The Only Song Dolly Parton Wrote for Merle Haggard About One of His Lifelong Loves

During the early 1970s, Merle Haggard and Dolly Parton began touring together. Soon after, Haggard’s affections for Parton grew into more friendship. Haggard fell in love with Parton and even wrote a song for her, “Always Wanting You,” which he played for her on the phone late one night. Released on his chart-topping album from 19878, Keep Movin’ On, the love song to Parton also earned Haggard another No. 1 on the Country chart. 

That year, Haggard also picked up his nineteenth No. 1 with his cover of Parton’s “Kentucky Gambler,” which follows the story of a miner who has left his family behind to gamble in Reno, Nevada. Haggard’s version of “Kentucky Gambler” marked Parton’s first No. 1 as a songwriter for another artist and she later released her own version of the song, which she originally recorded in 1973, on her album The Bargain Store.

In 1975, when arton released her sixteenth album, Dolly, Haggard was also drawn to her gospel-bent “The Seeker,” which she called a “talk with God,” and recorded his version of the hit for his album, It’s All in the Movies a year later.

During their friendship, Parton also learned of Haggard’s fondness of trains and wrote the perfect song for him, which he used as the title track of his twentieth album, My Love Affair With Trains. Haggard’s love affair with locomotives started at the age of 5 when he hopped his first train. Growing up, Haggard’s father, Jim Haggard, also worked as a carpenter for the Santa Fe Railroad and died when the country singer was 9 years old.

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[RELATED: The Love Song Merle Haggard Wrote for His Crush Dolly Parton, Then Sang to Her Over the Phone, “Always Wanting You”]

Long after his father’s death, Haggard’s love for locomotives continued. My Love Affair with Trains opens with Parton’s song, which she never recorded herself.

Every time I hear the sound of a train
Coming down that railroad track
I get that faraway look in my eye
And I’d like to throw my hammer down
And take off to some distant town
And not even take the time to say goodbye

I’ve got to think about my babies
About my job and my old lady
And how much she’d miss me if I was gone
And I love them more than anything
But I got this feeling near by trains
And sometimes I wish I was on that train and gone

That train keeps a-rolling down the track
Bringing my old memories back
Making hobo blood boil in my veins
Reviving my old love affair with trains

Merle’s Real-Life Locomotive

By 1985, Haggard took his love of trains to another level by leasing a dome rail car that would transport artists, including Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan, along with farm officials and the press to the annual Farm Aid concert. Unfortunately, Haggard couldn’t find the funding to keep the train moving and was forced to end the tour-by-train campaign.

Today, the dome car that Haggard once rented is part of the Virginia Scenic Railway, which offers three-hour scenic tours through Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

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