A brand new biography of nation large Merle Haggard via creator Marc Eliot might be revealed via Hachette Books on January 18. THE HAG: The Life, Times, and Music of Merle Haggard tells the ordinary tale of one of the crucial style’s true originals, and can come with a wealth of analysis, element, and untold anecdotal subject matter.
Eliot carried out greater than 100 new, wide-ranging interviews for the guide, gaining exceptional get right of entry to to latter-day nation artists and admirers Dwight Yoakam and Marty Stuart, Haggard’s very best buddy Frank Mull, a number of individuals of his band the Strangers, and the person who found out Merle and used to be the primary to file him, Fuzzy Owens.
The 464-page guide, which retails for $30, plots the lifestyles and occasions of one in every of nation’s maximum influential and enduring artists. It explains how his father’s loss of life when Merle used to be most effective 9 resulted in an early lifetime of petty thievery and basic revolt that produced a 15-year sentence at San Quentin detention center. He used to be in target market when Johnny Money carried out on the jail, and later mentioned that second helped him to switch his lifestyles.
The biography additionally is going into the “self-created turmoil that expressed itself via medication, ladies, booze, and betrayal,” in addition to his 5 marriages, wealth, status, poverty, and dependancy. Haggard launched 63 albums and landed 38 No.1 singles, from “The Fugitive” in early 1967 and “Twinkle, Twinkle Fortunate Superstar” in early 1988. Between 1963 and 1999, he positioned 104 songs at the nation chart. He died in 2016 on the age of 79.
Concentrate to the most efficient of Merle Haggard on Apple Music and Spotify.
Eliot is a New York Times bestselling writer of greater than two dozen books on pop culture, together with Hollywood’s Darkish Prince, his biography of Walt Disney; American Riot: The Life of Clint Eastwood; Cary Grant; and The Eagles: The Untold Tale. His books were revealed in additional than 25 nations. Pre-order THE HAG: The Life, Times, And Music Of Merle Haggard from Hachette Books.
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