Pursuits
Merle Haggard, ‘Okie From Muskogee’ Country Singer, Dies at 79
- Hardscrabble life included stint in San Quentin State Prison
- He received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 2006
This article is for subscribers only.
Merle Haggard, the country music star who emerged from the Bakersfield, California, music scene during the 1960s and criticized hippies at the height of the Vietnam War in “Okie from Muskogee,” has died. He was 79.
He died Wednesday, on his birthday, in Palo Cedro, California, the Associated Press reported, citing Haggard’s manager, Frank Mull. The cause was pneumonia.