Merle Haggard – who died Wednesday morning — was set to return to The Villages in September.
Joe Bamford, the promoter who booked Haggard into the Savannah Center a little over a year ago, said he spoke to Haggard’s agent on Tuesday to schedule a show in the Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center.
“We were going over the details and we wanted Merle in The Villages in September,” Bamford said about his conversation with Lance Roberts, Haggard’s agent. “I was so excited to bring Merle back to The Villages. Then I heard the news this morning. It’s so sad.”
Haggard died Wednesday on his 79th birthday. He had been in ill health for months after battling double-pneumonia.
“He was my brother, my friend and I miss him,” Willie Nelson told TMZ. Nelson, 82, released an album “Django and Jimmie,” with Haggard last year. Nelson was supposed to play The Villages last month but postponed his show due to illness.
“We’re still working with Willie and want to bring him to The Villages in the fall,” Bamford said. “We just want Willie to be healthy.”
Haggard’s sellout show at Savannah Center was a remarkable concert, filled with emotion and appreciation for a Country Music Hall of Famer.
Here is a video clip of him on the Savannah Center stage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agNVQMhQmZk
Haggard’s influence extended beyond country music. In 2010, he was honored with the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Medal for his contributions to American and world culture.
“The honesty of Merle Haggard’s music and poetic lyrics has helped to shape the world of country music for nearly five decades,” said David M. Rubenstein, chairman of the Kennedy Center. Among the honorees that year with Haggard were Paul McCartney and Opra Winfrey.
Haggard had a way of singing songs that mirrored the souls of people like him who struggled through life.
His hits include: “Oakie from Muskogee.” “Mama Tried,” “Big City,” “Branded Man,” “If We Make Through December,” “Workin’ Man Blues” and “The Fightin’ Side of Me.”
When he came to the Savannah Center in January 2015, he performed “The Bottle Let Me Down.”
I remember watching him on stage, a 77-year old man hidden by oversized sunglasses and a black cowboy hat. The body was frail but the voice and the spirit still echoed with that fresh, human heartache Merle Haggard revealed in his music.
“Listening and watching him sing, you could almost picture Haggard sitting at the end of a bar, looking down into a shot glass and wondering how to put his heart back together,” I wrote.
Among Haggard’s fans in Savannah that night was country singer Rhonda Vincent, “the Queen of Bluegrass.” She was a surprise opening act.
“I was playing down in Florida, and I heard Merle Haggard was playing here and I had to be here,” said Vincent. “I was at the Grammy party in Nashville and had my picture taken with Taylor Swift. Now I want my picture taken with Merle Haggard.”
Vincent said she called Haggard’s representatives at 1 a.m. to open the show that night. “I’ll do anything to play a show with Merle.”
Joe Bamford remembered Vincent calling to be on the show.
“I asked her: ‘How much money do you want?’ She said: ‘Just feed me and the band.’ So I got Rhonda Vincent and her band for five hamburgers. Best deal I ever made.
“She knew it was a special night and how much Merle Haggard means to country music. He was not only a music legend but a kind and gentle man. We will never have Merle here again, but I’m so glad we have the memory of that night in the Savannah Center.”
The fans at the concert also cherished that show.
Merle Haggard is “what country music is all about,” said Ron Taylor, a longtime Haggard fan who lives in The Village of Polo Ridge and attended the show with Anita Snyder. “Country music is about going to jail, drinking too much, breaking up with your lover and wondering why the world is falling apart. That’s what great country artists sing and write about and Merle Haggard is one of the greatest,” Taylor said that night.
David Durham, of Lexington, Kentucky, was visiting his aunt and uncle – Tim and Sandy Edwards – who live in The Villages. He didn’t have a ticket but showed up in the Savannah Center lobby. Another Villager, Muriel Broderick, had an extra ticket and gave it to Durham, who was thrilled with her generosity.
“It means so much to me,” he said. “I just hoped I could get one to see Merle. He’s my favorite country singer of all-time.”
Then Durham gave the perfect description of Merle Haggard’s music: “When he sings, you feel it.”
