On April 6th, 2016, the world lost a legend. Merle Haggard passed away on his 79th birthday, surrounded by family. Haggard had been battling with pneumonia since December, 2015, and complications from the illness caused his passing.
When he was initially released from the hospital after his first bout with pneumonia, he said he was “really lucky to be alive”. He rescheduled his December shows to February, but the pneumonia never quite let go and he had to reschedule most of them again.
He was healthy enough to perform in Santa Rosa, California on Wednesday, February 10. He couldn’t have known it at the time, but it would be one of his last recorded performances.
The Hag seemed as sharp as ever when he introduced “Okie From Muskogee” with, “We’re gonna do a song about marijuana right now”. He told a few more jokes before playing one of his most iconic songs. Watching this video makes us realize why the world fell for his voice and songwriting skills back in 1963.
Watch Merle Haggard perform “Okie From Muskogee” in one of his last appearance! What did you think? Leave us a comment, we’d love to hear from you!
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