Merle Haggard
| Born: Apr 6 , 1937 in Bakersfield, CA
Instruments: Fiddle, Guitar, Vocals Style: Traditional Country, Bakersfield Sound, Western Swing Revival |
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As a performer and a songwriter, Merle Haggard was the most important country artist to emerge in the 1960s. Haggard became one of the leading figures of the Bakersfield country scene in the ’60s. While his music remained hardcore country, he pushed the boundaries of the music quite far. Like his idol Bob Wills, his music was a melting pot that drew from all forms of traditional American music — country, jazz, blues, and folk — and in the process, developed a distinctive style of his own. As a performer, singer, and musician, he was one of the best, influencing countless other artists. Not coincidentally, he was the best singer/songwriter in country music since Hank Williams, writing a body of songs that became classics. Throughout his career, Haggard has been a champion of the working man, largely due to his rough and tumble history. |
| 1967 began a remarkable streak of 37 straight Top Ten hits, including 23 number one singles.
“I Threw Away the Rose” was followed by four straight number one hits – “Branded Man,” “Sing Me Back Home,” “The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde,” and “Mama Tried”… continued @ All-Music Guide |
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“This is Merle Haggard” 1998 CD release. This album stands as testament not only to Haggard’s indomitable song-writing, but to his astounding ability to communicate with depth, warmth and precision. Remarkably, Merle Haggard, alongside Elvis Costello and Willie Nelson, unlike many of their equally hard-living beloved contemporaries, remains in fine voice after all these years of profound musical contribution to a public in awe of its accessible heroes. Haggard’s accessibility and longevity has been shown over the years by artists’ covers as diverse as The Grateful Dead (“Sing Me Back Home”) and most recently,Sue Garner of NYC’s Run On (“Silver Wings”). When Haggard sings of loneliness, prison, trains or Mama’s failed dreams, we believe; this is real country music, devoid of pretension. This is Merle Haggard, songwriter’s songwriter, American hero, voice of both our past and present.
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An Encounter with Merle Haggard
I am a 14 year old guitarist/Drummer from Mcloud, Oklahoma. A few weeks ago my brother turned 16 and for his present he asked to go see Merle Haggard in concert. This was not hard to do because Merle was in town. We went to the concert and as always with our luck, it started raining. But that didn’t keep Merle from playing. He was awesome. Now, along with this present, my brother asked for one more thing. He wanted to get his guitar signed by Mr. Haggard.
This was a bit harder than the other present. We asked around but no one knew
how we could get back stage. Then after the concert we found the busses
and asked a man who told us we could go to the motel where Merle was
staying and we might get the guitar signed. ( yeah right! ) We went to
the motel thinking that we were being led on a wild goose chase, when lo
and behold, a line of busses pulled in. We pushed my brother forward to
meet Mr. Haggard as he came off one of the busses. As my brother
stuttered foolishly, Mr. Haggard graciously complimented my brother on his
guitar and signed it. As we drove off, we yelled a, “thank you, Mr.
Haggard”. His reply?…… “YO”. What a nice guy! JD Casteel
Mcloud, OK – October 1998
P.S. “There is a good web page at merlehaggard.com that shows what he is up to today.
“Fender made a special Telecaster for Merle and sells it as a special edition tribute to Merle.”
Before his special guitar was made Merle was well known as a Fender Telecaster player.
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Merle @ CountryStars.com If the question were asked, Who forged the genre that is known today as ‘modern country music?’, only a tiny group of country immortals could step forward to share the spotlight. One, out of that select handful, would be Merle Haggard. Merle wasn’t in the delivery room on the morning country music was born; it simply seems like he was. And you won’t hear anybody refer to him as the father of country music. But many will swear he’s at least its godfather. |
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