Marty Haggard, oldest son of Merle Haggard, will play at the El Dorado Conference Center Friday as part of his “Tribute to My Dad Tour.”
Haggard will sing his father’s songs and share stories of memories he personally experienced with his father. The show will also include original songs from Haggard’s own career.
Merle Haggard was a legendary country music singer/song writer who died in 2016 at age 79.
Haggard, who is now 60-years-old, was the only son to actually go on tour with his father during his music career. He said he started going on tour with his father when he was eight-years-old.
“I have knowledge of his life and his career that nobody has and so I have a unique perspective on my dad’s career,” Haggard said in a phone interview. “I truly believe that I know more about his life professional and private than anybody alive.”
Haggard said he also had his own music career for 30 years, prior to beginning the tribute tour in 2010. He has had record deals in Nashville and was nominated in 1987 as one of the top new male vocalists in country music. He said he was introduced by Hank Williams Jr. at the awards show in Los Angles when he was nominated, “so I’ve had my own levels of success.”
When describing his father, Haggard said he was a quiet person. “He didn’t really know how to express himself,” he said. “If he wasn’t writing songs, he didn’t know how to express his affections and love for people.”
While he was still alive, Haggard said that he heard his father was proud of him for doing the tribute tour. Haggard and his father hag a good relationship, “no different than any other father and son.”
The tribute tour includes Haggard and a small band. “It’s a very simple three piece group,” he said. “It’s a good little simple presentation of country music.”
He said he will perform staple songs that he knows the crowd will want to hear and during the last segment of the show, he will allow the crowd to request songs.
“(Merle) Haggard had more top 10 records than anybody in music history. Nobody had more than dad,” Haggard said. “I could do a completely different show every night if I really wanted to … he had had such a catalog to draw from.”
In his free time, Haggard said he enjoys playing golf.
This is not the first time Haggard has visited El Dorado. “I actually come to El Dorado once in a while to that Mystic Creek golf course ya’ll have got,” he said.
Haggard, who lives in Louisiana with his wife, said he has always liked Arkansas and met his wife in Conway. He said he thought “El Dorado might be a great place to try” his show. “We’re looking forward to coming to El Dorado,” he added.
“If you want to come and take a walk down memory lane and hear music that you grew up to and hear some stories that you’ve never heard before about certain songs of my dad’s that impacted their lives, you’re going to enjoy this,” he said. “The music is guaranteed to be great, the stories are guaranteed to be unique and I will meet and greet everybody that comes to the show. And I promise, if they love Merle Haggard country music, they’re going to love this show.”
The family friendly show will begin at 7 p.m. Friday, with doors opening at 6 p.m. Tickets are $25 if purchased in advance and will be $30 at the door. Tickets may also be purchased at Burbank Furniture at 1415 NW Avenue.
“I just love my dad and we both had a lot of things in common, and our love for each other and real country music was exactly the same,” he said. “So basically I’m just paying tribute to the greatest country singer/songwriter in history … My dad.”
Kaitlyn Rigdon can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].