Merle Haggard News

Toby Keith spent the '90s as a solid, workmanlike country star who met with considerable chart success, yet never quite broke free of the neo-traditionalist pack to become a household name like Garth Brooks or Alan Jackson.

With all of the controversy surrounding the Veterans for Peace and the Auburn Veterans Day Parade, I am reminded with the words put to music by country music icon Merle Haggard.

Oildale and Beyond Conference When: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday Admission: $30, adults; $25, seniors; $20, students Information: 654-3079 What better way to commemorate Oildale's centennial than by inviting two of her favorite sons to share their experiences? Music legend Merle Haggard and esteemed writer Gerald Haslam will do just that Saturday at ...

Here's the latest wish list for the 2010 Craven Country Jamboree to arrive on my desk: LeeAnn Womack Jamie Johnson Dixie Chicks - Saturday night Dwight Yoakam- Friday night Merle Haggard love to see Miranda Lambert back, Blake Shelton, still love Big and Rich, Kentucky Headhunters.

But it is too often the stuff of criminals. Last weekend I was spending some quality time over 45s with a guy I used to date.

A country performer who injected homophobia into a Merle Haggard song at a city-sponsored event in Reidsville, N.C., will never be hired again, according to city officials.

Based out of southwest Virginia, Matt Boswell is a popular performer for several Piedmont area events, clubs and other venues.

Charlie Daniels has worn a good many hats over his 50 years in the music business.

When three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd came to the CMT offices recently to tape an episode of Top 20 Countdown , they saw something that stopped them in their tracks: A black-and-white photograph capturing an unguarded moment between Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard .

I like my country hard core: Telecaster-tough Bakersfield Sound, high-lonesome bluegrass, sublime Western Swing, and peel-the-paint-off-the-grimy-walls-honky-tonk twang -- that's the sound for me .

Taylor Swift is undeniably country music's most popular teenager today. At age 18, she spent six weeks at No.

Neo-honky tonker John Anderson was born in Apopka, FL, in 1955 and grew up listening to rock & roll, until he discovered country music at age 15 through Merle Haggard.

We had a neighborly visit from Merle Haggard on Sept. 29. The old troubadour dropped in to perform before a nearly sold-out house at Laxson Auditorium, down from his home up near Redding.

"We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy, like the hippies out in San Francisco do," my friend Joe bellowed into the microphone at a bar in San Francisco as he sang the lines of Merle Haggard's 1969, "Okie from Muskogee." The response; silence and baleful glares.

All things music from the Tennessean.com entertainment staff. In this installment of Seeing Stars: Kid Rock attends a wedding, Merle Haggard receives an award, country singer Derek Sholl sings the national anthem at a baseball game, Miranda Lambert performs her new album and George Strait goes to a football game.

Like the Beatles in rock, Randy Travis marks a generational shift in country music.

Country music legends, or legends of any musical sort, are really a crap shoot. Back in February, I saw George Jones at the Topeka Performing Arts Center.

Monday night at UC Davis' Mondavi Center, Merle Haggard addressed students in the crowd who might wonder why he wrote "Okie From Muskogee," the 1969 hit viewed as a red-blooded American anthem by some and as a kind of parody by others.

Wow. Merle Haggard . Now, he's come through Kansas City in recent memory, but he played the Midland, which is a fairly high-end joint.

Merle Haggard has changed music twice, and don't be surprised if he does it one more time.