“His last name will always be an adjective”.
Earlier this month, country music legend Merle Haggard passed away at 79, and now Tom Waits has written a moving tribute to him for Rolling Stone. Waits describes Haggard as a major influence and someone who made him feel better about coming from a small town, National City, CA.
“He takes the lives of common ordinary folks who we had all stopped seeing and put them in songs and gave them a voice, and kept them alive,” he writes about Haggard, a quality reflected in Waits’ own character studies that make up many of his best songs.
“Merle’s songs are train-like … lonesome, well made and hard as hell, may they always keep moving,” he writes.
Read the full tribute below and learn more about Waits’ long, brilliant career with our Essential Guide.
[via Rolling Stone]
