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| FILE - In this May 28, 2003 file photo, country music legend Merle Haggard smiles during a news conference at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington where he and his sister Lillian Haggard Hoge donated belongings taken on their family's Dust Bowl-era move from Oklahoma to California on Route 66. Haggard died of pneumonia, Wednesday, April 6, 2016, in Palo Cedro, Calif. He was 79. |
NASHVILLE,
Tenn. (AP) -- Country giant Merle Haggard, who rose from poverty
and prison to international fame through his songs about outlaws,
underdogs and an abiding sense of national pride in such hits as "Okie
From Muskogee" and "Sing Me Back Home," died Wednesday at 79, on his
birthday.
Haggard's manager, Frank Mull, said
the country icon died in Palo Cedro, California, of pneumonia that he
had been battling for months. His publicist, Tresa Redburn, said no
official cause of death has been determined.
He
had kept up an ambitious touring schedule, but the pneumonia in both
lungs had forced him to cancel several shows this year. Mull said his
family was by his side when he died at home and they were planning a
funeral for Saturday at his home.
A masterful
guitarist, fiddler and songwriter as well as singer, the Country Music
Hall of Famer with the firm, direct baritone recorded for more than 40
years, releasing dozens of albums and No. 1 hits.
"He
was my brother, my friend. I will miss him," said Willie Nelson, his
longtime friend, in a statement. Tanya Tucker recalled fondly the time
they ate bologna sandwiches by the river: "I just can't imagine a world
without Merle. It's so hard to accept, but I'll continue honoring him on
stage just as I do during every show."
The
White House called Haggard a "legend" and said President Barack Obama
was sending his thoughts and prayers to Haggard's family. White House
press secretary Josh Earnest said Haggard told stories that people from
all walks of American life could relate to.
"His
passing is a loss for country music, but obviously is a loss for all
the people who got to know him personally, too," Earnest said.
Haggard
- along with fellow California country star Buck Owens - was a founder
of the twangy Bakersfield Sound, a direct contrast to the smooth,
string-laden country records popular in Nashville, Tennessee, in the
1960s.
His music was rough yet sensitive,
reflecting on childhood, marriage and daily struggles, telling stories
of shame and redemption, or just putting his foot down in "The Fightin'
Side of Me" and "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink."
His
most beloved songs included the prison ballad "Sing Me Back Home," the
tributes to his mother "Mama Tried" and "Hungry Eyes," the romantic
lament "Today I Started Loving You Again" and such blue collar
chronicles as "If We Make It Through December" and "Workin' Man Blues."
"We've
lost one of the greatest writers and singers of all time. His heart was
as tender as his love ballads," said Dolly Parton. "I loved him like a
brother."
Few faces in country were as
recognizable as Haggard's, with its wary, sideways glance and chiseled,
haunted features that seemed to bear every scar from his past.
General
audiences knew him best for "Okie From Muskogee," a patriotic anthem
released in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam War that quickly became a
cultural touchstone for its anti-hippie lyrics proclaiming "we don't
burn our draft cards down on Main Street; we like living right and being
free."
"Okie from Muskogee" made him a hero
among conservatives, but he softened on the counterculture and released
the lighthearted "Big Time Annie's Square," a tribute to a hippie girl
and her "crazy world." More recently, he was a backer of prominent
Democrats. In 2007 he unveiled a song to promote Hillary Clinton and two
years later he penned "Hopes Are High" to commemorate Obama's
inauguration. In "America First," he even opposed the Iraq War, singing
"Let's get out of Iraq, and get back on track."
In
1970, Haggard was named entertainer of the year by the Country Music
Association, and "Okie From Muskogee" won best album and single. The No.
1 hits "Mama Tried" and "Workin' Man Blues" also broke onto the charts
around that time, sealing his reputation as one of country's defining
voices. He picked up another CMA album of the year in 1972 for "Let Me
Tell You About a Song."
Still, Haggard
referred to the improvisations of his band, the Strangers, as "country
jazz," and in 1980, became the first country artist to appear on the
cover of the jazz magazine "Downbeat."
"Merle
Haggard was an original. Not just a singer, not just a songwriter, not
just another famous performer. He was your common everyday working man,"
said Hank Williams Jr.
He was inducted into
the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994, the same year he won a Grammy
for best male country vocal performance in "That's the Way Love Goes."
Haggard
also began headlining at Farm Aid, the benefit founded by his longtime
friend Willie Nelson, and started touring with Bob Dylan and the Rolling
Stones.
Along with his albums of original
songs, he recorded tributes to such early influences as country pioneer
Jimmy Rodgers and Western swing king Bob Wills, and paired up with
Nelson and George Jones among others. He also resisted the slick
arrangements favored by some pop-country stars.
"I'll
tell you what the public likes more than anything," he told the Boston
Globe in 1999. "It's the most rare commodity in the world - honesty."
The
Byrds, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Grateful Dead, Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam,
Lucinda Williams and Reba McEntire all covered his songs, while many
others paid tribute to him in theirs. In the Dixie Chicks' "Long Time
Gone, which criticizes Nashville trends, the trio crooned: "We listen to
the radio to hear what's cookin' / But the music ain't got no soul /
Now they sound tired but they don't sound Haggard."
His
childhood was out of a John Steinbeck novel; his family migrated from
Oklahoma to California and lived as outsiders in their adopted state.
Born in 1937 near Bakersfield, Haggard was raised in a converted railway
boxcar, the only dwelling his parents could afford. When Haggard was 9,
his beloved father suddenly fell ill and died, leaving Haggard with
lasting grief. He turned to petty crime and spent several years in and
out of institutions.
He served three years in
San Quentin as inmate 845200 for burglarizing a cafe during a drunken
spree. It was during that stint he saw Johnny Cash play, and he returned
to Bakersfield at age 22 in 1960 ready to write music.
Singer-bandleader Wynn Stewart was an early patron, hiring Haggard to
play bass in his group. Haggard's first hit was a cover of Stewart's
"Sing a Sad Song" and by 1966 he had been voted most promising vocalist
by the Academy of Country and Western Music. He became a superstar in
1967, first with a cover of Liz Anderson's "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive,"
then with such originals as "Sing Me Back Home" and "The Legend of
Bonnie and Clyde," featuring Glen Campbell on banjo.
Fame
brought him unexpected respectability. His criminal record was erased
by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan, who pardoned him in 1972, and he was invited
by President Richard Nixon to sing at the White House. Officials in
Kern County, where he spent his boyhood years, have since honored his
legacy by renaming a portion of road Merle Haggard Drive.
Haggard
was active as ever in his 70s, and received strong reviews for his 2010
album "I Am What I Am." He lived his last years outside Redding with
his fifth wife, Theresa Lane. Haggard previously was married to singer
Leona Williams, and to country crooner Bonnie Owens, the former wife of
Buck Owens, with whom he toured for nearly a decade. He is survived by
six children, Marty, Dana, Kelli, Noel, Jenessa and Ben, and his sister
Lillian Haggard Rea.
When doctors found a spot
on his lung in 2008, Haggard announced he didn't plan to seek
treatment. But after friends and family members convinced him otherwise,
he had a tumor removed and vowed to keep performing.
"When I quit doing them (tours), the next big event is the funeral," he told the AP in a 1990 interview. "They keep me young."
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