Skeeter Davis~ "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know"

Uploaded on Apr 10, 2010

 manbehindthescreen1 

Skeeter Davis sings 'I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know' live at the Grand Ole Opry in 1961. This song has been a #1 country hit for The Davis Sisters (Skeeter and Betty Jack Davis) in 1953 and was written by Cecil Allen Null.

 

Mary Frances Penick (December 30, 1931 – September 19, 2004), better known as Skeeter Davis, was an American country music singer best known for crossover pop music songs of the early 1960s. She started out as part of The Davis Sisters as a teenager in the late 1940s, eventually landing on RCA Victor. In the late '50s, she became a solo star. Her best-known hit was the pop classic "The End of the World" in 1963.

One of the first women to achieve major stardom in the country music field as a solo vocalist, she was an acknowledged influence on Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton and was hailed as an "extraordinary country/pop singer" by The New York Times music critic Robert Palmer.^[1]

Skeeter Davis
Background information
Birth name	Mary Frances Penick
Also known as	Skeeter Davis
Born	December 30, 1931 Dry Ridge, Kentucky, U.S.
Origin	Dry Ridge, Kentucky
Died	September 19, 2004 (aged 72) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres	country, pop, Nashville sound
Occupations	Singer, songwriter
Years active	1952–2004
Labels	RCA Victor Mercury Records Rounder Records Fortune Records
Associated acts	Chet Atkins, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Connie Smith, Bobby Bare, Dottie West, George Hamilton IV

Early life

Davis was the first of seven children born to William and Punzie Penick, in Dry Ridge, Kentucky.^[2] Because her grandfather thought that she had a lot of energy for a young child, he nicknamed Mary Frances "Skeeter" (slang for mosquito).

In 1947, the Penick family moved to Erlanger, Kentucky, where Skeeter met Betty Jack Davis and Wanda Rose Rader at Dixie Heights High School, becoming instant friends. They sang together through much of high school, and at Decoursey Baptist Church, where Wanda's father was the pastor.

They formed a group known as the Davis Sisters (although they were unrelated), and started singing on Detroit radio station WJR's program Barnyard Frolics. Wanda was unable to travel, so Skeeter & B.J. began to make a name as a duet. Eventually, the duo were signed by RCA Victor in 1951 (earlier demo recordings were eventually released on Fortune Records after the act's RCA success which has led to some confusion that the Davis Sisters were on the Fortune label before RCA).

Career

Rise to fame

RCA Victor producer Steve Sholes liked the Davis Sisters' harmonies and offered the duo a recording contract in 1953.

Their most successful release was "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know", which spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the country charts in 1953,^[3] as well as making the Top 20 on the pop charts. The record ranks No. 65 on the Top 100 Country Singles of All Time, according to Billboard historian Joel Whitburn.
While "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" was climbing the charts, the Davis Sisters were involved in a major car accident on August 1, 1953. The crash killed Betty Jack Davis and left Skeeter with severe injuries.^[4] After the accident, Skeeter and Betty Jack's sister Georgia continued as the Davis Sisters although none of their records were major hits. Skeeter decided to retire from the music industry in 1956 and get married, ending the duet.^[5]

1960s

Davis decided to go back into country music as a solo act in 1958. She began touring with Ernest Tubb and she returned to RCA Victor, this time working with guitarist and record producer Chet Atkins. That year, Davis recorded "Lost to a Geisha Girl", an answer song to Hank Locklin's hit "Geisha Girl", which reached the country Top 15 and became her first solo hit. Atkins worked with Davis as a guitarist on all of these sessions. At Davis' suggestion, Atkins frequently multi-tracked Davis' voice for harmony vocals to resemble the sound of the Davis Sisters. This echo can be found on several of her early solo hits, such as "Am I That Easy to Forget".

Davis had a Top 5 country hit, "Set Him Free", in 1959, as well as another Top 20 hit called "Homebreaker". She also joined the Grand Ole Opry that year, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Set Him Free", becoming the first female country singer to be nominated for a Grammy.

From 1960 to 1962, Davis had top ten hits with the songs "(I Can't Help You) I'm Falling Too", "My Last Date (With You)", "Where I Ought to Be" and "Optimistic". "(I Can't Help You) I'm Falling Too" in 1960 was her first entrance as a solo onto the pop charts.

