Tom Waits has penned a moving tribute to late country icon Merle Haggard.
The songwriter penned a short piece for Rolling Stone's commemorations of the country star, who passed away earlier this month.
Tom Waits looks back on his own adolescence, saying that he "was listening to songs like they were books, and studied them to learn how to make songs of my own."
He continued: "Merle Haggard's songs and his voice are golden."
A touching salute from one icon to another, Tom Waits wrote: "'Haggard songs' are lived in, broke in and filled with longing – his last name will always be an adjective."
Find the full piece HERE.
