Merle Haggard at Riverbend 2015
photo by Mark A. Herndon
It was just one week ago that I wrote an article about “Who’s Going To Fill Their Shoes?” I am shocked to learn that Merle Haggard passed away today, on his 79th birthday, April 6, 2016.
Personally, I don’t think anyone will fill Merle Haggard’s shoes. Oh sure, there will be some stars that come along and put their mark on Country music. They may even make it great again. But nobody will ever match that voice and his talent for songwriting and performing like Merle. He now belongs with many of the other greats that have passed before him – Hank Williams, Elvis, The Beatles, Roy Orbison, Sinatra, and many others. It should be noted that Merle had more number one hits than any of the aforementioned artists, and that is some strong company.
I had the pleasure of meeting Merle at Riverbend last year. I spent some time with two of his sons and his manager, Frank Mull. In the picture that is on this page, photographer Mark Herndon caught Merle singing and seemingly very happy, as he has a big smile, obviously enjoying playing before such a huge audience. Not many artists get to play before a crowd of that size. As it so happened, it was the largest Sunday night crowd in the 34-year history of Riverbend, and one of the largest for any night at Riverbend. Merle as 78 years old and drew that crowd.
Merle had just bought a new tour bus earlier in the day before his performance at Riverbend, so they weren’t able to have a sound check. Frank Mull informed me, that after more than 50 years on the road, Merle could work just fine without one. He was right, and Merle sounded fantastic.
He didn’t utilize a playlist for his gigs, as his song catalog was so large, he was able to “play it by ear”. His son told me Merle tried a set-list once, but he had trouble reading the small letters and everything got all goofed up. They never tried it again. Merle liked to get a feel for the crowd and just play what he thought they would like to hear. He was the consummate professional.
I actually had the wonderful fortune to interview Merle several years ago, before his appearance at the Memorial Auditorium. It was a phone interview, right into Merle’s house in California. For years, I carried his home phone in my cell phone contacts list, just to look at it from time to time. The interview was almost an hour, and Merle made me feel right at home. I studied many of his interviews and tried to come up with questions that had not been asked a thousand times before. I must have gotten a couple of questions right, as Merle seemed to enjoy the interview.
In some ways, I wish I had never been granted that interview. How does one top that? In my mind, I had snagged the ultimate interview. Anyone else that would have come close was already dead. Perhaps that is a sad commentary on my life as a small-time entertainment writer, but that’s the way I feel.
Goodbye Merle Haggard. Thank you for leaving so many wonderful memories with us.
The link to my article from last week is here - http://chattanoogan.com/2016/4/1/321210/Chattanoogas-Live-Music-Scene--Whos.aspx
Bob Payne is the entertainment editor for the Chattanoogan.com and talent/production assistant at Friends Of The Festival. Email Bob Payne at davrik@aol.com or www.facebook.com/davrik2000.