Merle Haggard

American country singer, guitarist, and songwriter

• Born: April 6, 1937
• Birthplace: Bakersfield, California
• Died: April 6, 2016
• Place of death: Palo Cedro, California

The gritty realism and emotional rawness of Haggard’s lyrics and vocal performances transformed country music into a major commercial art form. Many of Haggard’s songs are undisputed country classics that, with simplicity and sincerity, echo the aspirations, values, and concerns of mainstream America.

Member of The Strangers

The Life

The son of Oklahoma farmers Flossie Mae Harp and James Francis Haggard, who migrated to California during the Dust Bowl of the mid-1930s, Merle Ronald Haggard grew up in and around Bakersfield, California, a town overflowing with economic refugees from the Midwest. Times were difficult, and when Haggard’s father died of a brain tumor, the boy, only age nine, began to rebel against his mother’s authority. She sent him to a number of juvenile detention camps, but Haggard remained incorrigible. By age fourteen he was hopping freight trains around the Southwest, and by his late teens had been in and out of a string of reformatories for petty crimes and car theft. Eventually Haggard was arrested for burglary and served a three-year sentence in San Quentin.

Haggard had mastered the guitar while still a teenager, developing a strong love for the country music of such traditionalists as Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell and the Western swing styles of such legends as Bob Wills and Tex Ritter. Paroled from prison in 1960, he spent the next two years digging ditches by day and paying dues in local country bands by night. Determined to make music his career, Haggard then moved to Las Vegas and began singing backup for local favorite Wynn Stewart. By 1963 he was recording as a solo artist for regional label Tally Records, scoring a number nineteen Billboard country single with “Sing a Sad Song.” In 1965 he had a Top 10 hit, “(All My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers,” and promptly signed with Capitol Records.

Shortly thereafter Haggard formed his band, the Strangers, and released a string of successful singles and albums for Capitol Records. Throughout the next two decades his remarkably expressive vocal delivery and poignant lyrics about poverty, despair, and the wayward lives of America’s lowest social classes established Haggard as one of country’s most celebrated artists. In 1972 California governor Ronald Reagan acknowledged Haggard’s significant contributions to American culture by expunging his criminal record and granting him a full pardon for his past offenses.

Haggard’s unique ability to write emotionally raw yet commercially viable hits merited him unprecedented commercial success during the 1970s and 1980s. Touring relentlessly throughout the United States and abroad, he also became one of country’s most popular live acts. “The Hag,” as most of his fans called him, continued to record and perform well into his seventies, a true legend of modern country music.

The Music

Haggard was an accomplished singer and guitarist even in his teens. However, it was not until he was released from San Quentin in 1960 that he began seriously considering music as a career. At first he worked as a musician in any local band that would let him fill in. His raw and distinctive voice and sparkling guitar licks eventually garnered him some regional attention, and his perseverance paid off in 1963, when he began recording singles for Tally Records. Within two years he had earned a pair of hits on the national country charts and had been signed by Capitol Records—a major country and pop label with the necessary resources to bring Haggard’s music the broad exposure it demanded. In 1965 Haggard formed his backing band, the Strangers, and embarked upon a professional, and later personal, relationship with country star Buck Owens’s ex-wife Bonnie, an accomplished musical talent in her own right. With Bonnie he recorded the breakthrough 1966 duet album Just between the Two of Us. The duo recorded a string of hits over the next decade. In addition, Haggard cut several hit singles with the Strangers, many of which became country classics. In 1966 the band had two Top 5 hits, “Swinging Doors” and “The Bottle Let Me Down,” and their first number one with “The Fugitive.” Over the next two decades Haggard released more than a hundred charting country singles and had at least one Top 5 hit single each year within that period—an unprecedented feat for a country artist.

“Hungry Eyes.” This highly autobiographical early song portrays the desolation of life during the Great Depression through the eyes of a child whose parents struggle to make ends meet in a labor camp for refugees during the Dust Bowl. Haggard grew up in similar circumstances in Bakersfield in the 1930s, a detail that adds dramatic poignancy to this emotionally wrenching ballad.

