Merle Haggard

Haggard married Leona Hobbs in 1956 and had four children from her. They divorced in 1964.

He got married successful country singer Bonnie Owens in 1965. She played a vital role in shaping his career. The couple divorced after thirteen years together.

His next two marriages to Leona Williams and Debbie Parret and lasted five and six years respectively.

Merle Haggard was born to James Francis, a railroad worker, and Flossie Mae, in Bakersfield, California on April 6, 1937. His family stayed in a boxcar which had been converted into a house. He couldn’t attend school due to a respiratory condition which made him bedridden.

When Haggard was eight years old, his father died of brain haemorrhage, which affected Haggard’s childhood. After this, his mother started working as a bookkeeper. At the age of twelve, Haggard got his brother’s guitar and learned to play it by himself.

Following his father’s demise, he gradually became a rebel and was sent to a juvenile detention centre but to no avail. He indulged in petty thievery, forgery and shoplifting. On being sent to the detention centre again, he ran away to Texas with his friend and travelled throughout the state.

After his return from the trip, he did another stint at the detention centre, but escaped yet again and went to Modesto, California where he did numerous odd jobs such as truck driver, cook, hay pitcher, etc. During this period, he started performing at bars with his friend.

In the early 1950s, he was sent to prison three more times for different offences. At country musician Lefty Frizzell’s concert, Frizzell heard him singing backstage and pushed Haggard to sing on-stage. Due to the audiences’ good response, he made up his mind to take up music as a career.

Soon after his release, he pursued his music career and performed at a bar in Bakersfield. After some time he moved to Las Vegas and began playing bass guitar for Lynn Stewart. In 1962, he signed for ‘Tally Records’ and recorded five songs.

Over the next few years, he formed ‘Strangers’, his backing band with whom he released his first studio album, ‘Strangers’. He signed with ‘Capitol Records’ in 1965 and collaborated with songwriter Liz Anderson for two tracks, including ‘I'm a Lonesome Fugitive’, his first number one song.

From 1967 to 1969, he released six number one singles, such as ‘Branded Man’, ‘Mama Tried’ and ‘Workin’ Man Blues’. His song ‘Okie from Muskogee’, which Haggard wrote in response to the American protests against Vietnam War, achieved widespread popularity and acclaim.

At this time many other artists like the rock band ‘Grateful Dead’, country rock band ‘The Flying Burrito Brothers’, folk singer ‘Joan Baez’ and rock and roll singers ‘Everly Brothers’ began using and performing his songs.

In the early 1970s, he consistently delivered number-one hits such as ‘Someday We'll Look Back’, ‘Carolyn’, ‘Grandma Harp’, ‘Always Wanting You’, ‘The Roots of My Raising’ etc. as he dominated country-music charts.

Haggard’s 1969 single ‘Okie From Muskogee’ is among his most famous songs and also served as a political statement. The song is a satire on the reactions of patriotic small-town Americans to the Vietnam War protests. Commercially, the song was a huge success as it spent four weeks atop the ‘U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles’ charts.