CMT to Pay Tribute to Merle Haggard Tonight with Star-Studded Special

CMT today announced it will pay tribute to country music legend Merle Haggard, who passed away today at the age of 79, with "CMT Remembers Merle Haggard," premiering tonight, APRIL 6 at 8:30pm ET/PT. The special will feature never-before-seen footage and interviews, vintage performance clips and commentary from Haggard himself as well as some of country music's biggest stars including Miranda Lambert, Toby Keith, Florida Georgia Line, Vince Gill, Wynonna Judd, Dwight Yoakam, Brooks & Dunn and Bobby Bare.

Tomorrow, CMT will launch an all day tribute "All Merle, All Day," featuring Haggard's greatest songs and videos on CMT and CMT Music.

"Merle Haggard's achievements must be counted among the greatest in all of popular music history, not just country music. His poetic and melodic genius, and of course his indelible, influential voice will live forever. CMT will honor our friend accordingly," said Brian Philips, President of CMT.

Tonight's remembrance special includes personal, autobiographical interviews including:

• His final 2013 interview with CMT in which he reflects on his time in prison as the pivotal point in his life and how it shaped him as a man and musician
• The humorous side of the country music legend, such as Haggard on Glen Campbell's Good Time Hour impersonating Buck Owen and Johnny Cash
• Haggard sharing his thoughts with CMT about receiving country music's highest honors throughout the years.

A longtime staple in the CMT landscape, Haggard was voted the all-time number one artist in in any music genre by over 120 country music artists as part of CMT All Time Top 40 in 2014. Haggard also received the inaugural CMT Artist of a Lifetime Award at CMT's Artists of the Year special that same year.

CMT, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), is the leading television and digital authority on country music and entertainment, reaching more than 92 million homes in the U.S. CMT, CMT.com and CMT Radio offer an unparalleled mix of music, news, live concerts and series and are the top resource for country music on demand. The network's digital platforms include the 24-hour music channel, CMT Music, CMT App, CMT Mobile and CMT VOD.