Merle Ronald Haggard (born April 6, 1937) is an American country music singer,
guitarist, fiddler, 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. The following year he had his first national top ten record
with "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers", written by Liz Anderson and his career
was off and running. 1968 saw his first number one song "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive",
also written by Liz Anderson, which Haggard acknowledges in his autobiography remains
his most popular number with audiences.
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."
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, 1974.
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.
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. Nick Gravenites, of Big Brother
and the Holding Company, paid Haggard a tongue-in-cheek tribute with the song, "I'll
Change Your Flat Tire, Merle," later covered by other artists including Pure Prairie
League and The Grateful Dead. 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 "Just Another Neon
Night" off their Hillbilly Deluxe album. In the song Ronnie Dunn said "He's got an
Eastwood grin and a too early swagger/Hollerin' turn off that rap/And play me some
Haggard". In 2006, Hank Williams III included Haggard as well as other country icons
in the song "Country Heroes". Steve Goodman mentioned him, humorously but
respectfully, in the song "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" (which he either co-
wrote or didn't co-write with John Prine). George Jones recorded two albums with him.
Lynyrd Skynyrd's song Railroad Song references Haggard, "Well I'm a ride this train
Lord until I find out/What Jimmy Rodgers and the Hag was all about", Nuthin' Fancy
Nuthin' Fancy.
In 2006, Haggard was back on the charts in a duet with Gretchen Wilson, "Politically
Uncorrect". He is also featured on "Pledge Allegiance to the Hag" on Eric Church's
debut album. The song was also written by Church.
Comeback
In 2000, Haggard made a comeback of sorts, signing with the independent record label
Anti and releasing the spare If I Could Only Fly to critical acclaim. He followed it
in 2001 with Roots, vol. 1, a collection of Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams, and Hank
Thompson covers, along with three Haggard originals. The album, recorded in Haggard's
living room with no overdubs, featured Haggard's longtime bandmates The Strangers as
well as Frizzell's original lead guitarist, Norman Stephens. In December 2004,
Haggard spoke at length on Larry King Live about his incarceration as a young man and
said it was "hell" and "the scariest experience of my life".
Haggard's number one hit single "Mama Tried" is featured in the 2003 film Radio with
Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ed Harris as well as in Bryan Bertino's "The Strangers" with
Liv Tyler. In addition, his song "Swingin' Doors" can be heard in the 2004 film Crash
and his 1981 hit "Big City" is heard in Joel and Ethan Coen's 1996 film "Fargo" and
in the 2008 Larry Bishop film "Hell Ride", executive produced by Quentin
Tarantino.
In October 2005, Haggard released his album "Chicago Wind" to mostly positive
reviews. The album contained an anti-Iraq war song titled "America First," in which
he laments the nation's economy and faltering infrastructure, applauds its soldiers,
and sings, "Let's get out of Iraq, and get back on track." This follows from his 2003
release "Haggard Like Never Before" in which he includes a song, "That's The News".
Haggard released a bluegrass album, The Bluegrass Sessions, on October 2, 2007. In
2008, Haggard was going to perform at Riverfest in Little Rock, Arkansas, but the
concert was canceled because he was ailing, and three other concerts were canceled as
well; however, he was back on the road in June and successfully completed a tour that
ended on October 19.
In April 2010, Haggard released a new album, I Am What I Am. Released to strong
reviews, Haggard performed the title song on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno in
February 2011.
Equipment
Haggard has endorsed Fender guitars and has a Custom Artist signature model
Telecaster. The guitar is a modified Telecaster Thinline with laminated top of
figured maple, set neck with deep carved heel, birdseye maple fingerboard with 22
jumbo frets, ivoroid pickguard and binding, gold hardware, abalone Tuff Dog Tele
peghead inlay, 2-Colour Sunburst finish and a pair of Fender Texas Special Tele
single-coil pickups with custom-wired 4-way pickup switching. He also plays six
string acoustic models. In 2001, C.F. Martin & Company introduced a limited edition
Merle Haggard Signature Edition 000-28SMH acoustic guitar available with or without
factory-installed electronics.
Personal life
Wives and children
Haggard was married to Leona Hobbs from 1956 to 1964. They had four children: Dana,
Marty (b. 1958), Kelli, and Noel (b. Sept. 4, 1963). They divorced and in 1965 he
married singer Bonnie Owens; Haggard and Owens remained together until they divorced
in 1978. Haggard remarried a third time in 1978 to Leona Williams and they were
divorced in 1983. He married his current wife, Theresa Ann Lane. on September 11,
1993. They have two children, Jenessa and Ben.
Health
Haggard said he had started smoking marijuana when he was 41 years old. He admitted
that in 1983 he bought "$2,000 (worth) of cocaine" and partied for five days
afterward, when he says he finally realized his condition and quit for good.
Haggard underwent angioplasty in 1995 to unblock clogged arteries. On November 9,
2008, it was announced that Haggard had been diagnosed with non-small cell lung
cancer in May of that year and underwent surgery on November 3, during which part of
his lung was removed. Haggard returned home on November 8. Less than two months after
his cancer surgery, Haggard played two shows on January 2 and 3, 2009, in Bakersfield
at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace, and is planning to continue to tour and
record.
Photograph shows Merle Haggard aboard his tour bus in 1970 & was Hand Oil Tinted by artist Margaret A. Rogers.
|
