Haggard Merle

Merle Haggard was born in Bakersfield, California in 1937. He grew up with an ear for country and blues, and by the early 1960s he'd caught the attention of producer Buck Owens, who signed him to Capitol Records. His debut album 'Strangers' came out in 1965, and he followed it with records like 'Swinging Doors' and 'Okie from Muskogee' that helped define the Bakersfield sound.

Haggard wrote songs that felt lived-in, like 'Brain Cloudy Blues' and 'All My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers.' In 1976 he released 'The Running Kind,' a song that seemed to speak directly to people who felt out of step with the world around them. It became one of his most enduring pieces.

His career wasn't always smooth. He had public struggles with addiction and spent time in prison, and his conservative political views sometimes put him at odds with parts of his audience. But he kept writing and recording into the 1980s and beyond, with albums like 'Serving 190 Proof' and 'My Farewell to Elvis.' He died on his birthday in 2016.