The song went all the way to the Top 40, unheard of for a female country singer at the time. In 1961, she scored a second pop hit with a lyric version (written by Skeeter) of Floyd Cramer's instrumental country pop smash "Last Date" called "My Last Date (With You)" which did even better making the Top 30 on the pop charts. Both of these songs did exceptionally well on the country charts, peaking at No. 2 and No. 5, respectively.

In 1963, Davis achieved her biggest success with country pop crossover hit "The End of the World". The song just missed topping the country and pop charts that year; however, it did top the adult contemporary charts. The record was also a surprise top five hit on the rhythm and blues charts, making Davis one of the very few Caucasian female singers to have a top ten hit in that market. The single sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.^[6]

"The End of the World" soon became Davis' signature song. Davis achieved one other country-pop hit with the Carole King-penned "I Can't Stay Mad At You", which peaked at No. 7 on the pop charts and No. 2 on the Easy Listening chart in 1963.^[7]

She made several appearances on the pop music show American Bandstand in the early 1960s and a decade later was one of the first country artists to appear on The Midnight Special.

Davis received five Grammy Award nominations, including four for Best Female Country Vocal Performance: 1964 ("He Says the Same Things to Me"), 1964; ("Sunglasses"), 1965; ("What Does It Take"), 1967, and "One Tin Soldier"), 1972.

Davis was also an accomplished songwriter, penning almost 70 songs and earning two BMI awards for "Set Him Free" and "My Last Date With You", the latter also recorded by Ann-Margret, Pat Boone, Kay Starr, Joni James, and several others in addition to Davis' original hit version.

 Deborah Harry recorded a remake of Davis' version in 1993 featuring Michael Stipe, a long-time Davis fan. (Conway Twitty wrote new lyrics for the instrumental in 1972 as "Lost Her Love (On Our Last Date), which reached No. 1 on the country chart as did Emmylou Harris's remake of Twitty's version in 1983 retitled "Lost His Love (On Our Last Date)".)

Davis' success continued with "I'm Saving My Love" and 1964's Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now, an updated cover a 1956 hit by Patience and Prudence).

Both made the Top 10 on the country charts and cracked the Billboard Top 50 pop charts, though the success of "Gonna Get" was likely hampered by another remake of the song by vocalist Tracey Dey simultaneously climbing the charts to peak slightly lower than Davis' version.

 Later pop efforts, like "Let Me Get Close to You" in July 1964, missed making the Hot 100, reflecting the changing nature of pop styles due to the ongoing British Invasion but Davis continued a successful run on the country charts.

In 1965, she recorded a duet with Bobby Bare called "A Dear John Letter", which just missed the country Top 10 and received light pop action. (The best-known version of the song had been recorded originally by Jean Shepard and Ferlin Husky in 1953.)

Davis also recorded quite a few albums during this time, including two tribute albums I Love Flatt and Scruggs and Skeeter Davis Sings Buddy Holly.

In 1967, Davis was back in the top ten with "What Does It Take? (To Keep a Man Like You Satisfied)". Davis only achieved two other major country hits the rest of the decade, "Fuel to the Flame" (written by Dolly Parton, whom Davis paid tribute to with an album called Skeeter Sings Dolly in 1972), and "There's a Fool Born Every Minute". Other singles were minor hits, but she released many albums.

Decline and controversy

In 1970, Davis had another Top 10 hit with "I'm a Lover (Not a Fighter)" and another duet with Bobby Bare with "Your Husband, My Wife".

The following year, she had a hit with the autobiographical "Bus Fare To Kentucky". Subsequently, however, her chart success began to fade. Singles such as "It's Hard to Be a Woman" and "Love Takes a Lot of My Time" failed to crack the country Top 40.

 "One Tin Soldier" did not get much attention from country radio but was nominated for a Grammy as Best Female Country Vocal.

 The record was a major success in Canada, however, peaking at No. 2 on their easy listening chart and No. 4 country.

In the 1970s, she began regularly touring foreign countries such as Barbados, Singapore, and Sweden, where she was among the most popular entertainers of any field. In 1973, she had a brief comeback with her Top 20 hit, "I Can't Believe That It's All Over".

