Country music’s iconic stage has slowly revealed a list of 100 songs that encapsulate the best of the fans’ opinions of country music.

Ballads and party anthems dominated the genre in the 1990s. See which of them made the Grand Ole Opry's list of the 100 ...

Growing up poor and raised by a single mother, Merle Haggard also connected to the song, and months before Parton released her version, he featured the song first on his 1968 album Mama Tried.

Stealing the show at that very first Farm Aid concert in April 1985 was Merle Haggard, singing his then-new song "Natural High." (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) MERLE HAGGARD: (Singing ...

However, the most notable man to have a crush on Parton was her fellow musician and tourmate, Merle Haggard. Haggard never divulged this news in a profound love letter or grand gesture.

Before he became a musician, Merle Haggard lived the kind of life that's often mythologized in song: Hopping freights and doing prison time. When he became a star, he acquired his own observation car.

LuLu's Eating and Drinking Establishment in Redding was a favorite haunt of country music legend Merle Haggard. Owner Richard Paulson, whose family has a long history in the restaurant business ...