10 Years After Merle Haggard’s Death, His Legacy Looms Large … Yet Elusive

It was ten years ago today—April 6th, 2016—that word came down that one of the greatest singers, songwriters, and entertainers to ever grace the medium of country music, Merle Haggard, had passed away due to pneumonia.

It was Charlie Daniels who ended up alerting the world to the news. At about 10:20 a.m. Central time that morning, Daniels said on social media, “Country music has suffered one of the greatest losses it will ever experience. Rest in peace Merle Haggard.” It was a very poignant and accurate assessment from Daniels. A strong case can be made for Merle as a “Mt. Rushmore” artist in the country music universe.

Merle Haggard passed away on his 79th birthday—something he’d predicted to his family and close friends previously as he’d been suffering from pneumonia and breathing issues, canceling shows and playing some others leading up to his final days. Merle Haggard was born April 6th, 1937 in Oildale, California, near Bakersfield. He was raised in a house converted out of a train boxcar.

Just like friends Willie Nelson and George Jones, Merle Haggard wanted to play shows right up to his death, and go out doing what he wanted to do, and what he did best. Toby Keith helped Merle Haggard through one of his final shows at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas on February 6th, 2016. Merle played his official final public show at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, CA on February 13th.

A decade on from that tragic day, and the influence of Merle Haggard still lingers thick in the air all around country music. And how could it not? “Mama Tried” is now a part of standard Americana parlance, all over T-Shirts and bumper stickers. “Okie From Muskogee,” “Swinging Doors,” “Silver Wings,” his duet with Willie Nelson on “Pancho and Lefty,” they all loom large in the country music catalog.

To mark the 10th Anniversary of Merle Haggard’s passing, mainstream country traditionalist Cody Johnson released a version of the classic Merle Haggard song “Footlights” in tribute—a song that in many respects encapsulates the raw spirit of Haggard, who never played a part, never bit his tongue, and never was anything less than his true authentic self, on or off stage. Of course Cody could never match the iconic voice and moments of Merle. Nobody could. But Cody did his part to make sure Merle was remembered.

So has Jamey Johnson, who released a version of “Pretty When It’s New” in honor of Merle Haggard’s 89th birthday.

It is inarguable that Merle Haggard and his memory have a continued presence in the country space, and his influence and legacy remains strong. But it does feel fair to wonder if enough is being done to chronicle, archive, preserve, and pay forward that legacy for present and future generations, including the fans who might know of Merle’s legacy, but never got to experience it in the present tense, or have never heard of Merle Haggard at all.

A few days after Merle’s death, a quote from Haggard resurfaced where he claimed, “I’ve probably got 300 to 400 songs that I haven’t released that I collected over the years. We call it ‘The Archive.’ And we haven’t released anything from that. When I get unable to record or sing anymore, or get killed or something, well they’ll probably put it out.”

Merle’s son Ben Haggard confirmed in 2025 the presence of “never been heard, new songs and stuff.” But 10 years on, we’ve not heard anything about any of these songs being made ready for release, even as resurfaced songs that were accidentally overlooked from artists like Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Don Williams make their way to the public. The 10th Anniversary of Merle’s death might have made for a good opportunity to surface some of this stuff.

Meanwhile, multiple biopic films about Merle Haggard have been in the works for years, but seem to have stalled for one reason or another. One called Done It All written by screenwriter Cliff Hollingsworth, and developed in part by a man named Carl Cooper who was hand-selected by Haggard seems to have been mothballed after first being announced days after Merle’s death.

Another separate biopic based on the Merle Haggard memoir Sing Me Back Home written by Robin Bissell and Merle Haggard’s widow Theresa Haggard was announced in 2020, with Amazon acquiring the rights to it. Actor Sam Rockwell was initially slated to play Merle in the film. Six years on though, and we’ve heard nothing further.

One bright spot could be an Ethan Hawke-directed documentary on Merle Haggard called Highway 99: A Double Album that debuted at the Telluride Film Festival in September of 2025. No word when it might receive wide distribution, but it did stimulate the release of Workin’ Man – Willie Sings Merle by Willie Nelson full of Merle Haggard sons recorded in the lat 2010s.

Then there was the planned Merle Haggard Museum set to go in at the same location as the Johnny Cash Museum on Lower Broadway in Nashville. First announced in 2017 with great fanfare, it eventually was scrubbed to make room for a Johnny Cash-themed restaurant that opened in the space in 2019.

Three of Merle Haggard’s sons have done a good job keeping their father’s legacy alive, while contributing music of their own. Marty Haggard and Noel Haggard from Merle’s first marriage are both performers, while Ben Haggard from Merle’s last marriage might be the ultimate torch bearer into the future. But the long-awaited debut album from Ben has yet to come about, even if he remains a popular and beloved live performer.

Sturgill Simpson had become very close to Merle Haggard right before his death, and Merle once intimated to Simpson that once he passed, they would open his chest up and make it into a gift shop. That’s not how Merle Haggard wanted to be remembered. It also must be hard for Merle’s widow Theresa to sift through archive material and make plans while the memory of the loss remains present, while also trying to weigh Merle’s wishes of how he would want to be remembered.

But a decade on from Merle Haggard’s death, you do get these sense that there is a struggle to get these various protects, archive recordings, and other efforts to preserve Merle’s legacy green lit, for whatever reason. There is no rush, necessarily. We have eternity for these things to finally make it to the public, however impatient a public hungry for anything Merle Haggard might be.

The good news is Merle Haggard’s legacy remains loved and supported through the lasting impact of his music. The thing about Mt. Rushmore is that it’s forever. And it’s difficult to impossible to imagine a country music universe without Merle Haggard’s visage looming large in it.

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