300 to 400 Unreleased Merle Haggard Songs Remain in an Archive
“I’ve probably got 300 to 400 songs that I haven’t released that I collected over the years. We call it ‘The Archive.'”
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On Saturday (4-9), country music legend Merle Haggard was laid to rest in a private ceremony in Palo Cedro, CA in Northern California, near where his permanent residence has been for many years just east of Redding. Merle had preplanned his service before his death, and requested Marty Stuart and his wife Connie Smith to be part of it. “He requested that Connie sing ‘Precious Memories,’ that me and Connie sing his song ‘Silver Wings,'” Marty Stuart told The Tennessean, “and that I officiate the service. We’re honored to do it.”
Though no major public tribute similar to the ones organized after the recent passing of George Jones or “Little” Jimmy Dickens has reached beyond the planning stages, other tributes will be happening throughout the weekend both in local watering holes and on local radio stations throughout the country, and through national media. SiriusXM’s “Willie’s Roadhouse” channel has temporarily changed over to “Merle’s Roadhouse” until Sunday evening, and will be playing songs, Merle-centric programs, and tributes to The Hag all weekend.
RFD-TV is also paying tribute to Merle Haggard all weekend by airing archived episodes from The Marty Stuart Show, Hee Haw, and The Porter Wagoner Show where Merle appeared numerous times (see schedule). CMT will also be re-airing its Merle Haggard tribute on Saturday and Sunday evening at 9 p.m./8 p.m. Central.
And on Monday, Eddie Stubbs of WSM will be airing a five-hour tribute to Merle Haggard beginning at 8 p.m./7 p.m. Central that can be streamed online. Eddie Stubbs and Marty Stuart also talked on WSM about Haggard in the aftermath of the legend’s death.
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Though Merle Haggard is no longer around to record and release new music, that doesn’t mean there isn’t unheard, unreleased recordings waiting to be unearthed for the public in the future. As is often the case with music artists who pass away, unreleased Merle Haggard music remains vaulted away, either as leftovers and outtakes from previous recording sessions, or in Merle’s case, purposely stashed away in the event of his passing, or to be released when he had reached the point where he couldn’t sing any more. As first reported in May of 2015, in an interview with Broadway of Country 92.5 in Connecticut, Merle has a massive cache of songs that have yet to be released.
“I’ve probably got 300 to 400 songs that I haven’t released that I collected over the years. We call it ‘The Archive.’ And we haven’t released anything from that. When I get unable to record or sing anymore, or get killed or something, well they’ll probably put it out,” said Merle.
Though Merle released a record with Willie Nelson last year called Django & Jimmie, his last proper solo release was October 2011’s Working in Tennessee. A post in Rolling Stone from 2014 says that Merle was working on four separate albums at that time, but that releasing the music was a tricky proposition. This might be the reason all of the recordings were archived in instead of released.
“We’ve got a brand-new studio and we’ve been recording right along all the way, although the lack of radio play for the new stuff makes it difficult.” Merle said. “If they put on a new song of mine, they’ve gotta take off ‘Mama Tried.’ So I’m kind of fighting myself on new releases.”
Meanwhile in the aftermath of Merle Haggard’s death, sales of his music have skyrocketed. However as Billboard reports, the most popular album on iTunes is not one of Merle Haggard’s original recordings, but a 40 Greatest Hits compilation of new recordings of his old hits. 40 songs for $11.99 apparently has enticed spendthrift music fans to purchase the album, most unbeknownst they’re not the original recordings. The silver lining is Merle likely put out the album to reap greater financial rewards from the songs compared to the original recording where his previous record labels get the lion’s share of the proceeds. This money will now be passed on to Merle’s estate.
The same can’t be said for numerous T-shirt bootleggers who’ve popped up to take financial advantage of Merle Haggard’s death. On the day Merle Haggard died, numerous Merle Haggard Facebook “groups” began selling unauthorized T-shirts in short-run batches. As Saving Country Music illustrated when exposing We Hate Pop Country’s unauthorized T-shirt sales featuring the likeness of legends, the estates and original photographers receive nothing from the sales. Bootleg sellers often use short-run sales to skirt intellectual property laws and make money before authorities or the estates can be notified or take action.
