Merle Haggard, the legendary country singer known for his rough-and-tumble vocals and outlaw country anthems, wasn't just a ...

Merle Haggard wrote “Mama Tried” and released it in 1968 as the sole single from the album of the same name. It topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for four weeks. However ...

and cheerful barroom song for drinking buddies. Merle Haggard’s hit sits in stark contrast to Eastwood’s collaboration with Ray Charles, as the latter collaboration was not nearly as successful.

That trend is as old as country music as a commercial genre ... You can point to examples like that Merle Haggard song I mentioned earlier, but there's also songs like Tom T.