During a performance at the Grand Ole Opry in 1973, Davis criticized Nashville police for arresting a group of evangelists at a local mall, and was suspended from the Opry for over a year.^[8]

She was reinstated at the Opry more than a year later.^[9][10]

Despite losing several bookings during that period, Davis remained active by singing with a number of religious ministries and spent an extensive period evangelizing in Africa.^{[citation needed]}

Davis returned to the recording studio in 1976 with a brief stint on Mercury Records which produced two single releases, including her last song to make the national charts, 1976's "I Love Us". In 1978, she recorded the first of several albums for minor record labels which she would do on occasion into the 1990s.

Personal life

 Davis was married three times, first to Kenneth Depew. She later married WSM disc jockey Ralph Emery in 1960, divorcing in 1964. In 1985, Davis made a solid comeback with the album She Sings, They Play, with the band NRBQ. In 1987, she married NRBQ's bassist Joey Spampinato. They were divorced in 1996.^[11]

Davis lived in Brentwood, Tennessee, from the early 1960s until the time of her death in 2004. Her autobiography, Bus Fare to Kentucky (named after a 1971 Davis hit), was published in 1993. In 1998 she wrote a children's book, The Christmas Note, with Cathie Pelletier; it received praise from a number of authors, including Lee Smith, Rebecca Wells, and Terry Kay.

Later years and death

Davis continued to perform frequently throughout much of the 1990s and into 2000. Quite a bit of her touring during the 1980s and 1990s was in international markets such as Barbados and Singapore where she remained somewhat popular. In 2001 she became incapacitated by breast cancer. While Davis remained a member of the Grand Ole Opry until her death, she last appeared there in 2002. She died of breast cancer in a Nashville, Tennessee, hospice at the age of 72, on September 19, 2004.

Source: Wikipedia

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Ray Price~ "You Took My Happy Away"

Uploaded on Oct 17, 2011

 Tom Page 

From the 1967 album "Touch My Heart"

Ray Price (born January 12, 1926) is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone has often been praised as among the best male voices of country music.

Some of his well-known recordings include "Release Me", "Crazy Arms", "Heartaches by the Number", "For the Good Times", "Night Life", and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me". He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996 and—now in his late 80s—continues to record and tour.

Ray Price
Background information
Birth name	Ray Price
Also known as	The Cherokee Cowboy
Born	January 12, 1926 (age 87)
Origin	Perryville, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Country, Western swing
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, guitarist
Years active	1948–present
Associated acts	Johnny Bush, Merle Haggard, Rosetta Tharpe, Harlan Howard, George Jones, Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck

 

Biography

1940s–50s success

Price, born in Perryville, Texas, served with the U.S. Marines from 1944–1946, and began singing for KRBC in Abilene, Texas during 1948.

He joined the Big D Jamboree in Dallas in 1949. He relocated to Nashville in the early 1950s, rooming for a brief time with Hank Williams.

When Williams died, Price managed his band, the Drifting Cowboys, and had minor success. He was the first artist to have a success with the song "Release Me" (1954), a top five popular music hit for Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967.

In 1953, Price formed his band, the Cherokee Cowboys. Among its members during the late 1950s and early 1960s were Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Darrell McCall, Van Howard, Johnny Paycheck and Johnny Bush. Miller wrote one of Ray Price's classics in 1958, "Invitation to the Blues", and sang harmony on the recording. Additionally, Nelson composed the Ray Price song "Night Life".

Price became one of the stalwarts of 1950s honky tonk music, with hit songs such as "Talk To Your Heart" (1952) and "Release Me". He later developed the famous "Ray Price Shuffle," a 4/4 arrangement of honky tonk music with a walking bassline, which can be heard on "Crazy Arms" (1956) and many of his other recordings from the late 1950s.

1960–2000s: Nashville sound to gospel

Ray Price exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame

During the 1960s, Ray experimented increasingly with the so-called Nashville sound, singing slow ballads and utilizing lush arrangements of strings and backing singers. Examples include his 1967 rendition of "Danny Boy", and "For the Good Times" in 1970 which was Price's first country music chart No. 1 hit since "The Same Old Me" in 1959.

