Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard stood out as the foremost country musician and composer to rise during the 1960s, establishing himself as a central force in the Bakersfield sound. Although his recordings stayed rooted in hardcore country traditions, he stretched those conventions in bold directions. Echoing the approach of his hero Bob Wills, Haggard blended influences from country, jazz, blues, and folk into a singular voice that reflected his personal stamp. As a vocalist, instrumentalist, and stage presence he ranked among the finest, shaping the paths of numerous later performers. It followed naturally that he ranked as the strongest singer-songwriter in the genre since Hank Williams, crafting a catalog of enduring standards. Across his decades of work, Haggard consistently championed working-class perspectives, a stance rooted in his own turbulent early life.

Haggard’s recordings and biography proved inseparable. Born to James and Flossie Haggard on April 6, 1937, he arrived after his parents relocated from Oklahoma to California amid the Great Depression and turned an abandoned boxcar into living quarters. Before their wedding, James performed fiddle in neighborhood honky-tonk venues, yet Flossie, a devout member of the Church of Christ, insisted he abandon those gigs. When Merle reached age nine, James succumbed to a brain tumor. The loss triggered rebellious behavior in the boy; his mother responded by placing him in multiple juvenile facilities, yet the placements produced scant change. As a teenager Haggard developed a deep attachment to country music, especially the work of Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell, and Hank Williams. At twelve he received his first guitar from an older brother and mastered basic chords by ear from household records.

Despite early musical interests, Haggard kept straying from rules, once fleeing to Texas at fourteen alongside friend Bob Teague. Months afterward the pair returned to California and faced arrest on robbery charges; once authorities identified the actual culprits, Merle was returned to juvenile hall, only to escape again with Teague toward Modesto. He briefly held jobs in manual labor, short-order cooking, and truck driving while committing minor offenses. In Modesto he made his first paid appearance with Teague at the Fun Center bar, earning five dollars plus unlimited beer.

By late 1951 Haggard had come home, only to be arrested once more for truancy and petty larceny. Early the next year he entered the Fred C. Nelles School for Boys in Whittier, from which he promptly absconded. Courts then deemed him incorrigible and transferred him to the high-security Preston School of Industry; he gained release after fifteen months. Soon afterward he and an acquaintance from PSI assaulted a local youth during a robbery attempt, resulting in another return to PSI.

Following his second discharge, Haggard experienced the pivotal early moment of his musical life when he accompanied Teague to a Lefty Frizzell concert in Bakersfield. Before the show he and several companions reached the backstage area and performed a pair of numbers for Frizzell. Impressed, Lefty delayed his own entrance until Haggard could take the stage; Merle delivered several songs to an eager crowd. That reception convinced him to commit seriously to music. While holding daytime employment in oil fields and on farms, he began appearing nightly at Bakersfield clubs. Those shows earned him a regular slot on the local television program Chuck Wagon. In 1956 he married Leona Hobbs, and the couple settled into the family’s former boxcar home. Financial strain persisted through 1957, prompting Haggard toward robbery. Late that year, intoxicated alongside two accomplices, he attempted to break into a restaurant. Mistaking the hour, the trio believed it was three o’clock in the morning, yet it was only 10:30 and the business remained open. They fled, but Haggard was apprehended the same day. The next day he escaped custody briefly to reconcile with his wife and family before recapture. Sentenced to fifteen years, he entered San Quentin.

Incarceration did not immediately reform him. He lost a series of prison assignments and contemplated escape until fellow inmates dissuaded him. Nearly two years into his term, word reached him that Leona was expecting another man’s child. The revelation pushed him into further trouble; he and a cellmate launched a gambling operation and brewed alcohol inside their cell. Caught intoxicated, Haggard received a week in isolation. There he spoke repeatedly with death-row author Caryl Chessman. Those exchanges and the solitary period prompted a decisive turn. After release from isolation he took work in the prison textile plant, pursued high-school equivalency studies, and joined the facility’s country band. At his second parole hearing in 1960 he received a five-year term—two years nine months served and two years three months on parole—yet he walked free ninety days later.

