As one of the leading figures in country music, Merle Haggard pushed the boundaries of the genre, blending in influences from all traditional American styles, from the blues to jazz, folk and rock, to create his own distinctive style, and bringing Country music to the forefront of American attention. Many consider him to be the best singer/songwriter since Hank Williams, writing an extensive body of songs that would become country classics. Haggard has built a reputation as a champion of the blue-collared working man, reflecting his own rough history.
As many did during and after the Great Depression, Haggard’s parents left the plains state of Oklahoma and moved to Bakersfield, California, converted an old boxcar into a home and gave birth to Merle in 1937. Haggard was only 9 when he lost his father, and shortly after he headed toward rebellion. Trying to straighten her son out, Haggard’s mom put him in several juvenile detention centers, but it did little to ‘fix’ her boy. As a teen, Haggard fell in love with country music and found idols in Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams. When he was 12, his older brother gave him a guitar and Haggard set out teaching himself to play by listening to old records that were lying about their home.
Though he loved music, Haggard ran away from home when he was 14 with his friend Bob Teague. Upon returning, Haggard was arrested for truancy and petty larceny, and after being moved from detention center to detention center, Haggard landed himself at the Preston School of Industry, a high-security center. Shortly after release from Preston, Haggard was sent immediately back after beating another boy during a burglary attempt. After his second release, Haggard got to see Lefty Frizzell in concert with his friend Bob Teague, and sang a couple of songs for him. Lefty was so impressed he let Haggard sing at the concert. The audience loved him, and soon he began working on a full-time music career. His newfound success couldn’t keep his past at bay, and he was sentenced for 15 years at the famed penitentiary, San Quentin for a robbery he committed in 1957.
While at San Quentin, Haggard got to see Johnny Cash perform three times, and Cash supposedly told him to turn his life around. Haggard also met author and death row inmate Caryl Chessman. After passing on an opportunity to escape San Quentin, Haggard decided to turn his life around for good, and soon earned his GED, kept a steady job while in prison and played in the prison’s band. Freedom wasn’t easy for the boy who’d been in and out of institutions his entire life. After release in 1960, Haggard often found himself wanting to return to prison-life.
Soon, his life would change as he started his new life of manual labor and performing small shows at bars in the Bakersfield, California area. Throughout the early 60s, his fame began to rise with a series of successful singles, like his duet with Bonnie Owens, “Just Between the Two of Us” and the solo “(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers.” He soon signed with Capitol Records, and his second single with them “Swinging Doors” became a Top Five hit, and Haggard became a superstar.
His success was consistent – “The Bottle Let Me Down,” “The Fugitive,” “Branded Man,” “Mama Tried,” “Sing Me Back Home” and “The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde” are among his most memorable hits. Two of his singles also made it onto the soundtrack of the 1968 film Killers Three, for which Haggard picked up his first acting role. 1969’s “Okie From Muskogee” went on to become a political statement, but was written as a character portrait of the uneducated, such as Haggard was.
The songs Haggard wrote have been loved for generations and the appreciation has been shown by those who have covered his music, from the Grateful Dead, Joan Baez and The Everly Brothers. The 70s brought continued admiration of his music and persona, and in 1972 then-governor Ronald Reagan gave Haggard a full pardon for his past crimes. Singles like “Someday We’ll Look Back,” “Carolyn,” “Grandma Harp” and “The Roots of My Raising” continued his chart domination. 1973’s working class anthem, “If We Make It Through December” went onto become a classic, and Haggard was officially the champion of the blue-collared man.
In 1977, Haggard was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Though he won a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for 1984’s “That’s The Way Love Goes,” country audiences were changing. Despite this Haggard found a #1 Country hit with 1988’s “Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Star” off his album Chill Factor. Though he’s been critical of modern country music, he’s praised some newer starts, such as George Strait and Randy Travis. The Dixie Chicks have paid him tribute by recording the song “Long Time Gone” which criticizes the direction of country music to the praise of older artists like Haggard, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams.
Haggard continues to record and perform, most recently dueting with country star Gretchen Wilson for 2006’s “Politically Uncorrect.” After a lifetime of trouble and heartache, and over four decades in country music with a continually admired status Haggard has built for himself a true American dream, where a person really can change his life, change his direction and find success.
