Merle Ronald Haggard (born April 6, 1937) is an American country music singer , guitarist , instrumentalist , and songwriter . Along with Buck Owens , Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield Sound , which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies, and a rough edge not heard on the more polished Nashville Sound recordings of the same era. By the 1970s, Haggard was aligned with the growing outlaw country movement, and has continued to release successful albums through the 1990s and into the 2000s. In 1997, Merle Haggard was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame for his song "Okie from Muskogee ".
Early life
Merle Haggard was born in Oildale, California in 1937. His parents, Flossie Mae Harp and James Francis Haggard, moved from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression . At that time, much of the population of Bakersfield consisted of economic refugees from Oklahoma and surrounding states . Haggard spent his childhood in Oildale, a hardscrabble suburb of Bakersfield, home to many workers in the adjacent Kern River Oil Field .
Haggard's father died when Merle was nine years old, and Merle soon began to rebel by committing petty crimes and truancy . Due to shoplifting at a women's lingerie store in 1950 (aged thirteen), he was sent to a juvenile detention center. In 1951, Haggard ran away to Texas with a friend, but returned that same year and was arrested for truancy and petty larceny . Again escaping the juvenile detention center, he went to Modesto, California . He worked odd jobs—legal and not—and began performing in a bar. Once he was found again, he was sent to the Preston School of Industry , a high-security installation. He was released fifteen months later, but was sent back after beating a local boy during a burglary attempt.
After his fourth release, Haggard saw Lefty Frizzell in concert with his friend, Bob Teague. After hearing Haggard sing along to his first two songs Frizzell allowed Haggard to sing at the concert. The audience enjoyed Haggard and he began working on a full-time music career. After he had earned a local reputation, Haggard's money problems caught up with him. He was arrested for attempting to rob a Bakersfield tavern in 1957 and was sent to the San Quentin state prison for three years.
While in prison, Haggard ran a gambling and brewing racket from his cell. During a time of solitary confinement, he encountered an alcoholic mathematician and death row inmate named Drunk Adam. Haggard had the opportunity to escape with a fellow inmate nicknamed "Rabbit" but passed on it. The inmate successfully escaped, only to shoot a police officer and return to San Quentin for execution. Drunk Adam's predicament along with Rabbit's inspired Haggard to turn his life around.
Haggard soon earned a high-school equivalence diploma, kept a steady job in the prison's textile plant, and played in the prison's band. Upon his release in 1960, Haggard said it took about four months to get used to being out of the penitentiary and that, at times, he actually wanted to go back in. He said it was the loneliest feeling he had ever had. On Tuesday, March 14, 1972, Haggard was pardoned by Governor Ronald Reagan .
Country success
Upon his release, Haggard started digging ditches and wiring houses for his brother. Soon he was performing again, and later began recording with Tally Records. The Bakersfield Sound was developing in the area as a reaction against the over-produced honky tonk of the Nashville Sound . Haggard's first song was "Skid Row". In 1962, Haggard wound up performing at a Wynn Stewart show in Las Vegas and heard Wynn's "Sing a Sad Song". He asked for permission to record it, and the resulting single was a national hit in 1964.
In 1968, Haggard's first tribute LP Same Train, Different Time: A Tribute to Jimmie Rodgers , was released to acclaim. "Okie From Muskogee ", 1969's apparent political statement, was actually written as an abjectly humorous character portrait. Haggard called the song a "documentation of the uneducated that lived in America at the time." He said later on the Bob Edwards Show that "I wrote it when I recently got out of the joint. I knew what it was like to lose my freedom, and I was getting really mad at these protesters. They didn't know anything more about the war in Vietnam than I did. I thought how my dad, who was from Oklahoma, would have felt. I felt I knew how those boys fighting in Vietnam felt."
Actually, Haggard said had only started smoking marijuana when he was 41 years old. He admitted that in 1983 he bought "$2,000 (worth) of cocaine" and to partying for five days afterward, when he says he finally realized his condition and quit for good.
Later, Alabama Gov. George Wallace asked Haggard for an endorsement, which Haggard declined. However, Haggard has expressed sympathy with the "parochial" way of life expressed in "Okie" and songs such as "The Fightin' Side of Me ". After "Okie" was released, it was a hit.
