Merle Haggard Stands Tall
Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 29 March 2009
AS LONG AS people speak of country music, the music of Merle Haggard will live. As his career nears the half-century mark, Haggard's imprint is as deeply etched on the music as those of the spiritual forebears he so admires - Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell - and he has lived out his Bakersfield childhood dreams beyond imagination. But right now, the country music immortal is feeling very mortal.
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