My dad had a beef with him. My mom told me the story that when my dad was a Demolition Derby driver, Merle had a concert at the state fair. He was upset about the derby drivers or something so he made them all pay for hearing his concert or he wasn't going to play. To put it nicely, my dad said "forget you" and refused to pay. So I guess he didn't play (maybe he did I'm not sure). Anyways, Merle wanted to stick around and watch the derby, so all the drivers said sure "as long as you pay to watch us".
I also heard a story (or maybe I just added it to the story when I was little and it just snowballed from there) that he was on the PA or something during the derby and made some snide remarks about "that number 88", which was my dad's car. I somewhat believe that since my dad didn't hold many grudges, and none that lasted a lifetime.
My dad despised him until the day he died (the day my dad died that is). Today was emotional for me as I had to clean out a garage at my old house with my mom today and found a bunch of stuff of dads. It wasn't until a couple hours ago I heard Merle had passed. It was also emotional because its my oldest sisters birthday, and my other sister (middle child) passed away 3 years ago on this day.
When I mentioned Merle had passed away to my mom, she said "well I know one person not welcoming him tonight." It took a lot to get my dad to not like you, in fact I can't think of any other person he didn't like, but it was a little bittersweet hearing this news today. Because my dad instilled it in me, I've never really listened to Merle out of respect, but to many, country music lost someone very important today. For fans of his, I'm sorry for your loss. I would imagine it is as painful as when Johnny Cash passed away.
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In the process of updating my collection so don't trust any of my lists right now.
