Merle Haggard,1937-2016

On my move to California in 1970 with car, U-Haul truck, small child, cat, and hippie long-haired Vietnam vet brother-in-law, we stopped in Kansas City and went to a Merle Haggard concert.  This was the era of “Okie from Muskogee,” and it occurred to me that we might get attacked by the rednecks in attendance.  We didn’t, and Mr Haggard was in fine form.  Haggard, who was reported to smoke large quantities of marijuana, later said “I was dumb as a rock when I wrote ‘Okie from Muskogee.’”

In the 90s Linda and I made a pilgrimage to Bakersfield to hear Buck Owens and take pictures of Merle’s boyhood home.  He had a tough life, and he spent almost three years in San Quentin.  Incidentally, Reagan granted him a full pardon in 1972.

You won’t find better songs than “Mama Tried,” or “Holding Things Together,” or “If We Make It Through December.”  According to the Times obituary, roughly 400 artists have put out versions of “Today I Started Loving You Again.”  He was a great American musician.