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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.
- “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.
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- 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).
Apr 6, 2016 · The music legend died at his home in California after a battle with pneumonia, his spokeswoman confirmed. He was 79 and had a career spanning 38 Number One country hits and stories of the poor, the lost and the hard-living.
Apr 6, 2016 · Learn about the life and legacy of Merle Haggard, one of the most influential country music singer-songwriters of all time. From his hardscrabble childhood to his prison stint to his 37 straight Top 10 hits, discover how he became the "Poet of the Common Man".
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Apr 6, 2016 · Obituary. Merle Haggard obituary. Inventive singer-songwriter who gave common people a forthright voice. Tony Russell. Wed 6 Apr 2016 17.37 EDT. Merle Haggard, who has died aged 79, was one of...
Apr 6, 2016 · The outlaw singer and songwriter, who was born during the Depression, came of age in prison and sang about the rough and tumble world of the outlaw, died on his 79th birthday. He had been battling pneumonia in recent months and was a Kennedy Center honoree and a Grammy winner. Musicians mourned his loss as the news broke.