On Aug. 16, 1969, Merle Haggard’s “Workin’ Man Blues” climbed to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. It became the seventh of the genre cornerstone’s 38 leaders, the third-most in the survey ...

Only Merle Haggard. Never one who was shy or too scared to speak his mind, Merle was good friends with Ray Benson, frontman of Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel, who recalled a great story about ...

Many of his songs are better known by other singers’ interpretations, like Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee,” Johnny Cash’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down” and more. By Lindsay Zoladz Nine tracks from ...

Two sides of the same Haggard coin, the former album featured a star-studded lineup of major acts like Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Alan Jackson, Brooks and Dunn, and Vince Gill. The latter album ...

Twenty years ago, the country legend talked with Variety's chief music critic about what drove him to write the anti-Bush/anti-Iraq-war song, now being revived as the Republican VP candidate's walk-up ...