ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Merle Haggard

(b Apr. 6, 1937 )

Career Higghlights

No. 5 Country Music Artist (1944 - 1993)

Band Name: The Strangers

Alter Ego: The Hag

Grand Ole Opry

Barn Dance Affiliate

• Ernest Tubb’s  Midnight Jamboree

Film, Night Club, Radio & TV

• Austin City Limits, 4
• Ernest Tubb’s  Midnight Jamboree. 3
• The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, 4
• The Johnny cash Show, 4
• The Porter Wagoner Show, 4
• The Wilburn Brothers Show, 4
• Bronco Billy, 1 -1980
• Centennial, 1
• Doc Elliot, 1 -1974
• Huckleberry Finn, 1 -1993
• Killers Three, 1 -1968
• Hee Haw, 4
• Nashville Now, 4
• Pop Goes the Country, 4
• The Waltons, 1  

1-Film, 2-Night Club, 3-Radio, 4-TV

Billboard Chart Data

• No. 1 Singles: 38
• Top-10 Singles: 71
• Crossover Singles: 0
• Charted Singles: 102
• Chart Years Active: 1963-1999

Awards

Country Music Association

• Entertainer of the Year (1970)
• Male Vocalist of the Year (1970)
• Album of the Year (1970) Okie from Muskogee
• Single of the Year (1970) Okie from Muskogee
• Vocal Duo of the Year (1983)*
• Country Music Hall of Fame (1994)

*With Willie Nelson

Academy of Country Music 

• Top New Male Vocalist (1965)
• Top Vocal Duo (1965, 1967, 1969)1
• Top Male Vocalist (1966)
• Album of the Year (1969) Okie from Muskogee
• Single of the Year (1969) Okie from Muskogee
• Entertainer of the Year (1970)
• Top Male Vocalist (1970, 1972, 1974, 1881)
• Song of the Year (1982) Are the Good Times Really Over

1with Bonnie Owens 

Billboard Top-10 Singles 

1. (My Friends Are Gonna..) Strangers -1965
2. Swinging Doors -1966
3. The Bottle Let Me Down
4. The Fugitive
5. I Threw Away the Rose -1967
6. Branded Man
7. Sing Me Back Home
8. The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde -1968
9. Mama Tried
10. I Take a Lot of Pride In What I Am
11. Hungry Eyes -1969
12. Working Man Blues 
13. Okie From Muskogee*, 1
14. The Fightin' Side of Me -1970
15. Street Singer
16. Jesus Take a Hold
17.  I Can't Be Myself
18. Soldier's Last Letter -1971
19. Someday We'll Look Back
20. Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)
21. Carolyn
22. Grandma Harp -1972
23.  It's Not Love
24. I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me
25. The Emptiest Arms -1973
26. Everybody's Had The Blues
27. If We Make It Through December
28. Things Aren't Funny Anymore -1974
29. Old Man From The Mountain
30. Kentucky Gambler
31. Always Wanting You -1975
32. Movin' On
33. It's All In the Movies
34. The Roots of My Raisings -1976
35. Here Comes the Freedom Train
36. Cherokee Maiden
37. If We're Not Back In Love By... -1977
38. Ramblin' Fever
39. From Graceland To The Promised Land
40. I'm Always on a Mountain When... -1978
41. It's Been a Great Afternoon
42. The Bull and the Beaver
43.  Red Bandana -1979
44. My Own Kind Of Hat
45. The Way I Am -1980
46. Bar Room Buddies
47. Misery and Gin
48. I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink
49. Leonard -1981
50. Rainbow Stew
51. My Favorite Memory
52. Big City -1982
53. Are The Good Times Really Over
54. Yesterday's Wine
55. Going Where the Lonely Go
56. C. C. Waterback
57. Reasons To Quit -1983
58. You Take Me For Granted
59. Pancho and Lefty
60. What Am I Gonna Do the Rest of My Life
61. That's the Way Love Goes
62. Someday When Things Are Good -1984
63. Let's Chase Each Other Around the Room
64. A Place to Fall Apart
65. Natural High -1985
66.  Kern River
67. I Had a Beautiful Time -1986
68. A Friend In California
69. Tweinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star -1987
70.  Chill factor -1988
71. A Better Love Next Time -1989