Haggard returned to Leona and resumed manual labor while singing at night in area clubs. After finishing second in a local talent contest, he was invited to serve as relief vocalist for Johnny Barnett’s band at the popular Lucky Spot. The income soon allowed him to abandon ditch-digging. Barnett’s group drew the notice of Fuzzy Owen, owner of the independent Tally Records label. Owen and his cousin Lewis Talley proved decisive in launching Haggard’s recording career. Owen captured the first demo of Haggard’s early composition “Skid Row.” Shortly afterward Haggard contacted Talley, who secured him a regular engagement at Paul’s Cocktail Lounge and a spot on a local music television broadcast.

At that moment Bakersfield country began attracting national attention, propelled in part by Buck Owens’s hit singles. While mainstream country leaned on the polished countrypolitan style then favored in Nashville, Bakersfield retained hardcore honky-tonk foundations and incorporated Western swing elements, relying heavily on electric instruments and amplification to produce a tough, driving edge. During the late 1950s, Tommy Collins and Wynn Stewart scored hits from Bakersfield and exerted both musical and professional influence on Haggard; Stewart’s vocal phrasing particularly shaped Merle’s delivery.

Early in 1962 Haggard journeyed to Las Vegas to catch Wynn Stewart’s club performance. Stewart was absent, searching for a new bassist, yet one of his guitarists recognized Haggard and invited him onstage for several numbers. Stewart arrived mid-set, was impressed, and offered Haggard the bass position. For six months spanning 1962 and 1963, Merle toured with Stewart’s band. During that period he heard Stewart’s composition “Sing a Sad Song” and requested permission to record it. Stewart granted the request, and Haggard cut the track for Tally in 1963. Despite limited distribution, the single reached number 19 on the country charts early in 1964.

“Sam Hill,” Haggard’s follow-up, fared less well, yet the duet with Bonnie Owens—former wife of Buck Owens—titled “Just Between the Two of Us” entered the Top 40. The next year his interpretation of Liz Anderson’s “(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers” climbed into the Top Ten, marking him as an emerging star. Capitol Records acquired his Tally contract, and Merle issued “I’m Gonna Break Every Heart I Can,” his debut Capitol single, in fall 1965. That release only grazed the Top 50, but “Swinging Doors” followed and surged to number five in spring 1966. Late in 1965 he assembled his own backing group, the Strangers.

Haggard achieved genuine superstardom in 1966, registering three Top Ten hits that included “Swinging Doors.” “The Bottle Let Me Down” peaked at number three, while “The Fugitive” (later retitled “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive”) became his first number-one single. The Academy of Country Music named him Top Male Vocalist, and he and Bonnie earned Top Vocal Group honors for the second consecutive year.

His songwriting now flourished, and listeners responded by sending “I Threw Away the Rose” to number three early in 1967, inaugurating a streak of 37 consecutive Top Ten singles that encompassed 23 chart-toppers. After “I Threw Away the Rose” came four straight number ones—“Branded Man,” “Sing Me Back Home,” “The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde,” and “Mama Tried,” the last featured in the film Killers Three, which marked Haggard’s acting debut. Except for “Bonnie and Clyde,” these tracks signaled a shift toward direct autobiographical material. By 1970 he was openly discussing his San Quentin experience in interviews, yet these songs represented the first time he addressed that chapter in his writing. Each successive single outsold its predecessor, reinforcing his move toward personal narrative.

Throughout 1968 his popularity intensified, producing two number-one hits (“Bonnie and Clyde,” “Mama Tried”), the number-three single “I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am,” and four albums. Later that year he recorded his first concept album, Same Train, Different Time. Issued in early 1969, the project served as both a tribute to one of his heroes and an exploration of American history, while expanding his sound with greater Western swing, jazz, and blues accents.

Merle placed three singles in 1969—“Hungry Eyes,” “Workin’ Man Blues,” and “Okie from Muskogee”—each reaching number one. “Okie from Muskogee” in particular generated widespread notice. Its critique of late-1960s liberal counterculture resonated across the nation and narrowly missed the pop Top 40. Although asked to endorse George Wallace, Haggard declined. The song solidified his stardom, yielding numerous awards in 1969 and 1970. In both years the Academy of Country Music named him Top Male Vocalist and the Strangers Best Band, while the Country Music Association crowned him Entertainer of the Year and Top Male Vocalist in 1970.

