Goodbye Merle Haggard

I didn't learn that The Hag died till just last week. My Xm radio is out of service and I don't listen to fm country. I've been too busy to even glance at a newspaper. I can't believe I didn't hear about it at the petro diner. I am sad. I still have stacks of his albums on cassette. I went to see him a dozen times between 1980 and the late 90s. That incomparable voice, the masterful guitar playing, the songs he wrote and the ones he interpreted.

The night I finally heard he died I was starting a night run out of Dallas headed east. I plugged in my iPod with all his songs I have on shuffle. Over three hundred. Before I shut down I ran through over half of them. The first one was my favorite Misery and Gin. Just before I went to bed one of his more recent played. No, it's not a George Strait song, Merle did it first. My Life's Been Grand.

Sleep warm, my old friend.