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E-mail StoryDo you dance? Merle answers readers' burning questions
| Thursday, Apr 3 2008 5:41 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Apr 3 2008 5:41 PM
We asked readers to send their questions for Merle Haggard. Here are his answers:
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Q. I have recently purchased the CD and DVD “Last of the Breed” with Willie Nelson and Ray Price and, of course, Merle Haggard. Do you ever plan on touring with them again, and if you do, please come to Bakersfield with it. John Greenelsh, Tehachapi
A.We plan to coincide The Green Train from Portland to Washington, DC via New Orleans and it’s our plan to coincide some of those stops with the Last Breed tour. We’ll endorse a train and we’ll appear at different stops designated and do shows and we’ll ride it from time to time, taking place over a period of about six weeks. (The project is slated for April 2009 and Bakersfield might be one of the stops.) Q.I heard Merle had model trains running through his house at the base of the Kern River Canyon. Is this true? Did Merle have a horse that drowned in the small lake in the front of the Kern River home? Darla Miller
A. I’ve got ’em running through my head. They’re everywhere. Trains have always been a fantasy of my life and I’ve got model trains, and trains, and films of trains. I had a train that ran completely around the upper structure of the house that was a 750 feet circle that encircled that upper layer (upstairs) and a full room that was dedicated to the yard. It was a quarter-inch scale model railroad. We had this high-spirited horse and my trainer was my cousin. The horse was about 2 years old and his name was Daddy Frank and he'd won everything we’d entered him in and he was exercising him one day and took him down and get a drink of water and (the horse) just pitched down and almost drowned, had a heart attack and died. Just flipped right out in the water with him holding the horse.
Q. How do you want your family and friends to remember you? Carole Hammonds, Ceres, Calif.
A. Aw, just remember me. I’m gonna put on my headstone "Everybody Dance." That’s what I’ve decided here lately. I change it every now and then. I think that would be clever.
Q. Do you dance?
A. No. (Laughs) But I like to play for people who do.