1- Haggard’s first top 10 hit was “(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers” in 1965
2- Haggard was born on April 6, 1937 to a railroad worker and grew up during the Depression
3- When he was a kid, Haggard suffered from a respiratory problem that kept him out of school and on bed rest quite often
4- He was honored as a BMI Icon at the 54th annual BMI Pop Awards in 2006
5- Haggard was a prisoner in San Quentin when Johnny Cash arrived to give his first-ever prison performance
6- Merle defended the Dixie Chicks after they criticized former President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq.
7- The Beatles were big fans of another legendary Bakersfield Sound act, Buck Owens & His Buckaroos. While Beatlemania was sweeping America, The Fab Four were eagerly awaiting the next new record from Owens and his band on Capitol Records.
8- Haggard was married multiple times. His first wife was Leona Hobbs from 1956 to 1964
9- His music also easily translated into rock — “Honky Tonk Night Time Man” was famously recorded by Lynyrd Skynyrd, for instance
10- At the age of nine, his father suffered a stroke, and he later died
11- Johnny Cash performed “Folsom Prison Blues” at San Quentin Prison in 1958, Haggard was in the audience
12- He earned a lifetime achievement award from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2010.
13- After hearing of his death, Dolly Parton said of Haggard today, “We’ve lost one of the greatest writers and singers of all time. His heart was as tender as his love ballads. I loved him like a brother. Rest easy, Merle.”
14- Haggard’s 1969 single ‘Okie From Muskogee’ is among his most famous songs and also served as a political statement.
15- After inviting Haggard to tour with him, Bob Dylan gave a nod to Haggard with the song “Workingman’s Blues #2” on Dylan’s 2006 Grammy-winning album Modern Times.
16- The Grateful Dead’s 1970 album Workman’s Dead was a tribute to the twangy, barroom sound of Haggard and his band the Strangers.
17- Merle Haggard made the Guinness Book of World Records for buying the largest round of drinks when he bought 5,095 drinks of Canadian Club for the entire club. The bill totaled $12,737.50 and equaled 40 gallons of whiskey.
18- In his 1968 single “Mama Tried,” Haggard sings about his bad boy youth and his mother’s inability to tame him. At 14 he ran away from home to Texas—he jumped freight trains and hitchhiked all the way there.
19- In 1969, he received the ‘Album of the Year’ from the ‘Academy of Country Music’ for his album ‘Okie from Muskogee’.
20- Merle Haggard is one of the most serious performers in the history of country music.
21- Haggard was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1977 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004
22- In 1972 then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan granted Haggard a full pardon for his past crimes. More than 30 years later, Haggard received a less-publicized pardon by Arnold Schwarzenegger, another actor-turned-California-governor.
23- Haggard made his film acting debut in 1968 when he appeared in Killers Three, a western crime drama written by Dick Clark, in 1968.
24- Haggard used the word to describe himself, saying in an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air: “I was probably the most incorrigible child you could ever meet. I was already on the way to prison before I realized it, actually. I was really kind of a screw-up.”
25- Keith Richards cites Haggard’s music as an influence, going back as far as the Rolling Stone’s 1968 album Beggars Banquet.
26- He died on April 6, 2016 — his 79th birthday — at his ranch in Shasta County, California, having recently suffered from double pneumonia