NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Even Merle Haggard gets nervous about stepping onto a stage when the audience is filled with songwriters, record label executives and fellow artists.
“Well, it’s glorious but it’s also tough because all the pressure is on you,” Haggard said after recently playing two sold-out nights at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. “You’ve got all those people out there that call you a legend and an icon and all that stuff. You kinda gotta prove it.”
But judging from the cheering and ovations, Haggard – who helped create the twangy electrified Bakersfield Sound in country music – still knows how to impress a crowd.
At 77, he tours the country about two weeks each month and recently bought a new tour bus, a sign that he’s not interested in retirement from the road. His band, the Strangers, now includes his wife, Theresa, and 21-year-old son Ben, as well as band leader Norman Hamlet, who has been with Haggard since the 1960s.
“It’s real tempting to let it all go, but it’s taken many years to get to where I am at,” Haggard said. “To divorce myself of it earlier than I have to is really not something I want to do.”