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Merle Haggard Celebrates Release of 40 No. 1 Hits!
Fender 60 Cycle Hum News
2004-05-22

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In one of his big hits from the early 1980s, Merle Haggard asks, "Are the good times really over for good?" Well, judging from the famous faces who turned out Monday (April 19) to toast his musical legacy, the answer is a deafening, "No!"

The celebration took place in the cavernous reception hall of the BMI building in Nashville and was occasioned by Capitol Records' release of the Haggard retrospective album, 40 No. 1 Hits. The singer recorded for Capitol from 1965 to 1976.

"Seems like every time I come to Nashville," Haggard mused, "something good happens to me. I don't know why I don't live here." At that, the crowd roared. He said he'd been visiting George and Nancy Jones, who live just outside of Nashville, and that George was trying to interest him in a piece of nearby property. He admitted, though, that he was cautious about making any such move. "I lived here in 1976 and '77," he recalled, "and my record sales were the lowest [then] they'd ever been."

For more information on Merle, click here.

To read more about his Tribute Series Telecaster® guitar, click here.

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