Merle Haggard was one of the most influential country music musicians who ever lived. His astonishing musical career stretched across the second half of the 20th century and into the first two decades of the next, during which he released an extraordinary 63 albums, 38 that made it on to Billboard's Country Top Ten, 13 that went to #1, and 37 #1 hit singles.
Merle changed country music as much as country music redeemed him. A childhood trauma-his father's death when he was only 9-set him off on a life of petty thievery, running away, and other assorted acts of rebellion that led him to a 15-year sentence at San Quentin penitentiary. There he befriended Caryl Chessman, whose execution was a forewarning to Merle he'd better change his ways. When Johnny Cash performed at the prison, Merle was in the audience, and credited that moment with helping him to turn things around. Eight years later, he was the biggest star in country music.
THE HAG: The Life, Times, and Music of Merle Haggard (1/18/22; Hachette Books; 9780306923210; $30) tells, without compromise, the extraordinary life of Haggard, augmented by deep secondary research, sharp detail, and ample never-been-told anecdotal material that acclaimed biographer Marc Eliot is known for, and enriched and deepened by over 100 new and far-ranging interviews. He had unprecedented access to:
Dwight Yoakam
Marty Stuart
Merle's best friend Frank Mull
several members of Merle's band "The Strangers"
and the legendary Fuzzy Owen, who discovered Merle and was the first to record him.
With his ample songbook, unique singing voice, and brilliant phrasing that illuminated his uncompromising commitment to individual freedom, cut with the monkey of personal despair on his back and a chip the size of Monument Valley on his shoulder, Merle's music and his extraordinary charisma helped change the look, the sound, and the fury of American music. And his influence is long and varied:
He directly influenced The Rolling Stones (with whom he eventually opened for) as Keith Richards fell in love with his sound, something Richards had been searching for, out of which came "Wild Horses," "Dead Flowers," and many other Stones' songs
And countless others have recorded Merle, including Phoebe Bridgers covering "If We Make It Thru December."
The book celebrates the accomplishments and explores the singer's infamous dark side: the self-created turmoil that expressed itself through drugs, women, booze, and betrayal. His story is at once heroic, triumphant, and tragic, with emotional highs and lows - five marriages, wealth, fame, poverty, and addiction - that he rode up until his death in 2016.
THE HAG is the definitive account of one of the most original, influential, and important artists that puts Merle Haggard into perspective as an American voice as culturally relevant as Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, and a poet as important as Robert Frost. It will speak to readers of country music and rock biographies alike, including a punk audience who loved his rebellious ways and were responsible for bringing him back from oblivion.
ABOUT MARC ELIOT
Marc Eliot is the New York Times bestselling author of more than two dozen books on popular culture, including the highly acclaimed Cary Grant; the award-winning Hollywood's Dark Prince; American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood; The Eagles: The Untold Story. His books have been published in more than 25 countries. He is a frequent contributor to documentary films, TV shows, and podcasts, the Resident Curator of film at the Riverfront Museum in Peoria, Illinois, and a Visiting Professor at UFM - The University of Guatemala, where he teaches graduate seminars in film. He received his MFA in non-fiction and film history from Columbia University, where he was mentored by Andrew Sarris. He attended the "Fame" school, the High School of Performing Arts. He currently lives in New York City and upstate near Woodstock, New York.
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