Chances are, if you see a T-shirt that is being sold in “remembrance” of Merle Haggard, it is circumventing copyright laws, the Merle Haggard estate is receiving nothing, and they are attempting to exploit Merle Haggard’s death for financial profit.
Eduardo Vargas
April 9, 2016 @ 9:50 am
I almost teared up when I heard Merle had died. Sadly, I wasn’t too familiar with his music- but I always found him to be very down to earth, humble and genuinely smart.
RIP Merle, you will be missed.
Bertox
April 9, 2016 @ 9:51 am
It would be wonderful if the estate would release a box set or sets of this archived music; that is definitely something I would pre-order!! And if those bootleg tshirt scumbags were true fans of the man, they wouldn’t be stealing his money with their fugazi swag, especially now exploiting his death for financial gain. Leeches
Janice Brooks
April 9, 2016 @ 9:52 am
One of the first comments I saw Wednesday was from former USA Today writer Brian Mansfield about later recordings of original hits. Hag stated he liked those versions better because he recorded them like based on how he developed singing them.
Andrew
April 9, 2016 @ 10:19 am
They’re defiantely good versions- a few of the songs I actually like better than the originals!
Mike W.
April 9, 2016 @ 9:53 am
Somewhat related, but Patterson Hood wrote a retrospective article about Haggard and to the surprise of no one—it is awesome.
http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2016/04/08/473500599/his-songs-were-carved-in-stone-patterson-hood-remembers-merle-haggard
Andrew
April 9, 2016 @ 10:18 am
I’ve seen that greatest hits album, and listened to some of it. Sadly, many people do think that they are the original recordings. Of course, it’s still Merle singing, so it’s not bad. But I have noticed that a lot of Merle’s music on iTunes is rerecorded stuff (which is why I haven’t purchased any of his music digitally). I hope “The Archive” is released soon, 400 Haggard songs doesn’t sound half bad.
Garrett Roe
April 9, 2016 @ 10:30 am
There will be a new Haggard record later this year, according to Paul Franklin, whom I met last night at a Time Jumpers concert
Jen
April 9, 2016 @ 11:19 am
Willie is changing his Roadhouse station on SiriusXM to Merle”s Roadhouse all weekend…be sure to tu in if you have Sirius XM radio. I don’t. He’ll be playing Merle’s hits all day today and tomorrow.
hoptowntiger94
April 9, 2016 @ 11:59 am
Thanks for the RFD-TV schedule! I didn’t think of checking it out. I’ve been tuning in and out of the Sirius stations (Outlaw and Willie’s), but mostly playing Hag albums. I still can’t listen to anything else; it doesn’t feel right.
Some awesome tributes being circulated through social media (remember the days when an artist passed and they only got 3 songs in a row on the radio?). I loved hearing about Jamey Johnson’s Merle only set opening up for Willie Thursday night (there’s some great footage on YouTube).
It was interesting to see different artists’ reactions. Kacey Musgraves (I saw her history lesson statement) and Brandy Clark went on this week business as usual, other artist put out tributes and held off self promotion a couple days.
brettp
April 9, 2016 @ 2:50 pm
This is encouraging! I hope we can hear these recordings sooner rather than later. I wander what era these would be from? Id assume latter day like 90s and forward, but if their was some early Hag or unreleased concerts, thatd be awesome. Also on the greatest hit compilations for anybody wandering, several years ago i bought one called HAG: The very best of. A great single disc overview that i believe sound like the original recordings.
JB
April 9, 2016 @ 3:17 pm
I gotta say, Trig, I don’t know how you do what you do. My degree is in English and I tried my hand at journalism through all the unofficial avenues – blogging, internships, contacting established publishers and editors, etc. – and ended up being a pilot because the current environment for commercial writing is absolutely brutal. Additionally, the pressure to constantly produce timely material in a fresh, professional style is tremendously taxing on the mind. Yet I read on one of your articles that you work 80 hours a week. I know this isn’t pertinent to the (excellent) article above, I just thought it wouldn’t hurt to recognize you for the superhuman efforts you put forth. Keep truckin’, and I think I speak for hundreds of people when I thank you for publicizing the names and work of your fellow artists in the music industry. It’s sure enhanced my listening experience as a country music fan (and that of my country-loving friends, by extension)
Trigger
April 9, 2016 @ 4:06 pm
I appreciate that JB. As someone with a degree in English, I’m sure you can attest that sometimes syntax and spelling errors dot my writing, but that’s one of the pitfalls of being your own editor, and putting out the amount of content I do.
