Merle Haggard, Country Legend, Dead at 79

Merle Haggard, who over six decades composed and performed one of the greatest repertoires in country music, capturing the American condition with his stories of the poor, the lost, the working class, heartbroken and hard-living, died at his home in the San Joaquin Valley, California, after a battle with pneumonia, his spokeswoman Tresa Redburn confirmed. He was 79.  The Fighter: The Life & Times of Merle Haggard
In American and country music, few artists loomed larger. Haggard's c