*No. 1 Single

1Biggest Chart Single

Going Where the Lonely Go: The Merle Haggard Story

During his career, Merle Haggard accumulated 38 number one singles, eighteen major music awards and composed dozens of songs. Haggard and his band The Strangers helped define and advance the Bakersfield Sound of the West Coast.

While Haggard’s music remained traditional country, his music was drawn from various forms of original American music and in the process he developed a distinctive style of his own. He wrote and recorded a body of songs that enabled him to rule the country music charts from the mid-60s through the mid-80s.

Merle Haggard was born in Oildale (Bakersfield), California. Haggard's father died when he was nine years old. During his early teens, Haggard began committing petty crimes. His mother tried to rein him in, but he was relentless. As a teenager, he became fond of country music and taught himself to play the guitar. Haggard continued to have minor skirmishes with the law.

After escaping from a juvenile detention center, he went to Modesto, California, where he worked odd jobs and began performing locally. Eventually, as his criminal activity lingered and the severity of his offenses elevated, he was sentenced to San Quentin prison. In 1960, Merle Haggard was paroled from prison.

After his prison release, Haggard began performing again and became a relief singer for a band led by Johnny Barnett at the Lucky Spot club in Bakersfield. From that experience, Haggard was able to secure a recording contract with Tally Records. In 1962, Haggard was in Las Vegas visiting Wynn Stewart's club. Stewart was not at the club, having left to find a replacement bass player. During the show Haggard was invited to sing a couple of songs.

Wynn returned during Haggard’s onstage performance and promptly offered him a position in his band. Later on Merle heard Wynn singing a song titled, Sing a Sad Song and asked Wynn if he could record it. Stewart agreed and Merle charted the song for Tally Records (1964).

In 1965, Haggard assembled a band (The Strangers) and charted his first major single, My Friend’s Are Gonna Be Strangers (Tally, No. 10, 1965). That same year he was voted Top New Male Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music (ACM). Also Capitol Records bought out Haggard’s contract from Tally that year. In 1966 his singles began regularly appearing in the top-ten, starting with Swinging Doors (No. 5, 1966), The Bottle Let Me Down (No. 3, 1966), his first number one, I'm a Lonesome Fugitive (No. 1, 1966) and his biggest chart single, Okie From Muskogee (No. 1, 1969).

These songs accompanied a remarkable string of number singles, including Hungry Eyes (No. 1, 1969) and The Fightin' Side of Me (No. 1, 1970). Merle Haggard capped the decade by winning the Country Music Association (CMA) Entertainer of the Year award (1970).

In 1972, Governor Ronald Reagan granted him a full pardon. As Haggard’s reign on the top of the country charts continued, Merle scored 36 consecutive top-ten hits, including 24 that peaked at number one.  It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad) (No. 1, 1972), If We Make It Through December (No. 1, 1973), Things Aren't Funny Anymore (No. 1, 1974) and Always Wanting You (No. 1, 1975), kept his name in the national spotlight.

Merle Haggard left Capitol in 1977 and signed with MCA Records, where he continued to place upper chart singles, including Bar Room Buddies (with Clint Eastwood, No. 1, 1980) and My Favorite Memory (No. 1, 1981). During his time with MCA (1977 – 1981), Merle Haggard scored several upper chart hits, including, If We're Not Back in Love by Monday (No.2, 1977), I'm Always on a Mountain When I Fall (No. 2, 1978) and It's Been a Great Afternoon (No. 2, 1978).

The next few years would produce more chart topping singles such as My Favorite Memory (No. !, 1981), Going Where the Lonely Go (No. 1, 1982), That's The Way Love Goes (No. 1, 1983) and Let's Chase Each Other Around the Room (No. 1, 1984).

