Throwback Thursday – Merle Haggard’s Birthday

Even though we lost him last year, we still celebrate the life of Merle Haggard and the gift of his music that he shared with us for decades. Today, we celebrate his birthday, April 6th, 1937...

Merle died on his 79th birthday last year (2016) of complications from double pneumonia.

Merle was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler who will be remembered and missed from now on. Between the 1960s and the 1980s, he had 38 number-one hits on the US country charts, and continued to release successful albums into the 2000s.

He received many honors and awards for his music. Just a few of them include: induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1977, Country Music Hall of Fame in1994, Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame 1997, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, a BMI Icon Award in 2006,  a Kennedy Center Honor in 2010 and the list of accolades for Merle is endless!

I certainly wanted to pay tribute to him on his birthday today with our Throwback Thursday song. There are so many to choose from, so I can only hope that you like the one I selected. Haggard always championed the working class through his music... so take a moment to check out a young Merle Haggard in the above Music Video to one of his biggest hits....'Workin' Man Blues'!