Merle Haggard On Kennedy Center Honors / Willie’s Arrest
Tonight the Poet of the Common Man, Merle Haggard will be honored with a Kennedy Center Honors award for his contributions to American music. Well, actually he received the award on December 5th, but the ceremony itself from Washington DC will air tonight on CBS (as they say, check local listings for times).
He will be honored by musical performances from Kris Kristofferson, Vince Gill, Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, Jamey Johnson, Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, wait Kid Rock? (which one of these things is not like the others?) and his long-time friend and fellow Kennedy Center Honoree, Willie Nelson.
In a recent interview with bakersfield.com, Merle came to the defense of Willie and his recent arrest for marijuana possession.
…there are some people in this world that have no idea what the real deal is. … I think it’s silly to put someone in jail for (marijuana possession). I think it’s a threat to the pharmaceutical industry that you can go to the garden to grow something that might keep you from having to use Lipitor. I would hope they would get off his back. Someone said he might have to do some time. The ones that are against (marijuana use) feel like he’s really breaking the law. People that love him, love him and the ones that don’t like him, hate him. Same goes for me.
Merle also talked about the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony, in which the performers and songs are kept a tight secret from the honorees and crowd until they actually happen.
All the people in country music that matter were there: Willie (Nelson), Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert. . . It’s funny; the ones (songs) they picked were the ones I thought were the best, too. History might not show that. The orchestra played “Okie from Muskogee” but no one sang it.
December 28, 2010 @ 2:10 pm
A few people on the music scene (in AZ) would say I play too much Merle Haggard… Funny I still wanna learn more…
December 28, 2010 @ 2:37 pm
Those few people lie. You can never play too much Merle. He’s one of the rare burds that can be all things to all people.
December 28, 2010 @ 4:42 pm
One of my favorite nights ever playing with Whitey…some asshat walked up to the stage and asked us to play some “new” country artist that I’ll leave nameless…in a sudden outburst, Whitey said, “That’s it, first set is all Haggard, second set is all Waylon…”
Half the crowd didn’t know what the hell he was talking about(it was one of our first gigs)…but the ones who did, they sure were pleased…it was a riot.
You can never play enough Merle.
Even Dale doubles him up.
December 28, 2010 @ 3:35 pm
This is great for Merle to get some current national exposure. He is a legend but I have always thought he gets lost in the conversation of Cash and Willie when he actually tops them. He is the real deal through and through and through. Who else saw Cash from the audience at a prison show (which is bad ass on the resume of life) but then became a country music legend on top of that.
December 28, 2010 @ 4:23 pm
Haggard will have his time as the premier living legacy country act, unless Willie outlives him, which he very well might. Where Cash trumps him was being able to reach out to the younger, mainstream audience in the twilight of his career.
December 28, 2010 @ 3:59 pm
“Kris Kristofferson, Vince Gill, Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, Jamey Johnson, Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, wait Kid Rock? (which one of these things is not like the others?)”
Well, there are 2 if you ask me. When did Sheryl Crow become okay? Was it after her first duet with Kid Rock, the second or was it after she said ” We need to conserve paper by using only 1 square of toilit paper each time we go to the bathroom”?
December 28, 2010 @ 4:18 pm
Yeah I hear ya. But it seems like every time something like this comes up Sheryl Crow or Norah Jones is involved. I guess the organizers think that they are names that have cross-genre appeal or something. I’m not a Sheryl Crow fan, but I think there is much worse. Kid Rock is an abomination. Why can’t I get away from this prick? He seems to be on every function that involves the television. I watch television very little. Mainly the country music awards shows to report on them, and the occasional sporting event. He is on every music awards show that exists, regardless of genre. When my beloved Texas Rangers made it to the World Series this year, there he was singing his Bob Seger ripoff song between innings with his greasy hair and weasel face. This dude’s harder to shake than a nasty head cold.
December 29, 2010 @ 11:19 am
Sheryl gets a pass in my book. One reason being that she was friends w/ Johnny & June. Also she did a cover of a Sr. song on the “Timeless” Tribute to Hank Sr. (I’m not convinced Taylor, Jamey, Brad, Rascall Flatts etc. can NAME 1 Sr. song) These may be dumb reasons but she is waaaay easier to stomach than That Kid Rock.
December 28, 2010 @ 5:32 pm
Kennedy Center Honors is the best! I try to catch it every year. Even if I don’t agree with some lineups, the show is always a good one.
Howabout we all meet up in the SCM chat room during broadcast?
December 28, 2010 @ 5:58 pm
Damn, shoulda thought about that earlier and promoted it! I guess I can start now. One problem is it will likely broadcast at different times for different timezones.
December 28, 2010 @ 6:59 pm
I respect Merle Haggard and what he has to say, not because I feel obliged to, but because I want to.
congrats to the Hagg
December 28, 2010 @ 7:44 pm
“(which one of these things is not like the others?)”
LMAO good blog!
December 28, 2010 @ 8:28 pm
So glad I checked in here tonight, am not a TV watcher but caught all of the Merle tribute! So wonderful that he was honored. He seemed happy with all of the songs and the crowd loved it. Real country music scored tonight.
December 28, 2010 @ 9:56 pm
The only performance (in the merle part of the show I didn’t like was the last. Being a Kid Rock fan even I can say his vocals were terible. Jamey Johnson would have been better off Doing somethig completely different. Sheryl Crow suprised me & it looked like she had the Hag near tears with her & willie’s duet. Kris Kristofferson & Miranda Lambert even had Opra singing alnog to Silver Wings. Vince Gill & Brad Paisley showed the whole crowed that Country can Rock, and they showed the right way to do it.
December 28, 2010 @ 11:10 pm
I didn’t like it. So much so that it’s 10 minutes after midnight and I just busted out an article with my thoughts. We’ll see how much I regret it in the morning.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/merle-haggard-wronged-by-kennedy-center-presentation
December 29, 2010 @ 12:31 pm
Happy New Year Kyle!
Willie, Merle, and Kris Plan “Muskateers” Project « Saving Country Music
January 2, 2011 @ 3:04 pm
[…] Nelson and Kris Kristofferson were part of the recent Kennedy Center Honors festivities honoring Merle Haggard in Washington, and during the numerous functions, the three country music […]
January 4, 2011 @ 7:51 am
I will always be proud of the fact that I was arrested in Kentucky on the way to a gig in Nashville with a best of Merle Haggard tape playing in my car cassette player.
January 19, 2017 @ 4:21 am
Its time for the world to meet the rest of the HAGGARD singers…Noel and Marty and Ben …Each great on their own…Ben is the young one ..The only one. That I don’t know….Noel and Marty are old friends and friends of all my friends….Noel is just a good ole boy ..Marty A little more serious..But friendly enough …Both
Are Witty and humble…..They say Ben is just as talented …if not more…