Merle Haggard - Orange Blossom Special - Live in 1978 TopPop

Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. The fiddle tune “Orange Blossom Special“, about the passenger train of the same name, was written by Ervin T. Rouse (1917–1981) in 1938. The original recording was created by Ervin and Gordon Rouse in 1939. It is often called simply The Special. It has been referred to as the fiddle player’s national anthem. Merle is accompanied by his backing group The Strangers featuring: Gordon Terry (violin) (October 7, 1931–April 9, 2006) was an adept American bluegrass and country music fiddler and guitarist. He was a member of Merle Haggard’s backing band The Strangers. He was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Fiddlers Hall of Fame. and Roy Nichols on guitar. Roy Nichols (October 21, 1932 – July 3, 2001) was an American country music guitarist best known as the lead guitarist for country music legend Merle Haggard’s band The Strangers for more than two decades. He was known for his guitar technique, a mix of fingerpicking and pedal steel-like bends, usually played on a Fender Telecaster electric guitar. Nichols is considered one of the founders of the country music subgenre the “Bakersfield Sound,” which includes such notable country artists as Haggard, Buck Owens, and Don Rich. This live performance was recorded by TROS Television on 15 June 1978 during the Internationaal Country Festival from the Ahoy Hall in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Watch our great music videos ❯ More TopPop? Subscribe here ❯ More info on Wikipedia ❯ Broadcast date: 15 June 1978 This is to let you know that the video recording of the video clip was originally recorded by AVROTROS Broadcasting. AVROTROS Broadcasting hereby warrants and represents that it is the sole and exclusive owner of the physical film and/or videotape footage in this video clip. The performance of the artist(s) in the clip was filmed and recorded with the written consent of the artist(s) and their representatives. AVROTROS is a Dutch radio and television broadcaster, founded in 2014 from a merger of AVRO and TROS. From January 1st, 2014 the name of the merged broadcaster was used in joint programmes. AVRO was founded in 1923 as the Netherlands first public broadcaster. TROS started broadcasting in 1964. Toppop was a weekly AVRO pop program that was aired between 1970 and 1988. AVROTROS Broadcasting PO Box 2 1200 JA Hilversum The Netherlands TopPop was the first regular dedicated pop music TV show in the Dutch language area. Dutch broadcaster AVRO aired the programme weekly, from 1970 to 1988. Presenter Ad Visser hosted the show for its first fifteen years. World famous music artists performed on TopPop: ABBA, 10CC, Bee Gees, The Jacksons, David Bowie, Earth & Fire, Boney M, Smokie, KC & The Sunshine Band, Chick, Donna Summer, Rod Stewart, and many many more.