With more than 40 years of touring experience behind him, Merle Haggard [ tickets ] looks to be lining up a typically robust touring schedule for 2003, starting with a series of February casino and theater dates.

The grizzled country-music veteran, who grew up in a converted boxcar near Bakersfield, Calif., currently is scheduled to play scattered dates through May.

Haggard recently made headlines when he found out that the doctor who performed a 1997 heart procedure on him was under investigation for allegedly persuading patients to undergo unnecessary surgeries.

"I suspected when it was done to me that I didn't need [an operation]," the Country Music Hall of Famer told the Los Angeles Times in November. "There's a very good chance I may be a prime example of what [the doctor] did. The whole thing has made me mad. I'm just waiting here for the FBI to contact me."

Haggard's latest studio album is last year's "Peer Sessions," on which he covers songs from the Peer-Southern publishing catalog, including Jimmie Rodgers's "Peach Pickin' Time in Georgia" and Floyd Tillman's "It Makes No Difference Now."

In 2001, he further explored country's history with "Roots Volume 1," which features his renditions of classics by Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams and Hank Thompson, among others. The album also includes three Haggard originals.

Click here to read liveDaily's 2001 interview with Merle Haggard.