Regardless of exactly how they were intended, "Okie From Muskogee", "The Fightin' Side of Me", and "I Wonder If They Think of Me" were hailed as anthems of the so-called "Silent Majority " and presaged a trend in patriotic songs that would reappear years later with Charlie Daniels ' "In America", Lee Greenwood 's "God Bless the USA ", and others. In 1969 the Grateful Dead began performing Haggard's tune "Mama Tried ", which appeared on their 1971 eponymous live album . The song became a staple in their repertoire until the band's end in 1995. The Grateful Dead also performed Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home" numerous times between 1971 and 1973. In addition, the Flying Burrito Brothers recorded and performed "White Line Fever" in 1971, and toured with "Sing Me Back Home". Singer-activist Joan Baez , whose political leanings couldn't be more different from those expressed in Haggard's above-referenced songs, nonetheless covered "Sing Me Back Home" and "Mama Tried" in 1969. The Everly Brothers also used both songs in their 1968 country-rock album Roots . Haggard's next LP was A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills) , which helped spark a revival of western swing .
On Tuesday, March 14, 1972, shortly after "Carolyn " became another number one country hit for Haggard, Governor Ronald Reagan granted Haggard a full pardon for his past crimes.
During the early to mid 1970s, Haggard's chart domination continued with songs like "Someday We'll Look Back", "Carolyn", "Grandma Harp ", "Always Wanting You ", and "The Roots of My Raising ". He also wrote and performed the theme song to the television series Movin' On , which in 1975 gave him another number one country hit. The 1973 recession anthem "If We Make It Through December " furthered Haggard's status as a champion of the working class. Haggard appeared on the cover of Time on May 6, 1977. (According to the date on this cover, Merle Haggard was on the cover of TIME magazine May 6, 1974 not 1977. The title of the article was "Songs of Love, Loyalty and Doubt, Country Music".)
In 1981, Haggard published an autobiography, Sing Me Back Home. That same year, he alternately spoke and sang the ballad The Man In the Mask. Written by Dean Pitchford (whose other output includes Fame , Footloose , Sing , Solid Gold and the musical Carrie ), this was the combined narration/theme from the movie The Legend of the Lone Ranger ...which was a box-office flop.
Country star Willie Nelson believed the 1983 Academy Award -winning film Tender Mercies , about the life of fictional singer Mac Sledge, was based on the life of Merle Haggard. Actor Robert Duvall and other filmmakers denied this and claimed the character was based on nobody in particular. Duvall, however, said he was a big fan of Haggard.
"If We Make It Through December" turned out to be Haggard's last pop hit. Although he won a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for 1984's new kind of honky tonk, newer singers had begun to take over country music, and singers like George Strait and Randy Travis had taken over the charts. Haggard's last number one hit was "Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star " from his smash album Chill Factor in 1988.[citation needed ]
Influence
Haggard's guitar work and voice gives his country a hard-edged, blues-like style in many cuts. Although he has been outspoken in his dislike for modern country music, he has praised newer stars such as George Strait , Toby Keith and Alan Jackson . Keith has singled Haggard as a major influence on his career. The Dixie Chicks paid tribute by recording Darrell Scott 's song "Long Time Gone", which criticizes Nashville trends: "We listen to the radio to hear what's cookin'/But the music ain't got no soul/ Now they sound tired but they don't sound Haggard," with the following lines mentioning Johnny Cash and Hank Williams in the same vein. Collin Raye paid him tribute with the song "My Kind Of Girl," when he sang the lines "How 'bout some music/She said have you got any Merle/That's when I knew she was my kind of girl." In 2000, Alan Jackson and George Strait sang "Murder On Music Row," which criticizes mainstream country trends: "The Hag wouldn't have a chance on today's radio/Because they committed murder down on music row." In 2005, the country rock duo Brooks & Dunn sang
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Merle Ronald Haggard (born April 6, 1937) is an American country music singer, guitarist, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Read the rest
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Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 - ) is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, and songwriter. Despite a troubled youth and serving a prison term in the 1960s Read the rest
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Merle Haggard , Country Singer / Songwriter Born: 6 April 1937 Birthplace: Bakersfield, California Best Known As: The Okie from Muskogee Fiercely Read the rest
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