Coincidentally, tomorrow, April 6, is the date when two of country music's quintessential stars passed away: Tammy Wynette in 1998, and Merle Haggard in 2016. Wynette's signature song, 1968's "Stand By Your Man," has been criticized by some as anti-feminist, although Wynette (who was married five times) has said she was just expressing the current mores of working-class women and not taking a social or political stand. (In fact, the lyrics could easily be interpreted, as we do, that the stoic, forgiving woman is actually the stronger one in a relationship -- "after all, he's just a man.") Regardless, it's her biggest hit and is considered by some as the top country song ever. Haggard's hard knock early life -- an Okie and whose family moved to California during the Great Depression, doing several stints in prison -- are part of what makes his music so genuine. "The Bottle Let Me Down" (1966) is a standard Haggard song (on which both James Burton and Glen Campbell are playing), and was his biggest hit to date. Interestingly, Haggard became less conservative as he aged (perhaps influenced through his friendships with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson?), saying this in a 2008 interview about the Republican Party, which still holds true today:
"[T[his [Bush] government is all about terror alerts and scaring us at airports. We're changing the Constitution out of fear. We spend all our time looking up each other's dresses. Fear's the only issue the Republican Party has: Vote for them, or the terrorists will win. That's not what Reagan was about. I hate to think about our soldiers over in Iraq fighting for a country that's slipping away."
Hope you enjoy.
