Merle Haggard tickets

Merle Haggard 

Country music certainly wouldn't be the same without Merle Haggard. The late country music icon was one of the single most influential country stars in history, and he was responsible for enduring outlaw country classics like Mama Tried, Today I Started Loving You Again, and Sing Me Back Home. Throughout his life, Merle Haggard went from a troubled young delinquent to one of the strongest forces in country music.

Merle Haggard Background

Merle Haggard grew up in the Central Valley of California, where he was quite the delinquent in his youth. During his teens, Haggard spent a great deal of time in juvenile county jails and reform facilities. He didn't clean up his act once he was a legal adult, however, and his criminal ways landed him in numerous major prisons. In 1958, Haggard went to San Quentin prison for attempted burglary, and it was in here that he decided to turn his life around. While in prison, he took classes to complete his high school GED and also began playing in the prison band, and when he was released from San Quentin he knew that he wanted to pursue one specific passion: music. So Haggard returned to Bakersfield and began performing regularly at bars and honky-tonks, and by 1965 he had generated enough attention and interest that he signed to Capitol Records with his band, the Strangers. All of a sudden, Merle Haggard had a chance to make his dreams a reality, and he definitely didn't let the opportunity go to waste.

Throughout the '60s, Merle Haggard released one number one country hit after another. Songs like Branded Man, Okie from Muskogee, and I'm a Lonesome Fugitive earned Haggard the reputation for being one of the strongest songwriters in the country music world, and his cool outlaw country image earned him an enormous fan base all over the globe. Once he decided to leave his life of crime behind and pursue music instead, Merle Haggard was unstoppable. It should come as no surprise that Haggard secured a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

Merle Haggard passed away on April 6, 2016, on his 79th birthday. 

Greatest Hits

Over the course of his illustrious career, Merle Haggard had dozens of number one country hits. Some of his most notable tracks include country classics like Branded Man, I'm a Lonesome Fugitive, The Fightin' Side of Me, Mama Tried, Okie from Muskogee, Big City, Going Where the Lonely Go, Someday When Things Are good, and Bar Room Buddies. As an inductee of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and countless number one hits in his repertoire, it's clear that Merle Haggard was one of the strongest songwriters and musicians in the country realm. 

Trivia

Merle Haggard's iconic song Mama Tried has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.