Love you but not know when

I asserted that Merle Haggard is the greatest singger,songwriter the state has ever produced.I stand by that.Hag has one of the most understated,yet soulful voices i have ever heard and he is a greatest songwriter,not by country standards,but by Bob Dylan/Duck Ellington standards.And yet,like those two men,it's Merle's version and diligence s bandleader that's been the key to his 50 years career.

In May 1980, Merle appeared on the cover of Down Beat, which wouldn't have raised eyebrows were it not a jazz publication. In hindsight, it was a brilliant editorial decision. Haggard leads his band, The Strangers, with an Ellingtonian sense of pacing and color and has often referred to his music as country-jazz because of its emphasis on solo improvisation.

As longtime drummer, Biff Adam, told Classic Drummer, "Merle never does the same show twice. We’re always loose up on the stage. He doesn’t even play songs in the same key or the same tempo. So, it’s almost like jazz. He keeps everybody on their toes because we don’t have any idea what’s going to happen. Like last night, some of the endings we played I don’t think we’ve ever heard before. I think he got that from Bob Wills. That’s the way his band was. He’d just point at the guy he wanted to play the turnaround."