Merle Haggard photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.
September 5, 2007 — Merle Haggard has proven almost impossible to pigeonhole politically, and he constantly surprises his fans with his positions on issues, but he tells countryweekly.com that it's actually pretty simple: "I believe in liberty," he declares.
Earlier this year Merle debuted "Hillary," a new song extolling the virtues of Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton. Still, he says, "I'm not really sold on her. It wasn't about anything to further her presidential campaign. I write from impulse, from mood and conditions and situations and all that. It came to me, and I wrote it."
Merle says he nonetheless offered the song to the Clinton campaign, which gratefully accepted — then, rather than adopting it as a theme song, conducted a poll of supporters to choose a campaign anthem instead. "I felt like that was sort of a slap in the face," he admits.
Merle, who will turn 70 in April, says the years have only made him wiser. "I'm sizing it all up, and I think I feel better than I did 10 years ago," he says. "There's a lot of things a 70-year-old person knows that maybe a 50-year-old person doesn't know. I certainly have learned a lot in the last 20 years."
Get Social With GAC
Message Boards
Join the conversation about your favorite artists.
Fan Photo Galleries
Share your photos with country music fans.
Superfan
Watch GAC. Earn points. Get cool prizes.
Blog
Stay up-to-date with all of our daily country news.
facebook
Become a fan on Facebook.
twitter
Follow us on Twitter.
YouTube
Watch our videos on our YouTube channel.