Merle was present during check-in, when James suffered a brain hemorrhage. Days later, he was hit with another, which killed him. It was a transformative loss for Merle, the central event of his life.

Merle Haggard, the grizzled country music legend whose songs such as “Okie from Muskogee” and “Fightin’ Side of Me” made him a voice for the workingman and the outsider, has died. He was 79.

Country music icon Merle Haggard died on Wednesday -- the same day as his 79th birthday -- at 9:20 a.m. at home near Redding, California, his manager confirmed to ET. Haggard was reportedly ...

Merle Haggard tips his hat to the crowd as he performs at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio on April 24, 2015. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 16 ...

Country icon Merle Haggard and Ohio-born Rick Derringer are among five new artists added to the list of performers for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's 2012 American Music Masters ...

Merle Haggard performs at the 2015 Big Barrel Country Music Festival in Dover, Del., June 28, 2015.

Merle Haggard, country music legend, Kennedy Center honoree, can’t end the ride. Indeed, George Strait and Alan Jackson say as much in their 2000 hit “Murder on Music Row,” angry that rock ...

Merle Haggard, the grizzled country music legend whose songs such as “Okie from Muskogee” and “Fightin’ Side of Me” made him a voice for the workingman and the outsider, has died. He was 79.

Country legend Merle Haggard, often called “the Poet of the Common Man,” whose music reflected his hardscrabble roots and hard-living ways as well as a tenderness that made him a revered ...

Merle Haggard, the grizzled country music legend whose songs such as “Okie from Muskogee” and “Fightin’ Side of Me” made him a voice for the workingman and the outsider, has died. He was 79.

Merle Haggard, whose music reflected his hardscrabble roots and hard-living ways that made him a revered songwriter, has died. Plus Icon Film Plus Icon TV Plus Icon What To Watch ...