Merle Haggard: Still a Maverick

ByABC News
October 13, 2000, 2:16 PM

October 10 -- He's a certified country music legend, with 39 No. 1 country hits and a plaque in the Country Music Hall of Fame. But these days, Merle Haggard doesn't have much to do with the country music "business," at least in regard to his choice of record labels.

Haggard's new album, If I Could Only Fly, has been released in association with Epitaph Records, which, of course, specializes in the punk rock sounds of Rancid, Bad Religion, and the Voodoo Glow Skulls, among others.

As it turns out, it's a surprisingly good fit for Haggard, who turned 63 last April.

"Well, let me say this I'm much more proud to be on a punk rock label with some young kids that are doing something innovative rather than to be with people that's doing nothing but copying each other, running around in a circle with no songs," he says. "I'd rather see purple hair out there I'm tired of belly buttons, you know what I mean?"

Haggard is currently on the road promoting the new album, and in addition to the concert venues, honky-tonks, and casinos that he usually plays, he'll be dropping into some rock clubs as well, like New York's Irving Plaza and St. Louis' Mississippi Nights. For Haggard, whose career has seen thousands upon thousands of one-nighters, it's all pretty much the same.

"You know, I never did draw the line," he says. "I've always been a guy that had a band who could play just about anything you wanted to hear. I grew up in the beer joints of California playing rock and roll music: Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, stuff like that. My heart and soul has always been where it's at, and they put me where they want me. Right now it seems they'd rather have me over there [at the rock clubs]."

If I Could Only Fly is Haggard at his most human, addressing some of his weaknesses, including drug use ("Wishing All These Old Things Were New"), his convict past ("I'm Still Your Daddy"), and the continuing demands of the road ("Leaving's Getting Harder").