Merle was an icon.  Right up there with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Hank Williams the Original.  He always kept it real.

Back in 1990 when I abruptly quit my job and got the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks out of Seattle and headed north to Alaska just to see what might come of it because I was only going to be young once, this song was rattling around my brain.  

"Big city turn me loose and set me free."

I never did look back.  

Here he is with Ray Benson, who knows a thing or two about country music himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbCYJZnxIFk