Any honky-tonk band that works four sets without playing at least one song by Merle Haggard needs to be given a lesson in music history. “Workin’ Man Blues,” “Okie From Muskogee,” “I Think I’ll Just Sit Here and Drink” – the list of songs by The Hag that help define country music goes on and [...]

When I was playing around with my Dad’s guitar when I was a kid, I discovered you could “snap” the strings by pulling up on them to get a sound like a chicken “talking.” You know, like “buck-buck-buckaw.” I could also do a cow, a cat, a seagull and a mosquito, but I digress. James [...]

Jamey Johnson’s upcoming Hank Cochran tribute album will feature a who’s who of living country music legends. Everyone from Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, George Strait, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello and more joined up with Johnson to pay tribute to the late country singer, best known for his song “Sally Was a Good Old [...]

(PHOTOS: Danny Clinch) Explore the May/June Issue On the day he moved to Nashville, Tim McGraw stepped off a Greyhound bus with a guitar and a suitcase. He arrived inauspiciously around 3 a.m. on May 9, 1989, and checked into small room at the Hall of Fame hotel, a few blocks off Music Row. The [...]

Merle Haggard Working in Tennessee Vanguard Records Rating: Forty-two years after he released his hit song response to Vietnam protestors, “Okie From Muskogee,” Merle Haggard has lost none of his ability to deliver complicated, controversial musical statements. What do you make of a guy who suggests that you beat your troubles by getting some “Humboldt [...]

Various Artists The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams (Egyptian/Columbia) Rating: Sometime in the early morning of the first day of 1953, while traveling between Virginia and West Virginia, Hank Williams died at the age of 29. Among his possessions was a beat-up, embroidered brown leather briefcase containing four notebooks that included ideas for roughly 66 [...]

“I always felt like a Hank Williams song was like a cornstalk that just grew right out of the ground,” says singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell, remarking on the universality of the country icon’s music. Check out this great trailer for The Lost Notebooks, the album that finds Crowell, Bob Dylan, Jack White, Merle Haggard, Lucinda Williams, [...]

Merle Haggard’s Working In Tennessee, his second release for Vanguard Records, will drop October 4. The latest in the country icon’s already overflowing discography, the new album features Haggard’s trademark everyman poetry, family contributions and a couple of Johnny Cash gems. Working In Tennessee opens with the title track, which touches on Haggard’s struggles and [...]

Marty Stuart’s Grammy-winning song “Hummingbyrd,” an instrumental tribute to The Byrd’s guitar virtuoso Clarence White, stood in stark contrast to the other Nashville-produced country records at the 2011 awards show. Mick Conley, who engineered the album at Nashville’s RCA Studio B, says, “If you listen to ‘Hummingbyrd,’ it’s not perfect. But it’s a performance. It’s [...]

A collection of all-star guests gathered in Washington, D.C. last night to celebrate Paul McCartney and Merle Haggard. The musical heroes are two of this year’s recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, along with Oprah Winfrey, Bill T. Jones, and Jerry Herman. The annual event selects significant contributors to American culture. Kris Kristofferson and Miranda [...]

“Drunken Angel,” which appears on the album Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, recounts the story of Blaze Foley, an Austin songwriter and general roustabout who was shot to death in 1989 while allegedly trying to defend a friend from said friend’s violent son. A songwriter whose work often dealt with the bleak side of [...]

Neil and Pegi Young’s Bridge School Benefit has always been one of the coolest concert bills around, and this year was no different. Highlighted by a reunited Buffalo Springfield, the weekend-long concert, which benefits disabled children, featured acoustic sets from Pearl Jam, Modest Mouse, Grizzly Bear, and many, many more. Merle Haggard was forced to [...]