Could Keith Urban help the legendary Merle Haggard achieve another No. 1 song? It could happen with his latest hit, “Coming Home.” As you probably know, Keith wrote his current hit “Coming Home” based on a guitar lick he loved from Merle Haggard’s 1968 No. 1 hit, “Mama Tried.”
So, being able to give Merle another chart-topping song – which could be his first since 1987’s “Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star” – would be a huge thrill for Keith.
“It feels extraordinary,” says Keith. “I grew up with so much of his music in our house and that particular song – ‘Mama Tried’ that this guitar lick is taken from – is just so deep in my DNA. So, the idea that Hag may get another No. 1 song since the ‘80s is just about time [laughs] I’d say.”
Keith asked for and received the approval from Merle’s family to use the famous guitar lick and even credited Merle as a co-writer on the song.
“I’m especially grateful to Theresa Haggard and Ben Haggard who both gave the blessing for the support of this lick being used in the song and Merle being a writer on ‘Coming Home,’” says Keith. He co-wrote the song with Julia Michaels, as well as J.R. Rotem, Nicolle Galyon and, of course, the late Merle Haggard.
Catch Keith on the road on his Graffiti U World Tour, which makes its next stop in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday (July 27th).
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