Broken Bow Records is pleased to announce the April 1st release of a star-studded tribute compilation honoring one of the greatest Country music icons of our time – Merle Haggard. Additionally, the Academy of Country Music and Dick Clark productions announced today that Merle Haggard, will be honored with the Crystal Milestone Award at the 49th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS to commemorate Haggard’s prolific 50 years in country music. The ceremony, which will be co-hosted by Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, is produced for television by dick clark productions and will be broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Sunday, April 6 (8:00 PM-11:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network.
Merle Haggard became the ACM’s first Entertainer of the Year when the award was presented for 1970. That win marked the Academy’s first Triple Crown achievement, as Haggard had already accepted the Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year award for 1965 and the first of six Male Vocalist of the Year awards the following year. Two of his most celebrated songs have also collected Single Record and Song of the Year awards from the ACM: “Okie From Muskogee” (1969) and “Are the Good Times Really Over” (1982). A winner of the ACM Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award and Poet’s Award, Haggard joined the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2014, he will celebrate the milestone of 50 years in country music.
Past recipients of the Crystal Milestone Award include Jason Aldean, Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Gayle Holcomb, Jennifer Nettles and Taylor Swift.
The musical celebration, WORKING MAN’S POET: A TRIBUTE TO MERLE HAGGARD, features brand new covers of some of the living legend’s biggest hits, recorded by some of the hottest stars in Country music today. The album includes performances by: Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Garth Brooks, Luke Bryan, Kristy Lee Cook, Ben Haggard, Randy Houser, Toby Keith, Dustin Lynch, Joe Nichols, Jake Owen, Parmalee, Thompson Square and James Wesley.
WORKING MAN’S POET: A TRIBUTE TO MERLE HAGGARD
Official Track Listing:
1. Misery And Gin (performed by Randy Houser)
2. Footlights (performed by Joe Nichols)
3. Going Where The Lonely Go (performed by Jason Aldean)
4. Today I Started Loving You Again (performed by Kristy Lee Cook)
5. Carolyn (performed by Toby Keith)
6. Pancho And Lefty (performed by Luke Bryan & Dierks Bentley)
7. Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down (* performed by Garth Brooks)
8. You Take Me For Granted (performed by Thompson Square)
9. Mama Tried (performed by Ben Haggard)
10. That’s The Way Love Goes (performed by Dustin Lynch)
11. Make Up and Faded Blue Jeans (performed by Jake Owen)
12. I’m A Lonesome Fugitive (performed by James Wesley)
13. Workin’ Man Blues (performed by Parmalee)
14. Are The Good Times Really Over (performed by Jason Aldean)
15. Let’s Chase Each Other Around The Room (performed by Thompson Square)
16. I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink (performed by Dustin Lynch)
17. The Fightin’ Side Of Me (performed by James Wesley)
18. My Favorite Memory (performed by Joe Nichols)
19. Ramblin’ Fever (performed by Randy Houser)
20. Sing Me Back Home (performed by Ben Haggard)
*Appears only on Walmart exclusive
The album will be available both in select stores and digitally on Tuesday, April 1st.
ABOUT THE LEGENDARY MERLE HAGGARD:
At the age of 76, the veteran singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer/bandleader is still making some of the most compelling music of his long and storied career. It almost goes without saying that Merle Haggard is widely regarded as country music’s greatest living recording artist. A rugged individualist who simultaneously embodies and transcends the genre, Haggard is both a seminal superstar and an unrepentant outsider. Over the course of a remarkably prolific five-decade career, he’s consistently shown himself to be an uncompromising creative force, far more concerned with pursuing his iconoclastic vision than with meeting the expectations of the music-industry establishment.
Along the way, Haggard has scored no less than 39 #1 country hits; won various Grammy, CMA and ACM awards; become the only California-born artist in the Country Music Hall of Fame; been the only country performer ever featured on the cover of the jazz bible Downbeat; as well as the only man to be invited to perform at the White House and invited to serve time in San Quentin Penitentiary.
His prison experiences led Haggard—who’d begun playing guitar at the age of 12 and worshipped Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams—to take stock of his life and decide to pursue a career in music. Upon his 1962 release, he became a fixture on Bakersfield, California’s thriving country music scene, working manual labor jobs by day and playing local clubs by night. A string of singles for the local Tally label led to a deal with Capitol Records, and in 1965 Haggard launched an incredible string of classic hits including “Swinging Doors,” “The Bottle Let Me Down,” “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive,” “Branded Man,” “Sing Me Back Home,” “Today I Started Loving You Again,” “Mama Tried,” “Hungry Eyes,” “Silver Wings,” “Workin’ Man Blues,” “The Fightin’ Side of Me,” “If We Make It Through December” and the much-misunderstood “Okie From Muskogee.”