“Okie from Muskogee.” Several of Haggard’s songs, particularly those released at the height of the Vietnam War, were viewed by many listeners as a direct response to the counterculture protest songs so popular in that era. “Okie from Muskogee” is perhaps the most widely known. A diatribe against antiwar protesters, hippies, and other outspoken critics of the American establishment, the song was such a popular hit in 1969 that it penetrated the national consciousness and was regarded as the anthem of the so-called silent majority of patriotic Americans identified in president Richard Nixon’s speeches.

“The Fightin’ Side of Me.” Another noteworthy anticounterculture Haggard hit, “The Fightin’ Side of Me” forcefully—if not violently—accuses Vietnam War protesters of being cowardly, shortsighted, and unpatriotic. Its anthemic lyrics boldly advocate an unquestioning devotion to one’s country—even to the point of fighting and dying for it—and strongly criticizes those unwilling to do so.

“Today I Started Loving You Again.” Because of its simple, engaging chorus and heartbreaking subject matter, “Today I Started Loving You Again” remains one of Haggard’s most recognizable and appreciated classics. Like Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” and Williams’s “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” it is one of the most widely known and frequently covered country songs ever written. Haggard’s version is generally revered as the finest rendition, and his vocal performance on the song ranks as one of his most heartfelt and outstanding.

“If We Make It through December.” Not all of Haggard’s social commentaries concern war and patriotism. “If We Make It through December,” a crossover pop hit in 1973, was especially timely because of its release at the height of a major economic recession in the United States. That year’s Middle Eastern oil embargo resulted in record inflation and unemployment. The lyrics tell the story of a father breaking the news to his young daughter that he cannot afford Christmas presents because he has been laid off from his factory job—a scenario that resonated strongly with radio audiences that year.

“Are the Good Times Really Over for Good.” It had been nearly a decade since Haggard had charted a socially relevant single, but the Reagan-era “Are the Good Times Really Over for Good” helped him once again win distinction as a spokesman for a new generation. The song directly questions the idea that in the mid-1980s the United States remained the most prosperous—and perhaps most well-intended—nation in the world.

Down Every Road. A lavishly packaged and impressively thorough compilation, Down Every Road, released by Capitol Records in 1996, provides the most complete homage to Haggard’s career and legacy as a performer. It contains most of his hits, including many of his earliest singles, and several cuts that were not released as singles but typify Haggard’s style and themes just as accurately as any of his major chart hits. Rare but quintessential gems such as “I Can’t Hold Myself in Line” and “I’m Looking for My Mind” are standout tracks.

“No Time to Cry.” The feature track on Haggard’s strong but overlooked album 1996, this mournful ballad laments the loss of a father. Written from the often-neglected point of view of the middle aged, the song addresses the difficulties of finding time to grieve the loss of a parent when besieged with seemingly overwhelming responsibilities. Its profound message, combined with Haggard’s unforgettable vocal delivery, make “No Time to Cry” one of the most memorable performances of his later career.

Django and Jimmie. Haggard's last album was his sixth collaboration with Willie Nelson, and its title references two musical heroes, French-Romani guitarist Django Reinhardt and pioneering American country singer Jimmie Rodgers. The first single released from the album was "It's All Going to Pot," an ode to marijuana. The album climbed to seven on the Billboard 200 chart, representing the first time a Haggard album cracked the top ten of Billboard's list.

Musical Legacy

At his concerts, Haggard was often introduced as “the poet of the common man,” an epithet bestowed on him in the 1970s as his songs began to weave themselves into the fabric of the American social conscience. His sparse but incisive lyrics chronicled the struggles of the economically as well as the emotionally downtrodden, with a poignancy and musicality that attracted fans across several genres. Because of their broad appeal and unflinching directness, several of Haggard’s songs became country standards. Many modern musical artists, country and otherwise, have cited him as a key influence on their careers. Haggard received a string of gold and platinum albums and a number of Grammy Awards for recording excellence. His visibility as one of country’s most popular performers merited him acting roles on television shows and in movies, and he even performed at the White House. His timeless and undeniably genuine lyrics assured that listeners would still be enjoying his songs for decades to come.

