Merle Haggard Museum Planned for Downtown Nashville

The late, great Merle Haggard will soon be in the company of country music legends like Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline — in that he will have his own museum in Nashville.

Bill and Shannon Miller, the founders of Icon Entertainment Group, who also happen to own the Johnny Cash Museum and the Patsy Cline Museum, tell Rolling Stone that they are working with Haggard's widow, Theresa on curating performance outfits, instruments, and significant professional and personal possessions of Haggard's to stock the museum.

The museum honoring the "Okie From Muskogee" singer, who died on his 79th birthday last year, will feature interactive exhibits and will be next door to the Johnny Cash Museum on Third Avenue, which is just below the Patsy Cline Museum.

The site will also be home to Merle's Meat + 3 Saloon, a Hag-themed restaurant and bar featuring Southern home-cooking and potent potables. The restaurant will be operated by longtime Nashville restaurateur David Swett, whose family first opened their famed Swett's restaurant in the Music City in 1954.

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Located at 121 Third Avenue South, Merle's Meat + 3 Saloon will be on the ground level with the Merle Haggard Museum on an upper floor. The projected opening for both is the summer of 2018.