MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Here at the Gold & Blue Lunch Report, we’ve spent the past 24 hours traveling on the fighting’ side of a wormhole, playing and replaying the tenderest songs ever to escape the gates at San Quentin.
Merle Haggard, outlaw-turned-troubador, working-class poet, leaked music deep, true and complexly simple, ascending decades ago to country/western’s Mount Rushmore. He was pardoned by Ronald Reagan in 1972, and we hope you’ll pardon us for today’s nostalgic reboot as The Hag takes leave on those sliver wings.