Principal Recordings

albums:Strangers, 1965; Just between the Two of Us, 1966 (with Bonnie Owens); Swinging Doors, 1966; Branded Man, 1967; I’m a Lonesome Fugitive, 1967; The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde, 1968; Mama Tried, 1968; Sing Me Back Home, 1968; A Portrait of Merle Haggard, 1969; Pride in What I Am, 1969; Same Train, a Different Time, 1969; Introducing My Friends, the Strangers, 1970; A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World, 1970; It’s Not Love (but It’s Not Bad), 1972; Let Me Tell You about a Song, 1972; Totally Instrumental . . . with One Exception, 1973; If We Make It through December, 1974; Merle Haggard Presents His Thirtieth Album, 1974; It’s All in the Movies, 1975; Keep Movin’ On, 1975; My Love Affair with Trains, 1976; The Roots of My Raising, 1976; My Farewell to Elvis, 1977; Ramblin’ Fever, 1977; A Working Man Can’t Get Nowhere Today, 1977; Goin’ Home for Christmas, 1978; I’m Always on a Mountain When I Fall, 1978; The Way It Was in ’51, 1978; Serving 190 Proof, 1979; Back to the Barrooms, 1980; The Way I Am, 1980; Big City, 1981; Songs for the Mama That Tried, 1981; Going Where the Lonely Go, 1982; A Taste of Yesterday’s Wine, 1982 (with George Jones); Heart to Heart, 1983; Pancho and Lefty, 1983 (with Willie Nelson); That’s the Way Love Goes, 1983; It’s All in the Game, 1984; Amber Waves of Grain, 1985; Kern River, 1985; A Friend in California, 1986; Out among the Stars, 1986; Chill Factor, 1987; Seashores of Old Mexico, 1987 (with Nelson); Walking the Line, 1987 (with Nelson and Jones); 5:01 Blues, 1989; Blue Jungle, 1990; 1994, 1994; 1996, 1996; If I Could Only Fly, 2000; Cabin in the Hills, 2001; Two Old Friends, 2001 (with Albert E. Brumley, Jr.); Like Never Before, 2003; I Wish I Was Santa Claus, 2004; Unforgettable, 2004; Chicago Wind, 2005; Kickin' Out the Footlights . . . Again, 2006 (with Jones); The Bluegrass Sessions, 2007; Hag’s Christmas, 2007; Last of the Breed, 2007 (with Nelson and Ray Price); I Am What I Am, 2010; Working in Tennessee, 2011; Django and Jimmie, 2015 (with Nelson).

writings of interest:Sing Me Back Home, 1981 (autobiography); My House of Memories, 2002 (autobiography).

Bibliography

Bogdanov, Vladimir, Chris Woodstra, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine. All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Country Music. San Francisco: Backbeat, 2003. Print.

Bomar, Scott. The Bakersfield Sound: Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and California Country. Nashville: Country Music Foundation, 2012. Print.

Cantwell, David. Merle Haggard: The Running Kind. Austin: U of Texas P, 2013. Print.

Haggard, Merle. Merle Haggard: The Lyrics. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 2002. Print.

Haggard, Merle, and Tom Carter. Merle Haggard’s My House of Memories: For the Record. New York: HarperCollins, 2002. Print.

LaChapelle, Peter. “Fightin’ Sides: ’Okie from Muskogee,’ Conservative Populism, and the Uses of Migrant Identity.” Proud to Be an Okie: Cultural Politics, Country Music, and Migration to Southern California. Los Angeles: U of California P, 2007. Print.

Willman, Chris. Rednecks and Bluenecks: The Politics of Country Music. New York: New, 2005. Print.