Music

Sturgill Simpson thinks the ACM's Merle Haggard award is bullshit

by Tyler Munro

Merle Haggard’s death this past April left a void in country music. He died on what would have been his 79th birthday, and after the news got out, the music community at large was quick to pay its respects. But months later, Sturgill Simpson is calling shenanigans on Nashville’s treatment and tributes to the outlaw country legend.

In the wake of the ACM Awards’ new Merle Haggard Spirit Award, Simpson has written a lengthy Facebook missive on the irony of the industry that ignored Haggard in his twilight establishing an award to preserve his name after his death.

Throughout his note, Simpson cites examples that, while not surprising, shed light on an industry more concerned with plugging in the next big thing than paying its respects to the classics.

“I always got a sense that he wanted one last hit..one last proper victory lap of his own, and we all know deserved it,” said Simpson. “Yet it never came. And now he’s gone.”

Simpson says that just before Haggard’s death, he was set to appear alongside him on the cover of Garden & Gun magazine’s Country Music issue. Both artists, legends of past and present, hung out together for hours; they interviewed with a journalist, shot photos with David McClister. The issue came out, and Chris Stapleton, not Merle Haggard, not Sturgill Simpson, was on its cover.

“Don’t get me wrong, Chris had a great year and deserves a million magazine covers…but thats not the point,” continued Simpson. “Its about keeping your word and ethics.”

Simpson says Stapleton called and expressed his shared disgust over the issue, and that the editor said he pulled the last minute switch because the photographer didn’t get any “good shots that day.”

“Anyway, Merle passed away right after it came out,” closes Simpson.

For fans, this is a rare breaking point for the crossover country darling. While Sturgill Simpson has long been lamented as a saviour of “real” country music, it’s something he’s side-stepped; he’s not here to trash the Luke Bryans of the world. But in this Facebook post, you can feel the frustration in his words. His limits with Nashville are being tested, and as he writes, “some days, this town and this industry have a way of making me wish I could just go sit on Mars and build glass clocks.”