{"id":55955,"date":"2016-04-08T10:15:18","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T15:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whisnews21.com\/?p=55955"},"modified":"2016-04-08T10:15:18","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T15:15:18","slug":"merle-haggard-predicted-hed-pass-on-his-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/2016\/04\/08\/merle-haggard-predicted-hed-pass-on-his-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Merle Haggard Predicted He’d Pass on His Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MerleHaggard002\"Merle Haggard Predicted He Would Pass on His Birthday<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Prior to his passing, Merle Haggard had been in and out of the hospital, battling pneumonia. His son, Ben Haggard, had been keeping folks updated on his facebook, and it turns out the legend\u2019s death may have been a surprise to us, but not to him or his family. Merle passed away on his 79th birthday, just like he had predicted he would.\u00a0A week ago dad told us he was gonna pass on his birthday, and he wasn\u2019t wrong. A hour ago he took his last breath\u2026Posted by Ben Haggard on\u00a0Wednesday, April 6, 2016<\/p>\n

Since his passing, artists and friends have been sharing their tributes on social media.<\/p>\n

One of the gr8 concert memories I have is seeing Merle and the Strangers at the Ryman in Nashville. We had a \u201clive\u201d\u2026Posted by Keith Urban on\u00a0Wednesday, April 6, 2016<\/p>\n

Merle Haggard was a huge musical influence in my life. For someone to pass away on their birthday is very rare. But, then again, legends such as Merle are incredibly rare. See ya later, Hag.-Trace AdkinsPosted by Trace Adkins on\u00a0Wednesday, April 6, 2016<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve lost one of the greatest writers and singers of all time. His heart was as tender as his love ballads. I loved him like a brother. Rest easy, Merle.Posted by Dolly Parton on\u00a0Wednesday, April 6, 2016<\/p>\n

Rest easy Merle. You\u2019ve earned it.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0Posted by TawnyTucker CMTT<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Merle Haggard Predicted He Would Pass on His Birthday Prior to his passing, Merle Haggard had been in and out of the hospital, battling pneumonia. His son, Ben Haggard, had been keeping folks updated on his facebook, and it turns out the legend\u2019s death may have been a surprise to us, but not to him or his family. Merle passed away on his 79th birthday, just like he had predicted he would.\u00a0A week ago dad told us he was gonna pass on his birthday, and he wasn\u2019t wrong. A hour<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55955"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}