MERLE HAGGARD Biography - Musicians

 
 

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MERLE HAGGARD

Name: Merle Haggard                                                                 
Birth name: Merle Ronald Haggard                                                     
Also known as The Hag                                                               
Born: 6 April 1937 Bakersfield, CA, USA                                             
                                                                                     
Merle Ronald Haggard (born April 6, 1937) is an American country music singer,       
guitarist and songwriter.                                                           
                                                                                     
Emerging from prison in the 1960s, Merle Haggard has become one of the true         
giants of country music, as a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist. Along         
with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band "The Strangers" helped create the             
Bakersfield Sound, characterized by twangy telecaster guitars, tight vocal           
harmonies, and a rough edge not heard on the polished Nashville Sound recordings     
of that era. By the 1970s, he was aligned with the growing outlaw country           
movement, and has continued to release successful albums through the 1990s and       
into the 2000s. His songs display an unparalleled level of unflinching personal     
honesty about such universal themes as love, loss, regret and redemption.