Merle Haggard Battles Sickness to Thrill Arkansas Crowd

by Julian Spivey
Merle Haggard thrilled fans Wednesday night (April 2) at the Robinson Center in Little Rock, Ark. despite struggling with sickness, which made it hard for him to perform throughout the night.
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When Haggard opened up his show with his 1982 classic “Big City,” you could tell that something wasn’t quite right in his voice. I didn’t know right away if the country music legend was sick or if it was just the aging voice of an almost 77-year old. Thankfully it turned out to be that the Hag was simply sick as after his first few songs he announced to the packed house that he had come down with the “Arkansas crud” just a few hours prior to showtime.

Many artists would have opted to disappoint their fan base by cancelling or postponing the show due to sickness, but Haggard being the legendary and workhorse performer that he is powered threw it, giving his all. It was slightly disappointing to hear the hobbled legend, because at times during performances you could hear that classic Haggard voice that we all know and love, but it was just an honor to be in such a great musician and songwriter’s presence for the evening.

Haggard’s voice struggled more on some of his softer performances like “Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star,” “Silver Wings,” “That’s the Way Love Goes” and “Kern River,” but it was nice to hear all of those classics throughout the night.

He didn’t seem to have as big of an issue with his more raucous classics like “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink,” which featured a nice guitar solo by his incredibly talented 21-year old son Ben, “Workin’ Man Blues,” which thrilled the no doubt hard-working audience, and “Are the Good Times Really Over? (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver).”

Among the biggest surprises of the night were Haggard’s cover of Johnny Cash’s classic “Folsom Prison Blues,” which he recorded for one of his early career albums “Mama Tried” (1968), and the deep cut “Make-Up and Faded Blue Jeans,” from his great 1980 album “Back to the Barrooms.”

The Hag also did a song, “Thirty Again,” that I couldn’t believe I’d never heard. The song about longing to be young again came off as particularly nostalgic, and a wee bit sad, given the artist’s health of the night.

A couple of unique highlights of the night were getting to see Haggard show off his talented fiddling skills on the title track from his most recent album “Working in Tennessee,” which was released in 2011. Also, just the humor the veteran singer exhibited, particularly in such a disappointing situation with his illness, made the night a very lighthearted affair. The joke about introducing the band and having the members of his fantastic (and longtime) backing band The Strangers introduce one another to each other was classic.

My favorite performance of the night was not surprisingly Haggard’s performance of my favorite Haggard song “Mama Tried,” but then again I could’ve told you that would be the case going into the night. In my opinion, it’s one of the five greatest country songs ever recorded and one that I’m thrilled to say I’ve now seen Haggard perform multiple times live.

Not surprisingly Haggard ended his set with a performance of the crowd favorite “Okie from Muskogee,” the song that he’s always going to be the most synonymous with – for better or worse. The performance sent the crowd off with a rousing applause for the country music hall of famer.

All in all, it was a fun night seeing one of the all-time classic music legends at Robinson Center, even despite him being sick. If you’ve never gotten the chance to see Merle Haggard you’re really missing out and should look for him in a city near you.