Merle Haggard was friends and partners with Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings. However, he was never a part of their supergroup, The Highwaymen. Even though Haggard had collaborated and performed with every member of the group, he refused to join the band for financial reasons. A financial reason not just beneficial to him, but for all the parties in the supergroup.
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Notably, Haggard often collaborated with Willie Nelson and first saw Johnny Cash at San Quentin when he was a prisoner. However, his tight-knit relationships with the group didn’t persuade him to join the band. Rather, Haggard ventured down the road on his own, but it was for an admirable reason. As he was looking out for both himself and his friends.
Why Merle Haggard Thought There Were Too Many People and Not Enough Money
In a perfect world, Merle Haggard would have seemingly been delighted to join his best professional friends on the road. However, money always interferes with dreams, and it interfered with Haggard becoming the fifth official member of the decorated supergroup.
In an interview with Country 92.5, Haggard transparently divulged the one reason why he decided not to join The Highwaymen. He told the radio station, “I was asked to become a fifth member, and I turned it down because I said hell, it will cut the money down so low so the four of you guys won’t even want to do it.”
“But they did offer me a part..When you’re touring the world, you’ve got to take the economics into play. It’s going to cost a lot of money to do that. When you’ve got 15 or 20 people traveling with you, you know, it’s a big deal,” added Haggard. That being so, Haggard’s reasoning for not joining the group was selfless and also beneficial for himself. Logistically and financially speaking, four is seemingly the perfect number, and five is just a crowd.
Haggard’s decision did him no disservice, as the man went on to have quite the career following his decision to opt out of the group. Specifically, when The Highwaymen were in full force, Haggard released several very decorated songs. Two of those songs were “Natural High” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star.” Would Haggard’s presence in the group have been legendary? Of course, however, it seems Haggard’s decision benefited the greater good of the five country music legends.
Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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