Who Should Win The First Merle Haggard Spirit Award?

The ACM Honors are creating a new award in Honor of Merle Haggard and we want to know who you think deserves it. It's called "The Merle Haggard Spirit Award," and it will go to a recipient who represents Merle's quote, "singular vision in carving an indelible path in country music."

So,who should get it? Here are your answers based on the Facebook poll.

It appears that the consensus is Eric Church. This makes a lot of sense to me. He's a huge fan, and has talked a lot about the influence Merle Haggard has had on him. On top of that, it is hard to find someone as passionate about their music as Eric is.

What do you think?