One of my all-time favorite country and western singer was Merle Haggard….for this great musician could do old time country music like nobody else…as evidenced by this tribute to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys with his rendition of “Got That Old Fashion Love In My Heart”….as played with those twin-fiddles….for it just don’t get any better than this folks.
Merle Ronald Haggard was an American country singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler….who along with Buck Owens helped create the Bakersfield sound….which is characterized by the twang of Fender Telecaster and the unique mix with the traditional country steel guitar sound….new vocal harmony styles in which the words are minimal….along with a rough edge not heard on the more polished Nashville sound recordings of the same era.
Haggard’s childhood was troubled after the death of his father….and he was incarcerated several times in his youth…..but managed to turn his life around and launch a successful country music career….gaining popularity with his songs about the working class that occasionally contained themes contrary to the prevailing anti-Vietnam War sentiment of much popular music of the time. Between the 1960’s and the 1980’s….Merle Haggard had 38 number-one hits on the US country charts….several of which also made the Billboard all-genre singles chart…..as Haggard continued to release successful albums into the 2000’s.
