Country legend Merle Haggard dies at 79

Country music icon, Merle Haggard, passed away today. He was battling pneumonia, and died this morning, on his birthday. Haggard was one of the first cover stories for CULTURE Magazine, and his death has left a void in the country music landscape.

Born on April 6, 1937, Haggard’s life reads like an American folk tale. As a youth he lived in a converted boxcar before his father passed away when he was only nine years old. He would spend the next five years bouncing in and out of juvenile detention facilities for crimes like petty theft. During that time he would roam the country by hopping from one box car to the next, encountering all sorts of unique people. It is because of his checkered and varied past that he was able to assemble one of country music’s greatest catalogs.

At age 20, Haggard was incarcerated for breaking and entering. After attempting to escape from prison, he was sent to San Quentin Prison. He was at the prison when Johnny Cash performed there for the first time, a performance Cash would later record to become one of his greatest albums. Haggard stated numerous times that music saved him from returning to a life of crime upon his release in 1960.

Prison, and specifically prisoners, was a popular subject for Haggard, especially in “Mama Tried,” his first number one hit country song, “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive” and “Sing Me Back Home.”

Haggard released his first single in 1963 and it sold a total of 200 copies. His follow up, “Sing Me a Sad Song,” landed at number 19 on the Billboard Country Chart. He soon received a recording deal with Capitol records, where he released 38 number one country singles. He had a remarkable stretch from 1966 to 1987 where he had at least one Top Five country hit every year. In total, he released 65 albums and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994.

Later in life he spoke out against the government’s prohibition on cannabis, telling us “The wife has an asthmatic problem. She has a license to grow a certain amount of pot in her garden. We also grow onions. I don’t see any difference you know? Where is our freedom? Why are we scrutinized in such manners? It ought to be something a person can choose to do or not. End of subject.”

Haggard is survived by four children (Dana, Marty, Kelli and Noel) from his first marriage to Leona Hobbs, and two children (Janessa and Ben) from his fifth marriage. He was married to Theresa Ann Lane from 1993 until his death.