ZUM TOD DES US-AMERIKANISCHEN COUNTRY-MUSIKERS UND SONGWRITERS MERLE HAGGARD

Der am 6. April 1937 in Bakersfield (Kalifornien) geborene US-amerikanische Country-Star und Songwriter Merle Haggard (Bild) ist am 6. April 2016 im kalifornischen Palo Cedro gestorben. Bekannt geworden war er u.a. durch Songs wie «Okie from Muskogee», «Mama Tried», «Silver Wings», «Swingin' Doors» und «Big City».

Foto: http://www.flickr.com/photos/whittlz/, 2009 – CC-Lizenz: Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported – Zur Datei: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MerleHaggardJun09.jpg 

A masterful guitarist, fiddler and songwriter as well as singer, the Country Music Hall of Famer recorded for more than 40 years, releasing dozens of albums and No. 1 hits.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/04/06/merle-haggard-dead-on-his-7th-birthday/

Merle Haggard, the grizzled country music legend whose songs such as «Okie from Muskogee» and «Fightin‘ Side of Me» made him a voice for the workingman and the outsider, has died.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/06/entertainment/merle-haggard-country-music-dies/

Country Music’s Outlaw Hero

Merle Haggard, one of the most successful singers in the history of country music, a contrarian populist whose songs about his scuffling early life and his time in prison made him the closest thing that the genre had to a real-life outlaw hero, died at his home in California, on Wednesday, his 79th birthday.

Bill Friskics-Warren

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/arts/music/merle-haggard-country-musics-outlaw-hero-dies-at-79.html?_r=0

Merle Haggard, who over six decades composed and performed one of the greatest repertoires in country music, capturing the American condition with his stories of the poor, the lost, the working class, heartbroken and hard-living, died at his home in the San Joaquin Valley, California, after a battle with pneumonia, his spokeswoman Tresa Redburn confirmed.

Patrick Doyle

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/merle-haggard-country-legend-died-at-79-20160406

As a teen, Haggard became a delinquent and petty criminal. He hadn’t turned 20 when he was sentenced to a three-year stretch in San Quentin on a burglary conviction. While in prison, he witnessed a performance by Johnny Cash, an event he later characterized as life-changing.

Chris Morris

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/obituary/6909871/merle-haggard-dies

Haggard along with fellow Bakersfield, Calif., superstar Buck Owens defined the West Coast sound of country music in the 1960s and ’70s.

Emerging from Bakersfield’s raucous honky-tonky country music scene of the post WWII-era, first recording for the local Tally label and then for Capitol Records, Haggard became a towering figure, producing 38 chart-topping records along with his longtime recording and touring band, the Strangers.

Steven Gaydos

http://variety.com/2016/music/news/merle-haggard-dead-dies-country-music-legend-1201747354/

Country music giant

He was active until a few months before his death, and in 2015 released an album with longtime collaborator and fellow «outlaw» Willie Nelson. The pair had done the chart-topping honky-tonk single Pancho and Lefty in 1983, and joined forces on Django and Jimmie, which was a tribute to jazz guitarists Django Reinhardt and Jimmie Rodgers.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/06/merle-haggard-dead-country-music-icon

Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=merle+haggard

Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson – Okie from muskogee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4AgZST_TG8

Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard – It’s All Going to Pot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6c6eUeoa9Q

Merle Haggard: 30 Essential Songs

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/merle-haggard-30-essential-songs-20160406

Mehr:

https://twitter.com/search?q=merle+haggard&ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^search

https://www.facebook.com/merlehaggard/

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/merle-haggard-20100301

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0353588/

http://www.country.de/2008/11/05/merle-haggard/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merle_Haggard

—

Nachtrag vom 7.4.2016:

Mann im Sturm

Mit zehn Jahren ergriff er die Flucht, mit vierzehn stand er auf der Bühne, mit zwanzig sass er im Gefängnis: Merle Haggard, der am Mittwoch gestorben ist, war der epischste aller Countrysänger.

Christoph Fellmann

http://www.derbund.ch/kultur/pop-und-jazz/mann-im-sturm/story/29365659