The State - News from Dec. 3, 1986

Ailing country singer Johnny Paycheck left a hospital in Redding, where he had been reported in critical condition with bronchitis, emphysema and intestinal bleeding, despite protests from doctors and friends. “He’s not been released from the hospital, he just walked out,” Charlie Ammerman, Paycheck’s manager, said in Nashville, Tenn. Sources in Redding said Paycheck, best known for the blue-collar anthem, “Take This Job and Shove It,” had gone to the home of singer Merle Haggard to “hide out” while recovering, under the care of a registered nurse. Ammerman said the singer decided to move in order to rest away from the Mercy Medical Center, where he had received many calls from well-wishers.