About Merle Haggard

While it's perfectly true that Merle Haggard was a disciple of Lefty Frizzell, it's also true that he served time in San Quentin prison for the botched robbery of a bar. While there, Haggard sat through more than one Johnny Cash concert, perhaps realizing that it was possible to make money performing for people instead of stealing it. Haggard was "scared straight" in prison, and went on to call Johnny Cash a friend as well as an inspiration, and it was Cash who told him to sing about his life in prison. While largely known for his straightforward, working-man honky-tonk, Merle is a singer with many sides, capable of powerful emotion and remarkable depth, a writer of evocative lyrics that say one thing on the face and mean quite another under the surface. Haggard has recorded hundreds of songs, received countless awards, charted more hits than almost any other act in country music, and somehow managed to tread both sides of the political line more than once. He began recording in the early 60's and continues to this day, releasing at least one disc a year, including critically acclaimed work such as The Peer Sessions (a collection of favorite songs by other people) and 2005's Chicago Wind, an all-new disc that proves Merle Haggard is still as much of a performer today as he was when he walked out of San Quentin prison with a new lease on life and took his guitar in hand. Merle Haggard was formally pardoned for his crimes by then-governor Ronald Reagan in 1972.