Merle Haggard performed for over 60 years, taking credit for some of the most famous and iconic country music songs.
“Merle Haggard has always been as deep as deep gets,” Bob Dylan told Rolling Stone in 2009.
“Totally himself. Herculean. Even too big for Mount Rushmore. No superficiality about him whatsoever. He definitely transcends the country genre. If Merle had been around Sun Studio in Memphis in the Fifties, Sam Phillips would have turned him into a rock & roll star, one of the best.”
Bob Dylan shared the same sentiment of many other country music stars, both past and present. After Haggard’s death on April 6th (his 79th birthday), many artists decided to record themselves singing some of the songs Haggard made famous. Performances they had done in previous years also began resurfacing, proving that paying tribute to Haggard was a country music rite of passage. That is the definition of becoming a living legend.
Watch some of the best performances below of our favorite country music stars covering the great Merle Haggard!
Miranda Lambert and Kris Kristofferson “Silver Wings”
Tim McGraw “Working Man Blues”
Jake Owen, Various
Sam Hunt “The Way I Am”
Vince Gill and Brad Paisley “Working Man Blues”
