By Andrew W. Griffin

Red Dirt Report, editor

Posted: September 24, 2009

reddirtreporter@gmail.com

OKLAHOMA CITY – Despite the fact that the October 1, 2009 issue of Rolling Stone features a cover story on no-talent “actress” Megan Fox, America’s premier corporate-rock magazine Rolling Stone, features a terrific – and very long – story titled “The Fighter: The Life and Times of Merle Haggard.” It’s written by Jason Fine and it’s an epic profile on a true American original and one of the best artists in country music.

And while we get the Hag’s history from top to bottom, we also get some real insight into a man who has real apprehensions about the dangerous direction America has been taking in recent years, particularly since 9/11 and the so-called “War on Terror.”

Writes Fine: “Frequently, Haggard veers into tireades about what’s wrong with the country. You can hear his mind working, stretching, as he spins out theories, trying them on to se if they stick.”

Quoting Haggard, and sounding very George Wallace-ish: “I don’t believe there’s a dime’s worth of difference between Democrats and Republicans.”

Fine said Haggard told him that right before the 2008 presidential election.

It’s the next sentence that gives the reader some real insight into the man behind the Vietnam War era right-wing anthem “Okie From Muskogee.”

“When we get someone new in the White House,” Haggard tells Fine, “Don’t you suppose they’d set him down there the first morning in the Oval Office and explain the rules? Give him orders about what to do, and if he didn’t do ‘em, they’d kill his kids? That’s what I think. I Think there’s a No Sh*t Day, when they sit the guy down and he says, ‘No sh*t.’ And they say, ‘Yeah, and it’s this way, too.’ ‘No sh*t.’ And we’ll kill your f*ckin’ kids if you don’t like it.’ I think we’re there.”

It’s an eyebrow-raising look into Hag’s thoughts. Fine notes that some of Hag’s best new songs, which address the dismantling of this great country include “Wishing All These Old Things Were New,” I Hate To See It Go,” “Rebuild America First,” “What Happened?”, “Where’s All The Freedom,” and “I’ve Seen It Go Away.” These are some of his most exciting songs since the early days of “Mama Tried,” “Hungry Eyes” and “Workin’ Man Blues.”

The new songs, writes Fine, “describe a country that has sold out its ideals and abandoned civil liberties, and where people have become timid and small-minded.”  Fine then notes Haggard told him: “I wish I could say something in eight lines that would turn the entire country’s head. If there’s an ambition left in my body, it’s to do that: to write eight lines that will put the condition of the country foremost again before it’s too late.”

And what’s interesting is that Haggard is joining an ever-growing list of country artists who are speaking out about the declining state of America, from John Rich’s “They’re Shutting Detroit Down” to new material from Waylon Jennings’s son  Shooter Jennings.  And that’s just a couple of names. Haggard and these other country stars recognize that we are in a steep decline as a nation and something must be done to turn it around. However, if Haggard’s notion of a presidential ‘No Sh*t Day’ is true, the true puppetmasters will continue with their plans regardless.

It’s a sobering thought.

Haggard, whose family migrated from Checotah, Oklahoma (hometown of ‘American Idol’ and country star in her own right, Carrie Underwood) to Bakersfield, Calif. In 1935, during the Great Depression, so he is a true child of the Depression and the concerns of that dark period in our history.

As a side note, an interesting portion of the Fine piece included information about Haggard belief in UFOs, which followed a strange encounter while he was flying a Cessna in California. A bright light “lit up the whole cockpit.” The Air Force denied it was their aircraft and Haggard, writes Fine “came to believe the light was from a UFO, and it wsparked a lifelong curiosity about extraterrestrial life.

“You’d have to be crazy to believe there’s not life out there,” Haggard said. “People say ‘If we find life, then we’ll know that there’s life everywhere.’ Bullsh*t. We know it now if you have a brain. I think the government is extremely puzzled, and they’re aware that we’re not the smartest bear in the woods. There’s some other intelligence around that’s observing our progress. Who know, I mean, this may be an experiment. This planet. The whole gamut may be an experiment being conducted by some superior race.”

Hag’s wife, Theresa, says her husband “a real busy man in his mind” and that “he takes everything so seriously, whether it’s something on the news or a new song that just comes out.”

Theresa adds that Haggard does yoga to clear his mind, urging him to not to think so much, hoping relaxation will give his mind “a rest.”

But we are lucky to have such a talented, living legend willing to use his mind to write songs, share his insights on the state of America and the world and for not giving up, even into his 70’s.

Three cheers for Merle Haggard!

Copyright 2009 West Marie Media