens and Merle ...

Forty-four years ago today, Wille Nelson was on a two-week run at No. 1 with a song that almost featured Merle Haggard.

Country legend Merle Haggard went to play at the great honky-tonk in the sky 10 years ago. He died April 6, 2016, during a ...

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 ...

In a time when it feels like most songs are put together in a studio like a math equation, many tracks seem like they are ...

Toby Keith gave a poignant tribute to the late country icon Merle Haggard during his performance at the Grand Ole Opry in May, blending together several of the legend’s hits for one memorable ...

Merle Haggard died on Wednesday (April 6) -- his 79th birthday -- after a brief struggle with pneumonia. “I’m really lucky to be alive,” Haggard said in February. “… I had a pain that went all the way ...

Following Merle Haggard's death on April 6, Vince Gill tweeted out a sweet remembrance of the country icon's influence on his own career: "He was my greatest inspiration. He was IT for me." It didn't ...

Merle Haggard and Jenessa Haggard backstage during the second annual ACM Honors at Schermerhorn Symphony Center on September 22, 2009 in Nashville ; Merle Haggard with wife Theresa and son Ben arrives ...

Merle Haggard’s songs always seemed to channel the people he sang for through his 79 years: blue-collar workers, prison inmates, forlorn lovers and everyday Americans looking for signs of reassurance ...

Honky-tonk hero Merle Haggard's death yesterday (April 6) impacted more than just the country-music community. His influence reached deep into the rock realm, too. The boys from Jacksonville, Fla., ...