Written by Kris Kristofferson, the song also scored No. 11 on the popular music chart and featured a mellower Price backed by sophisticated musical sounds, quite in contrast to the honky tonk sounds Price had pioneered two decades before.

Price had three more No. 1 country music successes during the 1970s: "I Won't Mention It Again", "She's Got To Be A Saint", and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me." His final top ten hit was "Diamonds In The Stars" in early 1982.

Price continued to have songs on the country music chart through 1989. Today he is singing gospel music and has recorded such songs as "Amazing Grace", "What A Friend We Have In Jesus", "Farther Along" and "Rock of Ages" [1].

In 2006, Price was living near Mount Pleasant, Texas and still performing in concerts throughout the country. In 2009, Price made two performances for the Fox News show Huckabee.

The first was with the Cherokee Cowboys and host Mike Huckabee, and he performed "Crazy Arms" and "Heartaches By The Number". Weeks later he performed with the Cherokee Cowboys and Willie Nelson (again with Huckabee playing bass guitar).

This time they performed duets of "Faded Love" and "Crazy".

Price worked on his latest album, Last of the Breed, with fellow country music singers Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.

This album was released on March 20, 2007 by the company Lost Highway Records. The two-disc set features 20 country classics as well as a pair of new compositions. The trio toured the U.S. from March 9 until March 25 starting in Arizona and finishing in Illinois. This was Price's third album with Nelson and first album with Haggard.

Cancer

On November 6, 2012 Ray Price confirmed that he is fighting pancreatic cancer. Price told the San Antonio Express-News that he has been receiving chemotherapy for the past six months.^[1]

An alternative to the chemo would have been surgery that involved removing the pancreas along with portions of the stomach and liver, which would have meant a long recovery and stay in a nursing home.

Said Price "Thats not very much an option for me. God knows I want to live as long as I can but I don't want to live like that."^[1]

The 86-year old Country Music Hall of Famer also told the newspaper "The doctor said that every man will get cancer if he lives to be old enough. I don't know why I got it -- I ain't old!"^[1]


Price has retained a positive outlook and hopes to play as many as a hundred concert dates in 2013.

Source: Wikipedia 

 

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Tony Booth~ "There Goes My Everything"

Published on Jan 8, 2013

 RADOVICHY 

http://www.musicstack.com/album/johnny+booth/country+67
From The Album : Country ' 67
Known as Johnny Booth at that Time.

Tony Booth (b. February 7, 1943 in Tampa, Florida) is an American country music singer who participated in Buck Owens' "Bakersfield sound" revolution.

Tony Booth
Born	February 7, 1943 (age 69)
Origin	Tampa, Florida
Genres	Country
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1970–1977
Labels	MGM, Capitol
Associated acts	Gene Watson

 

Early years

As a boy, Booth showed his talent by winning a contest in New Port Richey, Florida for playing guitar at age 14. After high school, he attended the University of New Mexico with the intent of becoming a schoolteacher.

But he decided to give music a try, and began his music career with the Mel Savage Band. Before long, he was touring with Jimmy Snyder.

Booth's first single, "Wishful Thinkin'" (backed with "I Think I Can") and album, Country '67 was released under the stage name "Johnny Booth" by Universal City Records in 1967.

 It featured a cover of Engelbert Humperdinck's "There Goes My Everything", a version of which had been released months earlier by Ray Price, one of Booth's longtime influences.

The album, produced by Cliffie Stone, retains the vestigal sound of Rockabilly that Country music was moving away from at that time, ironically toward the softer sound then being pushed by artists such as Price.

When his first album did not yield a chart position, Booth formed a band called Modern Country in 1968 and performed for a time in Las Vegas, Nevada before moving to Los Angeles, California.

The band, which renamed itself the Tony Booth Band, became the house band at L.A.'s Palomino Club. He cut a single with K-Ark Records, "Big Lonely World" (backed with "It's Alright") but it also had no chart success.

Country Success

That changed in 1970 when his first single for MGM Records, Merle Haggard's song about interracial love, "Irma Jackson" (backed with Booth's own "One Too Many Times") reached the charts.

His band also won an Academy of Country Music award, which they would take home for three consecutive years.

An album soon followed, On The Right Track, produced by Dusty Rhodes, and in 1971 Booth won the ACM award for Most Promising Male Vocalist. He signed with Capitol Records and became one of several artists to record under Buck Owens. His first single, "Cinderella", went midway up the charts.

Booth released two albums a year for Capitol between 1972 and 1974. The first was The Key's In The Mailbox which included three hit singles. The title track reached No. 1 on Cash Box, making it his best-ranked and best-known song.

The last single from the album made it to No. 13, and "Lonesome 7-7203" from his next album peaked right behind at No. 6.

Over the next three albums, Booth produced five more singles which all charted. "When a Man Loves a Woman (The Way That I Love You)" made it to No. 19, and the next four all made the Top 50 including a cover of Doris Day's hit "Secret Love." He was also nominated for the ACM Male Vocalist of the Year award in 1973.

After two singles failed to chart, Booth's cover of Jim Croce's hit Workin' At The Car Wash Blues, made it to No. 22 and the album of the same name won an ASCAP award in 1974.

Up to that album, his recordings for Capitol were largely penned by Buck Owens, but by that time Owens was retreating from the music scene following the death of his close friend Don Rich and the net for Booth's material was cast wider.
 

Later years

Booth left Capitol in 1975 after three more singles. He was picked up by United Artists Records in 1976, and unsurprisingly left the Bakersfield sound behind.

The soaring strings didn't impress the charts, although his 1977 single "Letting Go" (backed somewhat ironically with "Nothing Seems To Work Anymore") just barely made the Top 100.

He went on to tour in Gene Watson's band and played bass and sang backup on many of his mid-1980s albums, and performed the song "Still on the Bottle" for the movie Daddy's Dyin'... Who's Got the Will? (1990).

Booth currently lives in Alvin, Texas with his wife and family, and appears frequently in the band at the Alvin Opry with his brother Larry. Tony Booth has also resumed touring on his own again playing mostly in southern states such as Texas and Oklahoma.

 Source: Wikipedia

  Sorry Could not Find the Song done by Tony Booth But Jack Greene Does it just as good.

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Johnny Swendel~ "You Drove Me to Honky Tonks"

Published on Jan 11, 2013

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http://www.musicstack.com/item/132172754

 Johnny Swendel
 
Johnny Swendel was born in Coatsville, Pa, which is almost on the border of the Mason-Dixon line, so Country music came naturally to him. Before he was five yrs old he was making guitars out of cigar boxes, putting rubber bands across them and serenading door to door, collecting pennies and nickels. 

At the age of six his parents bought him a ukulele, which he learned to play immediately. One of his happiest moments came a year later when his brother bought him his first guitar. Soon he was picking and singing for all the kids in the neighbor hood.

After world war II Johnny joined the U.S.O. special services and entertained our troops in Germany. After leaving the service he began his radio career. 

His first appearance was on the hillbilly jamboree at WBAL in Baltimore. From there he joined the old dominion barn dance on WRVA in Richmond. Then he signed to appear on the original jamboree at WWVA Wheeling, where he performed as a regular on the Saturday night sows in the Virginia theater. 

Although always soft spoken, Johnny’s powerful singing voice could be heard at the back of the theater without the use of a loudspeaker system.
Although he’s been singing professionally for more than twenty years, he never recorded before (until he was discovered by Country International Records. Last year the company released an album of folk songs entitled: Johnny’s first folk almanac” (ci-727) available on both album and 8-track tape.

This album contains many of Johnny’s fine original compositions such as the title song “ Lets put old glory back”, “ The river low” and the very unusual song “ The antique sign” we are certain you will enjoy this album. 

Nowadays when Johnny is not on the road he spends most of his time on his two hundred acre farm is eastern Pennsylvania where he loves to hunt and ride horseback. He also runs some of the best coon hounds east of the Mississippi

Source: http://www.countryinternationalrecords.com/html/putgloryback.html




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Bobby Helms~ " Fool Number One"

 

Published on Jan 11, 2013

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http://www.musicstack.com/records-cds/bobby+helms

Robert Lee Helms (August 15, 1933 - June 19, 1997) known professionally as Bobby Helm's was an American country music singer who enjoyed his peak success in 1957 with the seasonal hit, "Jingle Bell Rock". His other hits include "Fraulein" and "My Special Angel".

