History Music / MerleHaggard

* CoverVersion: While he was one of the genre's most accomplished songwriters, Haggard still typically did a few covers per album, and released a fair number of them as singles. He's notable for championing female songwriters. His BreakthroughHit was Liz Anderson's "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers". Also, he was one of the first singers to cover a Music/DollyParton song, recording "In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)" before she did her own version, then had a #1 hit with her "Kentucky Gambler" in 1976.

* ChristmasSongs: He did three Christmas albums--''Merle Haggard's Christmas Present (Something Old, Something New)'' in 1973 (the first side was originals, including "If We Make It Through December", the second side was Christmas standards), ''Goin' Home for Christmas'' in 1983 (re-recordings of the originals from the first album mixed with a new set of standards), and ''I Wish I Was Santa Claus'' in 2004 (mostly covers and standards, but "If We Make It Through December" and "Santa Claus & Popcorn" from ''Christmas Present'' get their ''third'' recorded renditions here).

** Had he not made the music bouncy, with rousing singalong chorus, "Okie from Muskogee" would've come across as self-righteous finger-pointing. Being as catchy as it is helped it become an [[MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales ironic favorite among hippies]].

* LyricalDissonance: He tended to favor midtempo country songs in bright keys like C or D, sometimes with singalong choruses, which often contrasted strongly with lyrics about things like being in prison ("Mama Tried") or losing your job right before Christmas ("If We Make It Through December").

* AntiChristmasSong: Of a sort. "If We Make It Through December" (1973) has a laid-off factory worker explaining to his daughter that "Daddy can't afford no Christmas here". It's one of his most fondly regarded songs.

* BandOfRelatives: "Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)", about a traveling band with parents and children performing together, with the InspirationallyDisadvantaged twist of the father being blind and his wife being deaf.

* NiceHat: Merle actually didn't wear a cowboy hat much until later in his career.

Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 - April 6, 2016) was a CountryMusic artist. One of the only country musicians from California, he helped pioneer what came to be known as the "Bakersfield sound" and was influential in the "outlaw" sound as well.

Haggard was quite the badass early on in his life, including stints in PSI and San Quentin Prison. After working some time with Lefty Frizzell, he actively pursued a music career in the mid-fifties after cleaning up his life. A modest Top 20 hit, "Sing a Sad Song" on the Tally label, brought him to the mainstream for the first time, but it wasn't until he joined Capitol Records' roster in 1965 that the hits started coming. Working with his band, the Strangers, he would chart thirty-eight Number One hits and several more Top Tens throughout his career. Awards aplenty came from the Country Music Association and Grammys, as well as a Grammy ''lifetime achievement'' award in 2006 and induction into the country music Hall of Fame. He even got pardoned by then-California governor UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan in 1972. Starting in the late 1970s, he switched to [[Creator/{{MCA}} MCA Records]], and then to Creator/EpicRecords by 1981 and Curb in the early 1990s. Although he never hit the Top 10 again after 1989, he never gave up on recording.

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: Like many of the artists of his generation, the Hag was known for his simple, raw songwriting and production.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: "Mama Tried." Haggard's father really did die young and Haggard really was a rebellious child who grew up to commit several crimes. But the resemblance ends there; the narrator "turned 21 in prison doing life without parole," which obviously didn't happen to Haggard.

* AnswerSong: A rather bizarre example not from The Hag himself but directed at him. Apparently, "Grandma's Homemade Christmas Card," an overly-sentimental [[AlbumFiller filler track]] from his Christmas album, inspired the BlackComedy classic "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer." Yes, really.

Haggard was quite the badass early on in his life, including stints in PSI and San Quentin Prison. After working some time with Lefty Frizzell, he actively pursued a music career in the mid-fifties after cleaning up his life. A modest Top 20 hit, "Sing a Sad Song" on the Tally label, brought him to the mainstream for the first time, but it wasn't until he joined Capitol Records' roster in 1965 that the hits started coming. Working with his band, the Strangers, he would chart thirty-eight Number One hits and several more Top Tens throughout his career. Awards aplenty came from the Country Music Association and Grammys, as well as a Grammy ''lifetime achievement'' award in 2006 and induction into the country music Hall of Fame. He even got pardoned by then-California governor UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan in 1972. Starting in the late 1970s, he switched to MCA Records, and then to Creator/EpicRecords by 1981 and Curb in the early 1990s. Although he never hit the Top 10 again after 1989, he never gave up on recording.

