Merle Haggard’s final recording ‘Kern River Blues’ premieres

While still recuperating from double pneumonia in February, Merle Haggard returned to the studio for what turned out to be the final time to record a new song, “Kern River Blues,” which premieres at 2 p.m. Thursday on SiriusXM satellite radio.

The song, to be unveiled on Willie’s Roadhouse on Channel 59, expresses Haggard’s feelings about leaving Bakersfield in the late 1970s, after which he made his home in Northern California near Lake Shasta.

I’m flying out on a jet plane

Gonna leave this town behind

They’ve done moved the city limits

Out by the county line

Put my head close to the window

Watch Oildale fade away

The blues back in the ’30s

Just like the blues today

He references Oildale, the town adjacent to Bakersfield where he was born and spent much of his youth, long before becoming one of country music’s most respected songwriters and vocalists.

In characteristically to-the-point language, Haggard evokes the changes he witnessed in the region over time, and concisely expresses his thoughts about one of the reasons behind those changes.

Well, they used to have Kern River

Runnin’ deep and wide

Then somebody stole the water

Another politician lied

Following the SiriusXM premiere of the song, it will be available to download on Haggard’s official website, and 10% of the proceeds will be donated to charities aiding the homeless.

The recording session came two nights before he returned to the stage, having canceled several shows because of illness. He performed with Kris Kristofferson at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. Two nights later, they both performed in Oakland, before Haggard’s illness flared up again and prompted him to cancel other scheduled dates. It was his final public performance.

Haggard died April 6 — on his 79th birthday. Kristofferson recently announced that he will resume touring, backed by Haggard’s longtime band, the Strangers, to fulfill commitments for several shows Haggard was set to play before he developed pneumonia.

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