Bobby Helms
Birth name	Robert Lee Helms
Born	August 15, 1933
Origin	Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.
Died	June 19, 1997 (aged 63)
Genres	country
Occupations	singer
Instruments	guitar
Years active	1955-1997
Labels	Decca, Columbia, Vocalion

Biography

Born in Martinsville, Indiana into a musical family, Helms began performing as a duo with his brother, Freddie, before going on to a successful solo career in country music.

In 1956, Helms made his way to Nashville, Tennessee, where he signed a recording contract with Decca Records. The following year was filled with astonishing successes. Helms' first single in 1957 titled "Fraulein" went to No. 1 on the country music chart and made it into the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

 Later that same year he released "My Special Angel", which also hit No. 1 on the country charts and entered the Top 10 on Billboard's pop music chart, peaking at No. 7.

Released just a few days before Christmas 1957, his song "Jingle Bell Rock" was a big hit. Uniquely, it also re-emerged four out of the next five years, and sold so well that it repeated each time as a top hit, and became a Christmas classic still played to this day. It took five years for this song to become a second million seller for Helms.^[1]

 It reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 21 weeks in the chart.^[1] The record gained gold disc status.^[1]

Accounts that Helms wrote and recorded the song with Hank Garland seem to be apocryphal — ASCAP and Allmusic list the writers of the song as Joseph Beal, Joseph Carlton, James Ross and James Boothe.^[2]

Helms continued touring and recording for the next three decades. His pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Helms spent most of his later years living just outside of Martinsville, Indiana until his death from emphysema and asthma at the age of 63 in 1997.^[3]

He was portrayed by actor Brad Hawkins in the 2007 film, Crazy.

Source: Wikipedia

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Merle Haggard~ "Going Where the Lonely Go"

Uploaded on Mar 14, 2008
hrtmike17

Merle Ronald Haggard (born April 6, 1937) is an American country music song writer, singer, guitarist, fiddler and instrumentalist. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster and the unique mix with the traditional country steel guitar sound, new vocal harmony styles in which the words are minimal, and a rough edge not heard on the more polished Nashville Sound recordings of the same era.

By the 1970s, Haggard was aligned with the growing outlaw country movement, and has continued to release successful albums through the 1990s and into the 2000s. In 1997, Merle Haggard was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

Merle Haggard
Haggard at the White House for the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors
Background information
Birth name	Merle Ronald Haggard
Also known as	The Hag
Born	April 6, 1937 (age 75) Oildale, California, United States
Genres	Country
Occupations	Songwriter, musician, guitarist and singer
Years active	1963–present
Labels	Capitol, MCA, Epic, Curb, ANTI, Vanguard
Website	merlehaggard.com
Notable instruments
Merle Haggard Signature Model Telecaster

Early life

Merle Haggard was born in Oildale, California, in 1937. His parents, James Francis and Flossie Mae (née Harp) Haggard,^[1] moved from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression.

At that time, much of the population of Bakersfield consisted of migrant workers from Oklahoma and surrounding states. Haggard spent his childhood in Oildale, a hardscrabble suburb of Bakersfield home to many workers in the adjacent Kern River Oil Field.

 His maternal grandmother, Martha Arizona Belle "Zona" Villines Harp (1881-1971), is the subject of his 1972 hit "Grandma Harp."

Haggard's father died when Merle was nine years old. He soon began committing petty crimes and truancy. Due to shoplifting in 1950 (aged thirteen), Merle was sent to a juvenile detention center.^[2]

In 1951, aged 14, Haggard ran away to Texas with a friend, but returned that same year and was arrested for truancy and petty larceny. Again escaping the juvenile detention center, he went to Modesto, California. He worked odd jobs—legal and not—and began performing in a bar.

Once he was found again, he was sent to the Preston School of Industry, a high-security installation. He was released fifteen months later, but was sent back after beating a local boy during a burglary attempt. After his fourth release, Haggard saw Lefty Frizzell in concert with his friend, Bob Teague.

After hearing Haggard sing along to his first two songs Frizzell allowed Haggard to sing at the concert. The audience enjoyed Haggard and he began working on a full-time music career. After he had earned a local reputation, Haggard's money problems caught up with him. He was arrested for attempting to rob a Bakersfield tavern in 1957^[3] and was sent to the San Quentin state prison for three years.

