Last week, music fans everywhere mourned the death of Merle Haggard, who passed away at his home at the age of 79. Haggard spent a lifetime playing country music, and continued to work until his final days. Among his more popular releases was Django and Jimmie, a 2015 album featuring Haggard and Willie Nelson. While the pair only recently released an album, Nelson shares that he met Haggard at a poker game in the early Sixties, and remained friends ever since.
In the editorial published in Rolling Stone, Nelson recalls, “We always had a lot in common. We both hopped trains as kids. We both got our starts playing bass in other bands before stepping out on our own. We’d both been married for the last 20 years. We both had our sons playing guitar with us. Over the years, we played a lot of dates, a lot of poker. He was a great audience for my jokes. I told him recently, ‘You know what you call a guitar player without a girlfriend? Homeless,’ and he laughed.”
Nelson also talks about Haggard’s work ethic and dedication to his craft. “I always had a lot of admiration for him. He came onto the scene with a bang. He wrote more Number One songs than me, Kris [Kristofferson], anybody. He was a great one to follow. He was able to talk about his life in his songs intelligently and ingeniously, really.”
He also says that his favorite song by Haggard is “Looking For A Place to Fall Apart,” and that Nelson’s band is currently “we’re finishing the tour in Merle’s honor. We’re getting through it.”
It’s humbling to see such two musicians carry a strong band throughout their lives. RIP Merle.