Merle Haggard saw a lot of changes in country music throughout his 50-year career. As such, the California native witnessed plenty of differences between the younger singers and the artists who were having hits as the same time as Haggard.
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"Me and Willie Nelson write our own songs," Haggard says in a 1999 interview. "Me and Willie Nelson have our own bands. We're our own producers. We don't take advice from record executives while we're making our records. We are what we are. We're not something that's cloned and stamped out by someone in Nashville.
"We're someone you can talk to," he remarks, adding that the older artists are not "yes men." "We might not say what you want to hear."
Haggard goes on to say that music by artists like him, Nelson and others, were not as polished as the artists who were having hits in the late '90s.
"We represent reality," the Okie From Muskogee singer shares. "There's no reality in country music anymore. Willie Nelson will get on his jet and come and whip your a-- if he doesn't like what you say. A lot of these younger people don't have the cods to even argue on the phone."
Why Merle Haggard Was Glad He Stopped Getting Played On Radio
As with any artist, there comes a time when their music isn't played as much on radio, to make room for a new batch of artists. For some, that time is sad, and a bit depressing. For Haggard, it was a massive relief.
"They say they won't play my records the same time they play Shania Twain's?" the former prisoner says. "I'm glad, because I don't want anyone mixing me up with that crap."
Indeed, the way Haggard made records was a far cry from how it is now, an evolution that was disappointing to Haggard.
"Perfection is necessary nowadays," Haggard laments. "It doesn't matter if the performance has any soul or not. There can't be a fly in there anywhere. That's not the way it was when I started recording. We only had two tracks - I even recorded on one track. There were mistakes on those records, but they had soul."
Haggard was 79 years old when he passed away on April 6, 2016, from complications of pneumonia.