'''Merle Ronald Haggard''' (April 6, 1937 - April 6, 2016) was a CountryMusic artist. One of the only country musicians from California, he helped pioneer what came to be known as the "Bakersfield sound" and was influential in the "outlaw" sound as well.

Haggard was quite the {{badass}} early on in his life, including stints in PSI and San Quentin Prison. After working some time with Lefty Frizzell, he actively pursued a music career in the mid-fifties after cleaning up his life. A modest Top 20 hit, "Sing a Sad Song" on the Tally label, brought him to the mainstream for the first time, but it wasn't until he joined Capitol Records' roster in 1965 that the hits started coming. Working with his band, the Strangers, he would chart thirty-eight Number One hits and several more Top Tens throughout his career. Awards aplenty came from the Country Music Association and Grammys, as well as a Grammy ''lifetime achievement'' award in 2006 and induction into the country music Hall of Fame. He even got pardoned by then-California governor UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan in 1972. Starting in the late 1970s, he switched to MCA Records, and then to Creator/EpicRecords by 1981 and Curb in the early 1990s. Although he never hit the Top 10 again after 1989, he never gave up on recording.

** "Rainbow Stew" can be interpreted as one, but is accessible to several interpretations. The song, if read at face value, contains protests against [[GreenAesop environmental degradation]], war, and government corruption, amongst other things.

** For a couple of completely straight examples, see MalignedMixedMarriage above.

* WhatMightHaveBeen: During his 2-1/2 year prison term for burglary, Haggard struck up a close friendship with Jimmy "Rabbit" Hendricks, who was serving time on unknown charges. According to several published accounts, in 1959, Hendricks was planning to escape and wanted to invite Haggard (who himself had tried to escape several times previously) along and go on a crime spree. However, as they talked about it, Haggard -- who at this point is starting to show promise as a singer and guitarist -- decides he'd rather not; Hendricks reluctantly agrees, acknowledging that Haggard has talent and would be best to try to develop it and not accompany him. Good thing Haggard heeded Hendricks' advice ... because during "Rabbit"'s time on the run, he shot and killed a California Highway Patrol state trooper. Hendricks was eventually tried and convicted for the murder and was sentenced to death, making one think what might have been had Haggard -- he still had a restless streak at this point in his prison term, something that more than once had landed him in solitary confinement -- come along. What ''did'' happen from this incident: one of his earliest best-known hits, the haunting "Sing Me Back Home."

* WhatMightHaveBeen: During his 2-1/2 year prison term for burglary, Haggard struck up a close friendship with Jimmy "Rabbit" Hendricks, who was serving time on unknown charges. According to several published accounts, in 1959, Hendricks was planning to escape and wanted to invite Haggard (who himself had tried to escape) along and go on a crime spree. However, as they talked about it, Haggard (who at this point is starting to show promise as a singer and guitarist) decides he'd rather not; Hendricks reluctantly agrees, acknowledging that Haggard has talent and would be best to try to develop it and not accompany him. Good thing Haggard heeded Hendricks' advice ... because during "Rabbit"'s time on the run, he shot and killed a California Highway Patrol state trooper. Hendricks was eventually tried and convicted for the murder and was sentenced to death, making one think what might have been had Haggard -- he still had a restless streak at this point in his life -- come along. What ''did'' happen from this incident: one of his earliest best-known hits, the haunting "Sing Me Back Home."

Jimmy "Rabbit" Hendricks. As recounted in his 1981 autobiography Merle Haggard: Sing Me Back Home, Rabbit devised a brilliant escape and invited Haggard to join him, but they both agreed it would be best that he stay put. Rabbit was captured two weeks later and eventually executed for the murder of a state trooper.

* WordSaladLyrics: "We'll all be drinkin' that free Bubble Up and eatin' that rainbow stew" from "Rainbow Stew."