I Met Merle Haggard Today

Album: Behind This Guitar (2016)
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Songfacts®:

  • Mo Pitney was starstruck when he got the opportunity to meet Merle Haggard. He chronicles here his chance encounter on this tribute to the late country star.

    "I was pouring concrete with my dad, and I had to run some errands, but a buddy called and said, 'Hey, Merle Haggard's down here at Northstar Studios taping Marty Stuart's show, if you want to come down and meet him,'" Pitney recalled to Buffalo, N.Y., radio station WYRK. "And I wiped the concrete off my face and went and met Merle Haggard. Every word in this song is true."

    "I got to meet Merle Haggard for the first time [on] 2/4/2013 at 4:45," he added. "When I got to meet him, I tell people that I just don't get nervous around people, but Merle was one guy that I walked away from that meeting going, 'Ho-ly crap, that was Merle freaking Haggard."

    "And with that feeling that I'd never felt before, I went home," Pitney continued, "and I had writing scheduled with a buddy of mine, Don Sampson … and I said, 'Hey, you want to write a song that's not gonna make my record?' and he said, 'Sure!' I don't know why, but it ended up making my record anyways."

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