Loading details…
Artist
Merle Haggard
12+ albums
countryclassic countryoutlaw countrysinger-songwriteramericana
about
Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. He was a key figure in the development of the Bakersfield sound and had a career spanning more than five decades, achieving 38 number-one hits on the US country charts, several of which also appeared on the Billboard all-genre singles chart. Haggard grew up in a challenging environment and spent time in prison before beginning his music career. He became known for songs reflecting the experiences of the working class, some of which addressed themes that contrasted with the anti–Vietnam War sentiment present in some popular music of the period. Throughout his career, Haggard received numerous honors, including a Kennedy Center Honor in 2010, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, a BMI Icon Award in 2006, and induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1977, the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 1997. He died of pneumonia on April 6, 2016, at his ranch in Shasta County, California. Studio albums Strangers (1965) Just Between the Two of Us (1966, with Bonnie Owens and the Strangers) Swinging Doors (1966, with the Strangers) I'm a Lonesome Fugitive (1967, with the Strangers) Branded Man (1967, with the Strangers) Sing Me Back Home (1968, with the Strangers) The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde (1968, with the Strangers) Mama Tried (1968, with the Strangers) Pride in What I Am (1969, with the Stranger
