Merle Haggard Will Blow You Away With Unbelievable Fiddle Performance
on May 05, 2015 • Updated Jan 29, 2023
We all know that Merle Haggard is an amazing country singer, guitar player, and song writer. With autobiographical songs like “Sing Me Back Home” and “Mama Tried,” it’s no surprise that Haggard reached legendary status.
But did y’all know he was such a phenomenal fiddle player, too? We can’t believe how talented he is (well we can, it is Merle Haggard after all) and we’re so blown away by this fiddle performance with Tigar Bell, Johnny Gimble and Tiny Moore.
In 1970 Merle released the album, A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills). The album was, as you can tell by the name of it, a tribute to his idol, Bob Wills.
Who remembers this album? One of the greatest of all time.
Merle Haggard's A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills) pic.twitter.com/dUqV0HyfLj
— FanzForever (@forever_fanz) January 30, 2019
Bob Wills was actually set to record the album with Merle and his band The Strangers, but he suffered a stroke the day before recording. Merle was devastated by the news, and as tribute to him, began learning to play the fiddle (and eventually record the album), an instrument Merle had not played since he was a young boy.
By the looks of it, he didn’t forget much of his fiddlin’ skills because he kills it! Watch Bell, Moore, Gimble and Haggard break it down in the video below.
