Merle Haggard Stars at ROMP

Country Music Hall of Fame member Merle Haggard will be the headliner at this years ROMP. The River of Music Party will be June 27-29 at Owensboro's Yellow Creek Park.

The 10th annual event is officially known as ROMP: Bluegrass Roots & Branches Festival.

Lots of other bluegrass performers will appear this summer as well. "Other" you say? Merle is bluegrass. Yes, he is. Haggard recorded "The Bluegrass Sessions" in 2007. He will sing a mixture of bluegrass tunes and hits from his nearly 50 year career.

You can find all the information about the shows at the ROMP website. Tickets and passes go on sale today at noon.

Plans to move ROMP to an earlier date did not work out. It seems the dates in June are accompanied by record heat. But, even with that last year's crowd of 21,000 didn't seem to mind. More are expected this year.

One of the things that tickles me about this is Merle Haggard attended my induction into the Country Radio Hall of Fame. Our careers in Country started at about the same time, mine in 1963, his in 1964.