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Merle Haggard. Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler . Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled after the death of his father, and he was incarcerated several times in his youth.
- editor@biography.com
- Staff Editorial Team And Contributors
- 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.
- 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.
- Swinging Doors. After gaining a loyal local following in his hometown, Haggard traveled to Las Vegas, where he began playing bass guitar for Wynn Stewart.
- A Working Man. Since then, Haggard has released close to 70 albums and 600 songs, 250 of which he has written himself. Among his most memorable albums were The Fightin' Side of Me (1970), Someday We'll Look Back (1971), If We Make It Through December (1974) and A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today (1977).
- 3 min
- Patrick Doyle,Jon Freeman,Joseph Hudak,Erin Manning,David Menconi,Marissa R. Moss,Nick Murray,James Reed,Sarah Rodman
- “The Bottle Let Me Down” (1966) This 1966 weeper is one of Haggard’s stone-cold classics, and perhaps among the best musical encapsulations of how it feels when self-medication fails.
- “Swinging Doors” (1966) It's the song that makes you revere Merle Haggard as a honky-tonk hero and pity the poor women who had to put up with his hard living.
- “Sing Me Back Home” (1967) In "Hungry Eyes" and "Roots of My Raising," Haggard's narrators use music to revive memories they've been holding since childhood.
- “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive” (1967) It would be easy to assume that Haggard wrote this song about a fugitive running from the law, but credits actually go to Liz and Casey Anderson, who crafted a rich story loaded with metaphor and references to everything from Rudyard Kipling to Bob Dylan.
Apr 6, 2016 · Read the obituary of Merle Haggard, the country music giant who composed and performed one of the greatest repertoires in country music. Learn about his life, career, influences and legacy from this article by Patrick Doyle.
Apr 2, 2024 · Merle Haggard (born April 6, 1937, Oildale, California, U.S.—died April 6, 2016, near Redding, California) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, one of the most popular country music performers of the late 20th century, with nearly 40 number one country hits between the late 1960s and the mid-1980s.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
April 6, 1937. Died. April 6, 2016. Birthplace. Bakersfield, California. Merle Haggard stands, with the arguable exception of Hank Williams, as the single most influential singer-songwriter in country music history. He was one of country music’s most versatile artists, stylistically mining honky-tonk, blues, jazz, pop, and folk.
Apr 6, 2016 · The singer and songwriter, known as the "poet of the common man", passed away in 2016 after a long career and a battle with pneumonia. He was honored by fellow artists and fans for his influence and legacy in the genre.
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