Merle Haggard Hospitalized for Pneumonia

Country legend Merle Haggard hadn’t been feeling well in recent days, but chose to press on with a run of tour stops across the south. The illness caught up with him on Tuesday night, however, as Haggard was hospitalized for pneumonia just minutes before he was scheduled to begin a set in Macon, Ga.

Tonight’s show in Columbus, Ga. has also been canceled, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports. Frank Mull, Haggard’s tour manager, tells the paper the 74-year-old hadn’t been feeling his best since they left California last week, although he wouldn’t specifically say what was ailing the Country Music Hall of Famer. We now know that he’s suffering from pneumonia.

This is the ‘Okie in Muskogee’ singer’s second trip to the hospital while on tour in the last six months. In August he spent a night in a Ft. Worth, Texas area hospital for tests, but returned home the next day. This came after a relatively long period of good health for Haggard, who beat lung cancer in 2008.

Haggard’s 77th studio album, ‘Working in Tennessee,’ was released on Oct. 4. There is no indication on his website that this weekend’s shows in Paducah, Ky., Lula, Miss. and Ft. Worth, Texas will be canceled or postponed.