Neighbor News
Country Singer/Songwriter Amy Jack Pays Tribute To Merle Haggard
The Oklahoma Native Discusses What She Learned From The Icon
Country singer/songwriter Amy Jack had the privilege of working closely with Grammy-Award winning country artist and Oklahoma native, Merle Haggard, who produced her debut album Introducing Amy Jack. The album was one of the final projects the late 38-time no.1 singer/songwriter produced, and upholds Haggard's honest, iconic, classic country sound, and features a cover of his song, “Got Lonely Too Early.” The project proved to be just the beginning of a close knit friendship and inspiring mentorship between the two, with Jack crediting him as her biggest role model in both music and life.
“From the day he was born he was constantly searching, learning, creating, dreaming, and imagining.. all with perfectionism. He called this constant pursuit, ‘This restless fever in my soul.’ Merle was on another level. His gifts were from another world and his humility and grace was on just as high a level as his talent.”
Since his death in 2016, Jack has dedicated all her pursuits in music to “living like Merle” and has seen great success, particularly with landing her songs on several different sports networks including FOX Sports, ESPN, NCAA and NASCAR. Her most recent single “LA’s Calling My Name” can be found on all streaming platforms now. In addition to their shared love for country music and aligned perspectives of the joy of life, Jack and Haggard shared a special bond over their love and pride in being from Oklahoma. Jack attributes much of her sound to the accent she acquired from growing up in western Oklahoma and connected with Haggard over this specific Oklahoma twang that they recognized in each other's voices.
"Merle Haggard felt so at home and appreciated in Tulsa, the night I saw the show at Cain’s Ballroom. His father was the biggest reason for his love for Oklahoma; he was an award winning fiddle player who grew up in the Eastern part of the state and passed away when Merle was at the young age of 9. Everything Merle did after his passing was for him and he believed his roots ran deep in Oklahoma. He loved being in Tulsa because it was close to his homeland.”