When Merle Haggard passed away on April 6, everyone in the country music industry felt the loss of the legend. But, some country stars were hit harder than others by the loss of The Hag.
Eric Church is one of those guys.
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Eric Church had long let people know that he was a fan of Merle Haggard and the path he had paved for country outlaws like himself. He even included a song on his debut album, “Sinners Like Me,” called “Pledge Allegiance to the Hag” back in 2006 that he brought Merle in to play on.
As the years have worn on he’s proved it time and time again, The Hag played such a vital role in the shaping of who Eric Church is as both an artist and a person.
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So when Merle passed away, you can believe Eric Church was hurting and him performing songs by and for The Hag are the biggest tribute to him that he could possibly do. Because to him, Merle was cool long before it was cool to like The Hag.
So watch the performance above of Eric performing “Pledge Allegiance to the Hag” at his Austin City Limit’s debut back in 2014.
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