Merle haggard biography bakersfield

If you love Merle Haggard and Hoover up anything with his name on it, you’ll be happy to hear that a brand new 464-page “definitive” biography on The Hag is coming shortly from Hachette Books and New York Times Bestselling author Marc Eliot.

Called THE HAG: The Life, Times, and Music of Merle Haggard, it will be released on January 18th, and is said to include uncompromising and extraordinary details into Merle Haggard’s life, pulled from over 100 interviews with key figures, and deep secondary research.

Some of the individuals who sat for interviews include fellow Bakersfield country star Dwight Yoakam, the walking country music encyclopedia himself, Marty Stuart, Merle’s best friend Frank Mull, as well as numerous members of Haggard’s backing band The Strangers, and even Fuzzy Owen who passed away in 2020. Fuzzy is considered the Founder and Father of The Bakersfield Sound, and first discovered and recorded Merle Haggard early in his career, and worked as Merle’s road manager for decades.

The book is said to cover every aspect of Merle Haggard’s life, from his father dying when he was only 9, to being sentenced to San Quentin for 15 years after petty thefts and jail escapes, to releasing 63 albums and earning 37 #1 singles over his illustrious, Hall of Fame career that didn’t just leave a legendary footprint in country, but influenced rock music and American culture at large.

Marc Eliot is an acclaimed author who has also written books on The Eagles, Clint Eastwood, Charlton Heston, Cary Grant, and others.

THE HAG: The Life, Times, and Music of Merle Haggard is currently available for pre-order.

Merle Haggard's legacy as a songwriter and performer puts him on equal footing with such country legends as Johnny Cash and Jimmie Rodgers, two of his major influences. His 1960s recordings epitomized the Bakersfield sound, and his strong output in the 21st century has consistently earned critical acclaim, even while the conventions of "new country" reign over the country music landscape.

Early Life

Merle Ronald Haggard was born on April 6, 1937 in Oildale, Calif., about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. His parents relocated there from Oklahoma during the Great Depression to find work. They lived in a converted boxcar. His father died of a brain hemorrhage in 1945, which left Haggard deeply affected, and his mother worked as a bookkeeper to support the family.

His brother gave him a guitar when he was 12 years old and he taught himself how to play, seeking inspiration from the likes of Lefty Frizzell, Bob Wills, and Hank Williams. With his mother absent due to work, Haggard became more and more rebellious. He spent his childhood getting into trouble: shoplifting, riding freight trains, and hitchhiking across the state. He spent a lot of time behind bars.

After a 15 month stint in a high security prison for truancy, larceny, and escaping from a juvenile detention center, Haggard saw Lefty Frizzell in concert in Bakersfield, California. Before the show he went backstage with friends and sang a few songs for Frizzell, who was so impressed that he refused to go on stage until Haggard sang a song.

Haggard's performance was so well received by the audience that it convinced him to seriously pursue a musical career. During the day he worked in the oil fields; at night he played at local Bakersfield clubs. He landed a spot on Chuck Wagon, a local television program. In 1956 he married Leona Hobbs, the first of many wives.

Life Behind Bars

Plagued by financial problems, Haggard turned to robbery. After a failed robbe

Merle Haggard will forever be remembered as a true American treasure whose work often reflected his complicated life – his problems with the law, five marriages, six children and the complexities a life in the music business yielded.

Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994, they said about him:

“Merle Haggard stands, with the arguable exception of Hank William, as the single most influential singer-songwriter in country music history.”

Upon his death, The New York Times agreed: “In Mr. Haggard’s case the sound defined a body of work as indelibly as that of any country singer since Hank Williams.”

Rolling Stone said Haggard: “composed and performed one of the greatest repertoires in country music, capturing the American condition with his stories of the poor, the lost, the working class, heartbroken and hard-living.”

And also at that time, The Tennessean called Haggard “the working man’s poet, an architect of the Bakersfield Sound and a fiercely independent artist who influenced country music like few others.”

Needless to say, much has been written about the importance of the singer-songwriter. But If nothing had ever been reported about Haggard and we only had his music, we would still know the man, his loves, his pains, his demons and his life.

He was his own documentarian of the challenges he faced in covert autobiographical compositions such as “The Running Kind” and “Rambling Man” about his restlessness which then lead to his incarceration and many songs including “Branded Man” “Sing Me Back Home,” and “Mama Tried,” in which he announced he turned 21 in prison. Always there was love in his life and he had lots to say on the subject in such “songs as “Silver Wings,” “Always Wanting You,” “Today I Started Loving You Again” and “It’s Not Love.”  Woven in there were the drinking and gambling songs chronicling more of Haggard’s troubled times.

All those troubles, though, ultimately lead Haggard to 40 number ones on the Billboard C

1937–2016

Who Was Merle Haggard?

Country music star Merle Haggard was born near Bakersfield, California, in 1937. Originally a troubled youngster who served time in San Quentin prison, Haggard grew to become a country music legend. With 38 No. 1 hits and 250 original songs, Haggard remains one of the best-known and most covered artists in country music.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Merle Ronald Haggard
BORN: April 6, 1937
DIED: April 6, 2016
BIRTHPLACE: Oildale, California
NICKNAME: The Hag
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Aries

The Lonesome Fugitive

Merle Haggard was born on April 6, 1937, near Bakersfield, California. The son of a railroad worker, Haggard grew up in Depression-era California and lived with his family in a box car that they had converted into their home. As a child, he was plagued by a respiratory condition, which frequently kept him out of school and confined to bed rest. In 1945 life grew even more difficult when his father died of a stroke, forcing his mother to find work and leave her young son in the care of family members.

Left to his own devices, Haggard developed into a rebellious teen, compiling a criminal record that included such offenses as truancy, passing phony checks and grand theft auto. At the same time, he nurtured a musical talent that he had inherited from his father—who had been a fiddle player and guitarist before starting a family—teaching himself to play the guitar. As he got older his escalating juvenile delinquency frequently landed him in reform facilities and county jails, but when he wasn't serving time he worked in the oil fields during the day and indulged his love of music at night, playing guitar in local bars and clubs.

Branded

In 1958, at the age of 20, Merle Haggard was sent to San Quentin prison after being convicted for burglary and attempted escape from county jail. While serving a 2 1/2-year term, he played in the prison's country band and took high school equivalency courses. He also was a memb