He followed “Okie” with the sequel “The Fightin’ Side of Me” at the start of 1970, another number-one hit. That year he released A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (Or My Salute to Bob Wills), which helped ignite a Western swing revival throughout the 1970s. Hits continued through 1971 and 1972, among them “Soldier’s Last Letter,” “Someday We’ll Look Back,” “Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man),” “Carolyn,” “Grandma Harp,” “It’s Not Love (But It’s Not Bad),” and “I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me.” In 1972 California governor Ronald Reagan granted Haggard a full pardon. The following year his streak persisted with his biggest crossover success, “If We Make It Through December,” which reached number 28 on the pop charts. While still dominating country airplay in 1974, he contributed to Bob Wills’s final album, For the Last Time. Wills died in 1975 and bequeathed his fiddle to Merle.

Haggard remained with Capitol until 1977, maintaining strong audience connection throughout that period. After moving to MCA he continued charting, though his output grew more uneven. His first two MCA singles, “If We’re Not Back in Love by Monday” and “Ramblin’ Fever,” both reached number two, and he sustained hits into the early 1980s. “I’m Always on a Mountain When I Fall” and “It’s Been a Great Afternoon” hit number two in 1978. He scored only two charting sides in 1979, yet 1980 brought two Top Three entries from the Clint Eastwood film Bronco Billy—“The Way I Am” and “Misery and Gin”—and Haggard appeared in the movie. Those successes led to his two largest MCA hits: the number-one duet with Eastwood, “Bar Room Buddies,” and the solo chart-topper “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink.” Early in 1981 he released the Top Ten tribute “Leonard,” honoring longtime friend Tommy Collins.

Later that year he published his autobiography, Sing Me Back Home, then left MCA for Epic Records. At Epic he assumed production duties, resulting in a leaner sonic approach. His first two Epic singles, “My Favorite Memory” and “Big City,” both topped the charts. In 1982 he collaborated with George Jones on the duet album A Taste of Yesterday’s Wine, which yielded the number-one title track and the Top Ten “C.C. Waterback.” Between 1983 and early 1985 he continued collecting number-one singles, including the Willie Nelson duet “Pancho and Lefty.”

Chart performance shifted in 1985 as a new generation of artists rose to prominence. Though performers from George Strait to Randy Travis frequently cited Haggard as an influence, his own recent singles struggled to reach the summit. He managed two Top Ten hits in 1986, and 1987’s Chill Factor proved successful, generating the Top Ten title song and “Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star,” his final number-one single. Signing with Curb Records in 1990 brought continued difficulty cracking the upper charts; his last modest hit, “In My Next Life,” reached the Top 60 in 1994.

After his Curb contract expired, Haggard sought improved promotion and greater creative latitude by moving to Anti, an imprint of the Epitaph punk-pop label. His Anti debut, the gentle acoustic album If I Could Only Fly, arrived in late 2000 and received strong critical notice. He issued one further Anti project, 2001’s Roots, Vol. 1, before departing. Following 2003’s Like Never Before, he returned to EMI the next year with the standards collection Unforgettable. Chicago Wind appeared in summer 2005. Turning to bluegrass, he released the aptly named The Bluegrass Sessions in 2007, featuring contributions from Marty Stuart, Aubrey Haynie, and Alison Krauss among others. In 2008 Bear Family issued the extensive box sets Hag: The Studio Recordings 1969–1976 and Hag: Concepts, Live & the Strangers: The Capitol Recordings 1968–1976. The new-song collection I Am What I Am appeared on Vanguard in 2010. A second Vanguard album, Working in Tennessee, co-produced by Haggard and Lou Bradley at his northern California studio, followed in 2011. Four years later he reunited with Willie Nelson for Django and Jimmie, their first joint effort in twenty years. Preceded by the single “It’s All Going to Pot,” the album debuted at number one on the Billboard country chart upon its June 2015 release. Less than a year afterward, on his seventy-ninth birthday (April 6, 2016), Haggard died of pneumonia complications at his home in Palo Cedro, California.

Even during periods when commercial success proved elusive, Haggard’s music remained among the most inventive and durable in country. His recordings have continued to sound fresh, and successive waves of country vocalists have displayed clear indebtedness to his example. That ongoing influence constitutes perhaps the strongest testament to his artistry, surpassing even his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.