While in prison, Haggard ran a gambling and brewing racket from his cell. During a time of solitary confinement, he encountered an alcoholic mathematician and death row inmate, Drunk Adam. Haggard had the opportunity to escape with a fellow inmate (nicknamed "Rabbit") but passed.

The inmate successfully escaped, only to shoot a police officer and return to San Quentin for execution. Drunk Adam's predicament along with that of "Rabbit" inspired Haggard to turn his life around.

Haggard soon earned a high-school equivalence diploma and kept a steady job in the prison's textile plant.

Haggard cited a 1958 performance by Johnny Cash as his inspiration to join the prison's band.^[4] Upon his release in 1960, Haggard said it took about four months to get used to being out of the penitentiary and that, at times, he actually wanted to go back in. He said it was the loneliest he had ever felt.^{[citation needed]}

Country success

Haggard performing in June 2009

 

Upon his release, Haggard started digging ditches and wiring houses for his brother. Soon he was performing again, and later began recording with Tally Records. The Bakersfield Sound was developing in the area as a reaction against the over-produced honky tonk of the Nashville Sound. Haggard's first song was "Skid Row".

In 1962, Haggard wound up performing at a Wynn Stewart show in Las Vegas and heard Wynn's "Sing a Sad Song". He asked for permission to record it, and the resulting single was a national hit in 1964. The following year he had his first national top ten record with "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers", written by Liz Anderson (mother of country singer Lynn Anderson) and his career was off and running.

1966 saw his first number one song "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive", also written by Liz Anderson, which Haggard acknowledges in his autobiography remains his most popular number with audiences.

In 1968, Haggard's first tribute LP Same Train, Different Time: A Tribute to Jimmie Rodgers, was released to acclaim. "Okie From Muskogee", 1969's apparent political statement, was, according to some Merle Haggard interviews decades later, actually written as an abjectly humorous character portrait.

In one such interview, Haggard called the song a "documentation of the uneducated that lived in America at the time."^[5] However, he said later on the Bob Edwards Show that "I wrote it when I recently got out of the joint. I knew what it was like to lose my freedom, and I was getting really mad at these protesters. They didn't know anything more about the war in Vietnam than I did. I thought how my dad, who was from Oklahoma, would have felt. I felt I knew how those boys fighting in Vietnam felt."

Later, Alabama Gov. George Wallace asked Haggard for an endorsement, which Haggard declined. However, Haggard has expressed sympathy with the "parochial" way of life expressed in "Okie" and songs such as "The Fightin' Side of Me". After "Okie" was released, it was a hit.

Regardless of exactly how they were intended, "Okie From Muskogee", "The Fightin' Side of Me", and "I Wonder If They Think of Me" were hailed as anthems of the so-called "Silent Majority" and presaged a trend in patriotic songs that would reappear years later with Charlie Daniels' "In America", Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA", and others.

In 1969 the Grateful Dead began performing Haggard's tune "Mama Tried", which appeared on their 1971 eponymous live album. The song became a staple in their repertoire until the band's end in 1995. The Grateful Dead also performed Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home" numerous times between 1971 and 1973. In addition, the Flying Burrito Brothers recorded and performed "White Line Fever" in 1971, and toured with "Sing Me Back Home" and "Hungry Eyes".

Singer-activist Joan Baez, whose political leanings couldn't be more different from those expressed in Haggard's above-referenced songs, nonetheless covered "Sing Me Back Home" and "Mama Tried" in 1969.

The Everly Brothers also used both songs in their 1968 country-rock album Roots. Haggard's next LP was A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills), which helped spark a permanent revival and expanded audience for western swing.

On Tuesday, March 14, 1972, shortly after "Carolyn" became another number one country hit for Haggard, then-California governor Ronald Reagan granted Haggard a full pardon for his past crimes.

During the early to mid 1970s, Haggard's chart domination continued with songs like "Someday We'll Look Back", "Carolyn", "Grandma Harp", "Always Wanting You", and "The Roots of My Raising".

He also wrote and performed the theme song to the television series Movin' On, which in 1975 gave him another number one country hit. The 1973 recession anthem "If We Make It Through December" furthered Haggard's status as a champion of the working class. Haggard appeared on the cover of TIME on May 6, 1974.

