Where to find Merle Haggard tributes on TV
His mom and dad were the Okies from Muskogee — not their Bakersfield-born boy — but the loping tune about small-town pride made Merle Haggard a country music icon. Today, radio stations around the world are playing the song — which spent four weeks in the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart in November and December of 1969 — to honor Haggard, who died today on his 79th birthday. Haggard’s manager, Frank Mull, confirmed that Haggard succumbed to the pneumonia that had plagued him for months, forcing him to cancer recent tour dates — a foreboding sign to Haggard’s multi-generations of fans. “When I quit […]