Very sad news — Jim Hager of The Hager Twins collapsed outside a Nashville coffeeshop and was later pronounced dead at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Jim, 66, was in the parking lot of the Frothy Monkey on 12th Avenue South when he collapsed. His twin brother, Jon, was on the way to meet him.

Jon was by Jim’s side at the hospital when he was pronounced, shortly after 6 p.m.

The Hager Twins were original cast members of cornball comedy show Hee Haw, which launched in 1969 and aired briefly on CBS before going to national syndication.

“We got bashed by a lot of the critics. But American people proved them wrong,” Jon Hagar said recently for a 2006 Hee Haw Time Life boxed set.

“America loved it. Critics didn’t,” Jim added.

The Hager Twins grew up with classical music-loving adoptive parents outside Chicago. But a foster sister who loved country music soon joined the household, and she played nothing but the local country station in the family’s house.

In high school, the twins landed a spot on a weekly Saturday morning teen TV show on WGN in Chicago.

After college and a stint in the Army, the twins moved to California, and got their big break when Buck Owens saw them perform at Disneyland.

It wasn’t long before the twins were popping out of the Hee Haw cornfields, telling jokes and singing cover songs.

When the show ended, the Hager twins made Nashville home, and they appeared at hundreds of charity events and fund-raisers.