By John Lehndorff, Rocky Mountain News March 28, 2005

http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/music/article/ 0,1299,DRMN_54_3655013,00.html

Merle Haggard has been on the road with his band, The Strangers, since Lyndon Johnson ran the White House. That's 40 years worth of shows that "kind of mush together in my memory," he said.

However, one gig in Denver will always remain crystal clear in Haggard's mind, he said. It was at the Grizzly Rose on Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the terrorist attacks.   "You guys came to the show. You were probably the only audience inside a building in the whole country. I was proud of you. I was proud of myself.

"Nobody would have blamed me if I hadn't played. I thought it was a testament to freedom that we did the show," he said, calling from his home in Redmond, Calif. He was preparing for a national tour with Bob Dylan that stops in Denver tonight and Tuesday.

"The first song I did after I walked onstage that night was Fighting Side of Me because that's the way we all felt. We wanted to strike back."

Before you start pegging Haggard politically to the right or the left, you'd better hear him out. Besides, he won't talk music until he gets something off his chest.

"I still don't think we know who we're fighting. Here we are lashing out all over the place acting like (former heavyweight champion) Leon Spinks. . . . I don't like to be lied to by someone who has all the power, by the president. We shouldn't have been lied to and treated like children," he said.

When the announcement came earlier this year that the country legend would tour with the rock iconoclast Dylan, more than a few people were puzzled.

Haggard, 68, said he was surprised when Dylan, 63, called him with the idea, but the pairing made perfect sense to him because of the tunes each has written.

"Look at Dylan's songs," said Haggard. "You've got Don't Think Twice. There's Blowin' in the Wind. I love Maggie's Farm. Dylan's still writing great. He's still doing it."

The same can be said for Haggard, a Grammy Award-winner and Country Music Hall of Fame member who released dozens of hit country singles including Mama Tried, Workin' Man Blues and Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down.

His latest release, Unforgettable puts the grizzled country singer in a new setting, singing jazzy American standards including As Time Goes By, Stardust and Cry Me A River.

However, it's the next CD - and don't call it a "comeback" - that occupies Haggard's thoughts. It's a big-time recording with legendary producer Jimmy Bowen at the helm. Bowen worked on dozens of gold records with everyone from Frank Sinatra to George Strait.

The project, tentatively titled Chicago Wind, is a collection of new Haggard tunes with one new Willie Nelson ballad called It Always Will Be.

"Willie was here recording some vocals. I was in the house eating lunch. He came in and said, 'I left you a little something out there,' " Haggard said.

Besides the Nelson collaboration and a potential Dylan vocal contribution, the forthcoming CD includes a duet with current country hotshot, Toby Keith.

"A lot of these young guys are Haggard fans. Toby, Kenny Chesney, George Strait. George isn't that young but he's a lot younger than me. More power to 'em," Haggard said.

He admitted that he doesn't listen to much of the country music being produced today, and knows that "the radio won't play me any more."

"Everything's national in terms of music . . . There's no local radio stations any more. There's so much sameness. They've got this cookie cutter approach that's being accepted by the country."

Talk about the conglomeration of today's radio industry inevitably leads to Haggard's thoughts on the politics behind big business and the abuse of power.

There has been an "attack on freedom of speech in America," Haggard said.

"Look what happened to Michael Moore. Look what they did to the Dixie Chicks. Those girls were one of the brightest things happening in country music. They had an opinion. The reaction to what they said scared me. Everybody jumped on them like flies on poo-poo. They stopped playing their records."

> Didn't Michael get richer? Didn't Michael get richer? Didn't Michael get richer?

Haggard is no stranger to controversy. In its time, his song Okie From Muskogee was front-page news for its strident lyrics that began:

"We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee; We don't take our trips on LSD; We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street; We like livin' right, and bein' free."

Haggard said that Okie has always been misunderstood.

"It's pro-American, not pro-war. My father was the Okie in the song - I was born in California, and the song was sung from his point of view. People referred to us as Okies and it was not a nice thing to call someone. I was really proud to be an Okie. There was a war going on, I had gotten out of prison (He was sent to San Quentin in 1957, charged with burglary) and I was proud of my freedom. I was proud of America as it was pre-Vietnam."

In recent years, Haggard said, Okie has morphed into a crowd- pleasing singalong anthem. "I think the message is still the same. It's that I'm proud to be whatever I am. That song's easing up on 35 years old but it still rings the bell," he said.

Besides being a guitar player, the job he's proudest of is songwriter.

"I started writing songs out of a craving for self-satisfaction, to write something that was accepted by the masses. It's like having a child."

- The world according to Merle Haggard

What he thinks about the country, country music and Martha Stewart:

ï On First Amendment rights: "I hope I can put forward my music and say what I want to say without the threat of jail. Can we be assured that if we say something against the president, against the war, that somebody won't put a rope on us?"

ï On his political affiliation: "I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. There's not a dime's bit of difference between them."

ï On the state of the country: "America is in serious danger. We're as divided as we've been since the Civil War."

ï On a presidential bid: "Look. I can't whip nobody. I'm too old and I'm too smart to run for president" (although his Web site, http://www.merlehaggard.com, offers "Haggard for President" bumper stickers for $5).

ï On Martha Stewart: "She didn't do anything all of us wouldn't have done. They didn't have to do that to her. Why didn't (President Bush) pardon her?"

ï On fellow music icons: "I still think Johnny Cash was the greatest country singer. George Jones is the best balladeer. Willie is . . . what Willie is. Those years in country music are gone and they may never come again."

Montag