Haggard wrote dozens of songs, including the majority of his best known and most successful recordings. In 1980, The Way I Am (No. 2, 1980) and Misery and Gin (No. 3, 1980), two selections from the Clint Eastwood movie Bronco Billy, reached the top-ten. Haggard also appeared in the film.

His two biggest singles with MCA were Bar Room Buddies (duet with Eastwood, No. 1, 1980) and I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink (No. 1, 1980). In 1981 Haggard charted the single, Leonard (No. 9, 1981), a tribute to his old friend Tommy Collins. He kept the hits flowing that year as he joined the Epic roster and released the up-beat, Big City (No. 1, 1982).

During his heyday (1965 – 1983), Haggard racked up eighteen music awards. He continued to have major hits into the mid-80s, but then his chart activity diminished as the music landscape had changed dramatically with fresh blood now ruling the charts. Haggard’s Natural High (No. 1, 1985) and Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star (No. 1, 1987), proved to be his final number one singles. In 1990, he was recording for Curb Records, but by then his commercial momentum had largely dried up.

In 1993, Record Research ranked Merle Haggard No. 5 among country music’s all-time most successful recording artists. Haggard was inducted into the CMA Hall of Fame in 1994.

Songs Written and Performed by Merle Haggard

"Songwriting gets harder and harder, unless you just want to try to write a better version of what you've already done." ~ Merle Haggard. Merle Haggard has written an untold number of songs, many of which account for his thirty-six year Billboard chart run. Merle Haggard's best songs have a vividness and depth that's simultaneously literary and cinematic.

His voice is the perfect vessel for his message and his music. He's unparalleled at creating an entire world in just a few lines. Merle Haggard only needs two and a half minutes to tell a poignant story that projects the magic of his music, his honesty, inner feelings and personal philosophy. These are Merle's most popular compositions.

1. A Place to Fall Apart (W. Nelson, F. Powers)
2. Always Wanting You
3. Are The Good Times Really Over
4. Back To The Barrooms Again (with Dave Kirby)
5. Big City (with Dean Holloway)
6. Bottle Let Me Down
7. Branded Man
8. Chill factor
9. Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)
10. Emptiest Arms In The World
11. Everybody's Had The Blues
12. Farmer's Daughter
13. Fightin' Side Of Me
14. From Graceland To The Promised Land
15. Going Where the Lonely Go
16. Grandma Harp
17. Holding Things Together
18. House Of Memories
19. Hungry Eyes
20. I Always Get Lucky....(Powers & Church)
21. I Can't Be Myself
22. I Had a Beautiful Time
23. I Take a Lot of Pride In What I Am
24. I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink
25. I Threw Away the Rose
26. I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me
27. If We Make It Through December
28. It's All In the Movies
29. It's Been a Great Afternoon
30. Jesus Take a Hold
31. Kern River
32. Let's Chase Each Other.... (Powers, Rodgers)
33. Leonard
34. Mama Tried
35. Movin' On
36. My Favorite Memory
37. My Own Kind Of Hat
38. Okie From Muskogee (with Eddie Burris)
39. Old Man From The Mountain
40. Our Paths May Never Cross
41. Rainbow Stew
42. Ramblin' Fever
43. Running Kind
44. Reasons To Quit
45. Red Bandana
46. Silver Wings
47. Sing Me Back Home
48. Someday We'll Look Back
49. Someday When Things Are Good (w/L Williams)
50. Swinging Doors
51. The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde (w/ B. Owens)
52. Things Aren't Funny Anymore
53. Today I Started Loving You Again (w/ B. Owens)
54. Turning Off a Memory
55. Way It Was in '51
56. What Am I Gonna Do the Rest of My Life
57. White Line Fever
58. Working Man Blues
59. Yesterday's Wine
60. Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star

Researched, compiled and written by Richard Bell, Country Music Historian, Roots of Country Music June, 3, 2011.