2016 has been a brutal year as we've lost so many famous faces, and the death of Merle Haggard just flat out hurts. I used to tell my friends when we lose George Jones and Haggard, country music will never the be the same. Now they're both gone and I'm sad.

When I started my radio career, I worked at an AM country station in Madisonville, and our format called for playing an oldie and the top and the bottom of every hour. What was cool about it was, I discovered so many country classics, some I knew, and a lot of them were new to me. I grew up in a house with really no country music, it was all pop, however, both of my parents knew all the songs I would tell them I had played on any given day or they would tune in and they would be delighted. I didn't realize then how powerful Haggard was and the fact that every single song of his I would play was a hit. His songs were stories and he told them is such a small frame of time. He would paint the most vivid pictures in less than two and a half minutes. One of Haggard's short hits has a special meaning to me.

When my Granddaddy Morris was car salesman, one of his dealership's ads in the paper said "the old man from the mountain is back". When I discovered this song, I smiled and I thought about Granddaddy's big smile in black and white in the local paper. It's a fun song from Hag's scream when the saxophone solo gets going to the subtle humor in his delivery. We've lost a true great.

Rest in peace Mighty Merle.

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