Merle Haggard Left Hundreds of Songs Unreleased

While the late Merle Haggard may be passed away, his stamp on country music isn’t going away any time soon.

Written by Kelly Brickey
Merle Haggard Left Hundreds of Songs Unreleased
Photo by Travis Huggett

While the late Merle Haggard may be passed away, his stamp on country music isn’t going away any time soon.

The legendary singer and songwriter, who died on April 6, confirmed with Broadway’s Electric Barnyard last year that he had collected “probably 300, 400 songs” that weren’t released to the public. Haggard was known for his honest music, in which he incorporated his true life within his lyrics. The selection of unreleased songs will no doubt mirror his iconic career.

“We call it ‘the archive,’ and we haven’t released anything from that,” said Haggard about the collection in an interview last year. “When I get unable to record or sing anymore or get killed or something, well, they’ll probably put it out.”

No word on when or if Haggard’s “archive” will be released in the future to the public. Haggard’s last released work was put together with another country legend, Willie Nelson, and called Django and Jimmie.

Haggard passed away on April 6, which happened to be his 79th birthday. Surprisingly enough, Haggard’s son, Ben, said that his father predicted he would die on his actual birthday.

“A week ago dad told us he was gonna pass on his birthday, and he wasn’t wrong,” read Ben’s post on Facebook. “An hour ago he took his last breath surrounded by family and friends.”

Many people in the country community expressed their grief through social media and the All for the Hall 2016 concert paid tribute to him throughout the night.