Musical Influences On Merle Haggard's Life

Merle Haggard was born on April 6, 1937, in Bakersfield, California. Merle was the son of a railroad worker, and he grew up in a box car with his family that they had made into their home. His father died in 1945, which forced his mother to leave Merle and his siblings for work. After these events happened, Haggard became a rebellious teen and had a criminal record. Around that same time, Merle became aware that he had a musical talent: he was teaching himself to play guitar. He had inherited it from his father who was a fiddle player and guitarist in his younger age. When Merle wasn’t in jail, he worked in the oil fields, and would play music when he got home. When Merle was 20, the year of 1958, he was in prison because of burglary