You really didn't think I'd let this day go by without mentioning it is the 136th birthday of Dutch engineer and aircraft designer Anthony Fokker, he of "Yeah, but these Fokkers were Messerschmitts!" fame, did you?
Anyway, on to Merle Haggard, born this day in 1937, and one of the most influential and most-loved country singers of our time.
Over a career that spanned five decades, Haggard had 38 number one hits on the country charts. His signature song, "Okie from Muskogee," was considered by some to be an anthem for the "silent majority" of the time and helped usher a plethora of patriotic-themed country songs; Haggar later said (in 2003) that he had different views back in the 18=970 and that he was "dumb as a rock" when he wrote that sone.
Haggard had a difficult youth. His father's death when Merle was nine deeply affected him. By age thirteen he was caught stealing and writing bad checks; later he was caught shoplifting and sent to a juvenile detention center. Then followed a series of escapes and captures. He escaped from a detention center in Modesto but was arrested for truancy and petty larceny and was sent to another detention center. After escaping from that one, he was sent to a high security facility for fifteen months, only to be arrested again for beating a boy during a burglary attempt. At eighteen and newly married, he was caught robbing a roadhouse and sent to Bakersfield jail. An attempted escape saw him transferred to San Quentin, where he learned his wife was pregnant with another man's child. At San Quentin, he ran a gambling and brewing operation, was caught, and spent a week in solitary, where he met noted killer and author Caryl Chessman, who was soon to be executed. A jail house friend, had escaped, killed a policeman, and was recaptured and was also sentenced to die. All of this made Haggard begin to reassess his life. He earned a GED, worked steadily in a prison job, and joined a jail house country band. Another pivotal moment came when Johnny Cash performed at the prison in 1960 and sang "Folsom Prison Blues." Twelve years later, and now a country music star, California governor Ronald Ragan granted Haggard a full and unconditional pardon.
Haggard has received 20 awards from the Academy of Country Music, six awards from the Country Music Association, and the 2006 BMI Icon award. He was won four Grammys, including a lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2010. He has been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Nashville songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. Over his career, Haggard released 66 studio albums, 8 live albums, 26 compilation albums, 84 singles, and 13 music videos.
"Okie from Muskogee"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68cbjlLFl4U
"Pancho and Lefty" -- with Willie Nelson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoKvUYbGu7A
"Are the Good Times Really Over"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIKUkcNeZfQ
"Sing Me Back Home"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-ofzciulJU
"My Favorite Memory"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Ys0vTSsTo
"It's All Going to Pot" -- with Willie Nelson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6c6eUeoa9Q
"Going Where the Lonely Go"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZW8gRR32ts
"I Won't Give Up My Train"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwnHDonqX6I
"Big City"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVQ0eOMY7z4
"Workin' Man Blues"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuaKBLENvfk
"The Fightin' Side of Me" -- withToby Keith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VJkypo8jcY
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