Question: Among many eminent country music artists who started in honky-tonks, which played in the band the Strangers?
Context: Karachi School of Art (KSA) was founded back in 1964 by Rabia Zuberi, thus making it the first private academic center of art in the country and first center of art education of any kind in the city of Karachi.  At the time when the concept of KSA was conceived, there was little know-how regarding art, creativity and innovation in the region.  There was lack of awareness among the people about the various opportunities that the creative industry has to offer.  Thus KSA is rendered as the pioneer at promoting art education and today takes pride in producing many eminent artists during its history. Mang'u High School is a Kenyan Roman Catholic National High School established in 1925, located in Kiambu County along the Nairobi-Thika Highway six kilometres from Thika, Kenya.  Mang'u High School is ranked among the top schools nationwide in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education and has many eminent alumni including one Kenyan president and several vice presidents. The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards or CMAs, are presented to country music artists and broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievement in the country music industry.  The televised annual presentation ceremony features performances and award presentations by popular country music artists, with occasional appearances from pop and rock artists. "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers" is a song written by Liz Anderson.  Best remembered as American country music artist Merle Haggard's first national top ten record, it was also a top ten song concurrently for Roy Drusky.  The song is also known as "All My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers", "(From Now On) All My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers", and simply "Strangers".  Haggard went on to name his band The Strangers after the record's success.  The song was subsequently recorded by scores of additional country stars as an album track including George Jones, Ernest Tubb, Porter Wagoner, Ferlin Husky, as well as Liz Anderson herself and Anderson's daughter Lynn Anderson. The Rank Strangers were an Australian bluegrass band that won multiple national and international awards during the late 1980s and early 1990s.  Random House’s 1991 book "Australian Country Music" declared the Rank Strangers to be among the major figures of the 1990s Australian music scene, along with Keith Urban and country legend Slim Dusty.  "Australian Country Music" observed that "the Rank Strangers have a musical immediacy that typifies the best of bluegrass and recalls such players as The Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe." CMT Cross Country is a television show broadcast on Country Music Television and Palladia that pairs two country music artists together.  Each episode of CMT Cross Country features a different set of stars playing together.  It is similar in format to "CMT Crossroads", except that in this series, both of the two artists are predominantly known for their country music contributions, as opposed to "Crossroads", where one of the two artists is from outside the traditional country genre. Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler.  Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band the Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the twang of Fender Telecaster and the unique mix with the traditional country steel guitar sound, new vocal harmony styles in which the words are minimal, and a rough edge not heard on the more polished Nashville sound recordings of the same era. The American Country Awards (ACA) is an annual country music awards show, entirely voted on by fans online.  Created in 2010 by the Fox Network, the awards honor country music artists for singles, albums, music videos and touring categories.  In 2012, "Song of the Year" was added with the nominations coming from the Nashville Songwriters International Association.  In addition to the CMA Awards, the ACM Awards and the CMT Music Awards, it is the fourth major-awards show completely dedicated to the country music industry.  The first two ceremonies took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 6, 2010 and December 5, 2011.  The 2012 ceremony took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, on December 10.  Luke Bryan won nine awards, including artist and album of the year, while Miranda Lambert won three.  Carrie Underwood won female artist of the year and Lauren Alaina won new artist of the year.  The show was executive produced by Bob Bain, produced by Paul Flattery, Tisha Fein, Kelly Brock and Fletcher Foster and directed by Michael Dempsey.  The Fox Network cancelled the American Country Awards in 2014 and replaced it with the American Country Countdown Awards from dick clark productions.  The ratings for ACCA dropped dramatically compared to the 2013 American Country Awards.  According to TV By The Numbers (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com) 18-49 Ratings/Share dropped from 1.4/4 to 0.9/3 and viewership dropped from 5.14 million to 3.39 million. A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments.  Bars of this kind are common in the South and Southwest United States.  Many eminent country music artists, such as Jimmie Rodgers, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Ernest Tubb, and Merle Haggard, began their careers as amateur musicians in honky-tonks.  The modern-day, honky-tonk atmosphere has continued, with the likes of Dwight Yoakam. Patricia Terry-Ross, The Kresge Foundation's 2017 Eminent Artist, is a nationally recognized harpist and music educator.  She has empowered generations of students to become influential artists and educators.  She has been principal harpist at the Michigan Opera Theatre for 40 years and has played with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.  She has also performed with Luciano Pavarotti, Sammy Davis Jr. and Johnny Mathis, among many other artists.  Her sound can be heard on many Motown tracks, including recordings by Marvin Gaye and The Temptations.
Answer: Merle Haggard