JB
April 10, 2016 @ 12:14 pm
Remarkably few considering the volume of your work!
On a different note, I’m guessing you’re waiting to review Sturgill’s new album until it’s officially released? I’ve listened to it from start to finish about five times on NPR’s First Listen feature
Amanda
April 9, 2016 @ 3:20 pm
Had the opportunity to see Garth Brooks in Louisville, KY, last night. He performed one or two songs and then said, “We have to address it, so let’s just bring it up. Merle Haggard was the greatest country artist of all time. In the entertainment world, we don’t do moments of silence, I want to hear this crowd cheer as loud as they can for the greatest country artist that lived.” During his encore he performed “Mama Tried.”
A.B.
April 9, 2016 @ 3:59 pm
I was recently looking at Handsome Harry’s blog on his website. He wrote & posted pictures involving Merle and one or maybe more of those 300 to 400 songs in the archive is a Marty Stuart/Merle Haggard co-write.
http://harrystinson.net/california-dreamin-old-theaters-old-friends-old-memories-one-prison/
malinda loftis
April 9, 2016 @ 5:33 pm
I love his music and still listening to his music .I was driving when I heard he had passed away I started crying .
Tezca
April 9, 2016 @ 7:32 pm
I think ironic is the right word for this, but it was ironic for me when I read the news that Merle died cause I was listening to something related to one of the recent updates for Homestuck(webcomic) that was titled of Heir of Grief.
I may not listen to his stuff as much as the rest of you but I sure as hell understand why Merle is one of the great of country music!
Merle
April 9, 2016 @ 10:13 pm
Good article. Sailor’s guide to earth review?
Trigger
April 9, 2016 @ 10:26 pm
The policy of Saving Country Music is not to review albums until they’re released so that live links to purchase the music can be included, folks can stream the music and share their own opinions, as well as for other reasons. This is also what the publicists and management of most artists request. I understand the album is streaming on NPR, but that doesn’t change the timeline for Sturgill’s album or anyone else’s. Every once in a while I may post a review the evening before an album release, but that would be the earliest.
Acca Dacca
April 9, 2016 @ 10:33 pm
This is the kind of news I was hoping for. Hopefully the recordings don’t hit any roadblocks and they actually see the light of day like Hag wanted.
RedDirtCyclone
April 10, 2016 @ 7:34 am
I was able to find Haggard records in an antique store yesterday afternoon. Keep Movin’ On and Okie From Muskogee, Live from Muskogee, Oklahoma. Sounds beautiful on the record player. The world lost one of the bests there ever was this past week.
Bigfoot is Real (lonesome, on'ry, and mean)
April 12, 2016 @ 6:06 am
I hope Merle’s catalog of unreleased material is managed with great care and represents only what Merle would have considered release worthy art. Often those catalogs are treated as cash cows by whoever is managing the archives and no real consideration is given to the fact that artist didn’t want it released because it wasn’t up to their standards. Also don’t want to hear any songs attached to some ad campaign that the artist would have not ever associated themselves or their art with. Last night I was watching the boob tube and was appalled to hear a cover of Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” used for the third person shooter game called Quantum Break. Cobain and a shooter game? Really? Ironic maybe but classless for sure.
Mark
April 12, 2016 @ 8:21 am
“The same can”™t be said for numerous T-shirt bootleggers who”™ve popped up to take financial advantage of Merle Haggard”™s death.”
That is low.
Mike
February 19, 2022 @ 9:05 am
Just curious if anyone has heard anything about the release of any of these recordings? I’m afraid that they have been held up by the family and/or the estate. Such a shame because these recordings are such a big part of Merle’s legacy and wold be enjoyed by many.