The first time the “Django and Jimmie” tour was postponed it was due to health concerns regarding Willie. Even though it wasn’t life threatening, Willie and his management team didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks. But now the second setback has struck, leaving his outlaw partner, Merle Haggard, out of action.

Just recently Haggard was released from the Eisenhower Medical Center after being hospitalized on the 5th of December. At that point nobody knew what was going on and Haggard admits he was closer to death than he anticipated. He was initially diagnosed with pneumonia, but the severity of his condition made everyone think his lung cancer had returned. As a long time smoker of tobacco and marijuana, Haggard quit both during the mid-nineties. However, an interview with Rolling Stone in 2009 suggested that he picked up the marijuana habit again.

For the most part Haggard hasn’t had many health issues and apart from undergoing surgery in 1995 for clogged arteries, his biggest challenge came in November 2008. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and a section of his lung had to be removed. Luckily for Haggard, the surgery was successful and none of the cancer was left. But as doctors observed the condition he was in they didn’t throw out the possibility of the cancer returning. To everyone’s relief this wasn’t the case and as it turns out Haggard suffered from double pneumonia, which explained his near-death experience.

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As it stands Haggard is recovering nicely, but there is no telling when the tour is going to continue. In fact, he’s just happy that he’ll get to see another Christmas. When taking into account that Nelson is 82 and Haggard 78, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some health issues are going to make touring more difficult. It’s also interesting to note that the venues they have chosen for this specific tour are much larger than the ones they used for their solo shows in the past, informing the fans that they want to go big this time around.

The “Django and Jimmie” tour was scheduled two months after releasing their sixth collaborative album by the same name. These two outlaws have been playing together for more than thirty years and fans will recognize the big start to their collective career as “Pancho and Lefty”. More notably, they stuck to their guns when country was facing a heavy influence from the pop genre by doubling up on everything with a twang.

Now, after thirty years they are still capable of recording an album that quickly went into the charts while receiving praise from fans and critics alike. The title of the 14 track album “Django and Jimmie” is also a song that pays tribute to Django Reinhardt and Jimmie Rodgers.

Whether Haggard will be healthy enough to continue the tour can only be speculated, but as everyone knows this legendary musician never goes down without a fight. Chances are he’ll come back in the New Year playing better than ever. But until then everyone is wishing him the best as he makes a full recovery.

Larry Henley, songwriter for “Wind Beneath My Wings”, was born on June 30, 1937 in Arp, Texas. It might not be common knowledge, but Larry really wanted to be an actor. More specifically, he wanted to be like James Dean. When he participated in a talent competition because the prize was an appearance on television, his singing brought him more than just a television appearance. It brought him a recording contract.

Larry was the lead vocalist for the pop band “The Newbeats” and their signature song was entitled “Bread and Butter”. They had two singles hit the Billboard charts with “Bread and Butter” making it all the way to number. 2.

Larry not only could write a hit song, but he could hear one as well. The singer Bobby Goldsboro got a lot of encouragement from Larry to record the song “Honey” in 1968. Goldsboro initially didn’t want to sing it, but after Larry heard songwriter Bobby Russell perform it, he didn’t let Goldsboro off the hook. His encouragement finally sunk in and Goldsboro had a no. 1 spot on the Billboard charts for 5 consecutive weeks.

In 1973 Larry wrote a no. 1 hit single for Tammy Wynette entitled “Till I get it Right” (later covered by Barbara Streisand and Kenny Rogers).  He released his solo album called “Piece of Cake” in 1975.

His talent of writing songs that would skyrocket in the voices of the right artists made him a very sought after songwriter. Numerous other singers made their way on his songwriting abilities, like Randy Travis with “Is it Still Over?”, Tanya Tucker with “Lizzie and the Rainman”, Janie Fricke with “He’s a Heartache (Looking for a Place to Happen), Delbert McClinton with “Shotgun Rider”, and Lynn Anderson and Gary Morris with “You’re Welcome to Tonight”, which was co-written with Nashville StarVision player Grant Boatwright.

Wind Beneath My Wings:   The pinnacle of his career came when he co-wrote the hit song “Wind Beneath My Wings” with Jeff Silbar in 1981.

In 1982 Larry received a call from his publisher saying that Roger Wittaker was cutting his song “Wind Beneath My Wings”. Even though Larry didn’t know who Roger Wittaker was, like every songwriter, he was happy to hear the news of another cut.

Then in 1983, country music star Gary Morris took the song to number 4 on the country charts, only to be followed up 5 years later in 1989 by Bette Midler who rode with it up to number 1 on the pop charts, achieving multi-Platinum status and wining Midler her third Grammy.  That year Larry and Silbar were called to the stage to accept the Song of the Year Award for “Wind Beneath My Wings” while Midler received the Album of the Year Award.

“Wind Beneath My Wings” has been covered by more than 300 artists including Perry Como, Vic Damone, Peggy Lee, Sheena Easton, Lou Rawls, Judy Collins, and Gladys Knight.

http://youtu.be/GTxjP1ZajeI

Larry Henley liked to call himself a singer up until the point somebody stopped him in the street and asked, “Aren’t you the guy who wrote Wind Beneath My Wings?” From then on Larry confesses he started referring to himself as a songwriter. He might not have been the best known singer in country music, but his songs are some of the best known in both country and pop.

The highest accolade for any songwriter was bestowed upon Larry In 2012 when he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

On December 18, 2014, the mild-mannered, brilliant “songwriter”, Larry Henley, passed away at the age of 77 in Nashville, Tennessee.  He was suffering from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Larry’s footprint on music cannot be substituted. His laid-back personality and his appearance didn’t exactly fit the profile of a person who could write songs like “Wind Beneath My Wings”, but his ability to surprise himself and others was a characteristic trait that made him so unique, so special, and now so missed…

Larry Henley: June, 30 1937 – December 18, 2014