Editing Merle Haggard (section)

===Influence===
Haggard's guitar playing and voice gave his country songs a hard-edged, blues-like style in many cuts. Although he was outspoken in his dislike for modern country music,<ref name=yahr /> he praised [[George Strait]], [[Toby Keith]], [[Alan Jackson]], and [[Sturgill Simpson]]. Haggard also had an interest in jazz music, and stated in an interview in 1986 that he wanted to be remembered as "the greatest jazz guitar player in the world that loved to play country".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://m.startribune.com/1986-interview-it-never-has-been-fun-being-merle-haggard/374804811/ |title=1986 interview: 'It never has been fun' being Merle Haggard|website=[[Star Tribune]]|access-date=2016-09-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914222814/http://m.startribune.com/1986-interview-it-never-has-been-fun-being-merle-haggard/374804811/ |archive-date=September 14, 2016 |df=mdy }}</ref>  Keith singled out Haggard as a major influence on his career. 
[[File:MerleHaggardDrive.jpg|thumb|upright|Merle Haggard Drive, [[Oildale, California]]]]
As noted by an article published in ''[[The Washington Post]]'' upon Haggard's death, "Respect for the Hag [Haggard] as an icon, both for his musical status and his personal views, is a common theme" in country music.<ref name=yahr /> Many country music acts have paid tribute to Haggard by mentioning him in their songs (a fact aided by his first name rhyming with "girl", a common theme in country songs). These include:
* [[Collin Raye]] recorded "My Kind of Girl", which includes the line, "How 'bout some music/She said have you got any Merle/That's when I knew she was my kind of girl."<ref name = yahr />
* In 2000, Alan Jackson and George Strait sang "Murder on Music Row", which criticizes mainstream country trends: "The Hag wouldn't have a chance on today's radio/Because they committed murder down on music row."<ref name=yahr />
* In 2005, the country rock duo [[Brooks & Dunn]] sang "Just Another Neon Night" off their ''Hillbilly Deluxe'' album. In the song, [[Ronnie Dunn]] said, "He's got an Eastwood grin and a Tulare swagger/Hollerin' turn off that rap/And play me some Haggard." Brooks and Dunn also reference Haggard in 1993's "Rock My World (little country girl)" off their ''Hard Workin' Man'' album as they sing "Acts like [[Madonna]] but she listens to Merle/Rock my world little country girl."<ref name=yahr />
* In 2009, [[Jimmy Buffett]]'s song Wings refers to Haggard and his song Silver Wings in the verse "''You have wings look and see, Silver wings like Merle and me''".
* [[LeAnn Rimes]] mentions him in her 2013 song, "I Do Now": "Thank God for Merle Haggard, he's right, the bottle let me down."<ref name =yahr />
* Gretchen Wilson's song "Politically Uncorrect" and Eric Church's song "Pledge Allegiance to the Hag" both contain tributes to Haggard, as well as featuring him as a guest vocalist.<ref name=yahr /> 
*Country singer [[David Nail]] references the Haggard song "Mama Tried" in the lyrics to his song "The Sound of a Million Dreams" from his 2011 album of the same name: "...when I hear Mama Tried I still break down and cry And pull to the side of the road...". The song was written by Phil Vassar & Scooter Carusoe.
* In [[John Anderson (musician)|John Anderson]]'s song "Honky Tonk Saturday Night", he sings the lines, "I went to the jukebox and played some Merle Haggard/Oh me and the waitress think he's outta sight".
* [[Cody Johnson]] centralizes Merle in his song "Monday Morning Merle", with a reference in the chorus "...turns up 'Misery and Gin', here we are again - Monday Morning Merle."
* Cody Jinks song Hippies and Cowboys has the following lyrics Some old drunk on a bar stool on a Merle Haggard tuneThat's my kind of room"

In the 1970s, several rock acts responded in their own songs to Haggard's criticism of hippie counterculture in "Okie from Muskogee" and "The Fightin' Side of Me".  [[The Youngbloods]] answered "Okie from Muskogee" with "Hippie from Olema", in which, in one repetition of the chorus, they change the line, "We still take in strangers if they're ragged" to "We still take in strangers if they're haggard."{{sfn|Cantwell|2013| p=174}} [[Nick Gravenites]], of [[Big Brother and the Holding Company]], paid Haggard a tongue-in-cheek tribute with the song, "I'll Change Your Flat Tire, Merle",<ref>{{cite book|last=Ruhlmann|first=William|editor-last1=Bogdanov|editor-first1=Vladimir|editor-last2=Woodstra|editor-first2=Chris|editor-last3=Erlewine|editor-first3=Stephen Thomas|title=All Music Guide to the Blues |publisher=Backbeat Books|edition=3rd |date=2003|page=40|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=03_SyPiMaroC&q=haggard&pg=PA255|chapter=Big Brother and the Holding Company: Be a Brother|isbn=978-0807133149}}</ref> later covered by other artists including [[Pure Prairie League]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=Alan|editor-last1=Zunshine|editor-first1=Lisa|title=The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Literary Studies|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2013|page=149|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1r1PBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA149|chapter=Chapter 7: "Listen to the Stories!": Narrative, Cognition, and Country-and-Western Music|isbn=978-0199978069}}</ref> Despite these critiques, the Grateful Dead performed "Mama Tried" over 300 times,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deaddisc.com/songs/Mama_Tried.htm|title=Mama Tried|website=deaddisc.com|publisher=The Grateful Dead Family Discography|access-date=April 7, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328085006/http://www.deaddisc.com/songs/Mama_Tried.htm|archive-date=March 28, 2016}}</ref> and "Sing Me Back Home" approximately 40 times.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deaddisc.com/songs/Sing_Me_Back_Home.htm|title=Sing Me Back Home|website=deaddisc.com|publisher=The Grateful Dead Family Discography|access-date=April 7, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328100123/http://www.deaddisc.com/songs/Sing_Me_Back_Home.htm|archive-date=March 28, 2016}}</ref>

The [[Southern rock]] band [[Lynyrd Skynyrd]] more respectfully referenced Haggard in their song, "[[Nuthin' Fancy|Railroad Song]]", which contains the lyric, "Well I'm a ride this train Lord until I find out/What [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]] and the Hag was all about." Skynyrd also performed both a cover of "[[Merle Haggard Presents His 30th Album|Honky Tonk Night Time Man]]" and their own take on the song with "Jacksonville Kid" (found on the 2001 CD reissue of the album) on their album ''[[Street Survivors]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ching|first=Barbara|editor-last=Watts|editor-first=Trent|title=White Masculinity in the Recent South|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|date=2008|page=255|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=03_SyPiMaroC&q=haggard&pg=PA255|chapter=Where Has the Free Bird Flown? Lynyrd Skynyrd and White Southern Manhood|isbn=978-0807133149}}</ref> He described himself as a student of music, philosophy, and communication. He would discuss jazzman Howard Roberts guitar playing, life after death and the unique speaking technique of [[Garner Ted Armstrong]] of [[The World Tomorrow (radio and television)|''The World Tomorrow'']] with enthusiasm and authority.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://meetmythamerica.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/white-washing-the-future/ |title=White-Washing the Future |last=Dewey |first=Pamela Starr |date=May 18, 2015 |website=meetmythamerica.wordpress.com |access-date=November 19, 2017 }}</ref>