In 1981, Haggard published an autobiography, Sing Me Back Home. That same year, he alternately spoke and sang the ballad The Man In the Mask. Written by Dean Pitchford (whose other output includes Fame, Footloose, Sing, Solid Gold and the musical Carrie), this was the combined narration/theme from the movie The Legend of the Lone Ranger...which was a box-office flop.

Country star Willie Nelson believed the 1983 Academy Award-winning film Tender Mercies, about the life of fictional singer Mac Sledge, was based on the life of Merle Haggard. Actor Robert Duvall and other filmmakers denied this and claimed the character was based on nobody in particular. Duvall, however, said he was a big fan of Haggard.^[6]

"If We Make It Through December" turned out to be Haggard's last pop hit. Although he won a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for 1984's new kind of honky tonk, newer singers had begun to take over country music, and singers like George Strait and Randy Travis had taken over the charts.

Haggard's last number one hit was "Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star" from his smash album Chill Factor in 1988.^{[citation needed]}

In 1989, Haggard recorded a song, "Me and Crippled Soldiers Give a Damn", in response to the Supreme Court's decision to allow flag burning under the First Amendment. After CBS Records Nashville avoided releasing the song, Haggard bought his way out of the contract and signed with Curb Records, which was willing to release the song. Of the situation, Haggard commented, "I've never been a guy that can do what people told me...It's always been my nature to fight the system."^[7]

Influence

Haggard's guitar playing and voice gives his country a hard-edged, blues-like style in many cuts. Although he has been outspoken in his dislike for modern country music, he has praised George Strait, Toby Keith and Alan Jackson.

Keith has singled Haggard as a major influence on his career. The Youngbloods responded to "Okie from Muskogee" with "Hippie from Olema", in which, in one repetition of the chorus, they change the line "We still take in strangers if they're ragged" to "We still take in strangers if they're haggard".

Nick Gravenites, of Big Brother and the Holding Company, paid Haggard a tongue-in-cheek tribute with the song, "I'll Change Your Flat Tire, Merle," later covered by other artists including Pure Prairie League.

The Dixie Chicks paid tribute by recording Darrell Scott's song "Long Time Gone", which criticizes Nashville trends: "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," with the following lines mentioning Johnny Cash and Hank Williams in the same vein. Collin Raye paid him tribute with the song "My Kind Of Girl", when he sang "How 'bout some music/ She said have you got any Merle/ That's when I knew she was my kind of girl."

In 2000, Jackson and Strait sang "Murder On Music Row," which criticizes mainstream country trends: "The Hag wouldn't have a chance on today's radio/ Because they committed murder down on music row."

 In 2005, the country rock duo Brooks & Dunn sang "Just Another Neon Night" off their Hillbilly Deluxe album. In the song Ronnie Dunn said "He's got an Eastwood grin and a too early swagger/Hollerin' turn off that rap/And play me some Haggard". Brooks & Dunn also reference Haggard in 1993's "Rock My World (little country girl)" off their Hard Workin' Man Album as they sing "Acts like Madonna but she listens to Merle/ Rock my world little country girl."

In 2005, Shooter Jennings mentioned him in the title track of his album Put the "O" Back in Country and later mentioned him in 2007 in his song "Concrete Cowboys."

In 2006, Hank Williams III included Haggard as well as other country icons in the song "Country Heroes". Steve Goodman mentioned him, humorously but respectfully, in the song "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" (which he either co-wrote or didn't co-write with John Prine).

George Jones recorded two albums with him (Merle) and mentions "The Okie from Muskogee" in his song "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes". Lynyrd Skynyrd's song, "Railroad Song", references Haggard, "Well I'm a ride this train Lord until I find out/ What Jimmie Rodgers and the Hag was all about".

They also performed both a cover of "Honky Tonk Night Time Man" as well as their own take on the song with "Jacksonville Kid" (found on the 2001 CD reissue of the album) on the album, Street Survivors.^{[citation needed]} 

In 2006, Haggard was back on the charts in a duet with Gretchen Wilson, "Politically Uncorrect".^[8] He is also featured on "Pledge Allegiance to the Hag" on Eric Church's debut album.

^{Source: Wikipedia} 

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