George Jones & Merle Haggard

Kickin' Out The Footlights...Again Biography

Merle Haggard photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

George Jones photo courtesy of Bandit Records

Photo Courtesy of Bandit Records

There is no doubt that George Jones & Merle Haggard have set the standard for modern country music. It is impossible to overstate the importance of either Haggard or Jones and their impact as two of the architects of the country music sound.

George Glenn Jones was born in 1931 in the East Texas town of Saratoga. As a kid he sang for tips on the streets of nearby Beaumont. By age 24, he had been married twice, served in the Marines and was a veteran of the Texas honky-tonk circuit. On a recording session in 1955 for Starday Records, producer Pappy Dailey suggested he quit singing like his idols, Lefty Frizzell, Roy Acuff and Hank Williams, and try singing like George Jones. The result was "Why Baby Why," his first Top Five Hit.

Merle Ronald Haggard was born in 1937, outside Bakersfield, California. His family lived in an old boxcar that they converted into a home. His father died when Merle was nine years old and, with his world turned upside down, Merle turned rebellious. He hopped freight trains when he was 10 and made it to Fresno before being picked up by the authorities. It was his first step toward a youth of truancy from school and petty crime. The bright spot during these troubled times was Merle’s love and talent for music.

At Starday, George made rockabilly records as Thumper Jones. As many artists did at the time, George also played guitar and sang the "hits of the day" on radio shows. During one of these radio shows, George had the opportunity to play guitar for his hero, Hank Williams. George remembers that day with awe and said, "When he started to sing, I was star struck and never hit a note on the guitar." Jones had his first country No. 1 at Mercury Records in 1959 with "White Lightning." The hits kept coming and he had No. 1s with "Tender Years," "She Thinks I Still Care" "The Window Up Above" "The Race Is On" and "Walk Through This World With Me."

Starting out as a fan of Bob Wills, Merle eventually found his musical idol in Lefty Frizzell. He got the chance to see Lefty perform in person when he was 14. "He was dressed in white--heroes usually are," Merle said.

Merle was starting to make small amounts of money by playing music but it wasn’t enough to keep him out of trouble. He left home at 15 and was arrested as a suspect in a robbery. Though innocent, he ended up in jail for two-and-a-half weeks. It was the first time he tasted prison life, but it wasn’t the last. In and out of jail over the years for small crimes, he found himself doing serious time in San Quentin at the age of 20.

"Going to prison either makes you worse or it can make you understand and appreciate freedom," says Merle. "I learned to appreciate freedom when I didn’t have any." His musical ability offered hope for a future.

George and Merle started their friendship in 1962 when both artists were introducing their new singles to radio station KUZZ in Bakersfield. George had "She Thinks I Still Care" (which went on to hold the No. 1 spot for six weeks) and Merle had his first single, "Sing A Sad Song" which became a Top 20 hit. Merle remembers, "I was in awe of Jones. He was already a star."

George recalls seeing Merle at the Blackboard later that night where they were both performing. "He wouldn’t look me in the eye," says George. "I wasn’t sure if he was stuck-up or just shy. But when he sang, I was knocked out. No one has come along since who is any better."

George, the top male singer in country music, married country music’s hottest new female artist Tammy Wynette in 1969. He soon joined Tammy's label, Epic Records, where he enjoyed an extremely successful 20-year association with producer Billy Sherrill. His hits included "The Grand Tour" "A Picture Of Me Without You" and "The Door" and, while his marriage to Tammy was stormy, they were perfect duet partners and their hits included "We’re Gonna Hold On," "Golden Ring" and "Near You."

After Merle hit the Top 20 with "Sing A Sad Song" it took a while for his next hit. Finally, "All My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers" went into the Top Ten and brought Merle to the attention of Capitol Records. He proved himself a hit maker with three Top Ten singles in 1967 including his first No. l, "The Fugitive." The song was based on the TV series, "The Fugitive" and Merle worried that his criminal past might come back to haunt him.

"I didn’t want to talk about being in prison," Merle recalls, and made those feelings clear with his next No. 1 record, "Branded Man." Johnny Cash convinced him to own up to it so that the tabloids wouldn’t be able to. From that point on, Merle stopped hiding the story of his past and his songs opened a window on the dark life of prisoners and ex-cons. He laid out other aspects of his life in songs, proving himself an adept lyricist who specialized in sorrow and pain, with the occasional dash of hope or humor.

Touring schedules and the pressures of success weighed on George. He was drinking heavily and began to self-destruct. "I never had anything as a kid and all of a sudden I had everything thrown at my feet," he says. "It can ruin you quickly." George was out of control and it was complicated by bad management, tax problems, cocaine abuse, massive debt and a new moniker as "No Show Jones" that just about wiped away his career. Angry promoters and scraps with the law prompted lawsuits and drove George further into despair.

"There was a lot of self-pity," he says. "I trusted people that I shouldn't have and I lost everything. I have no one to blame but myself," George told People magazine in 1992. Ironically, during the darkest days of George's despair, he recorded the biggest song of an already impressive 30 year career with "He Stopped Loving Her Today."

George's performance of that song went on to win virtually every award in music including CMA Single of the Year in 1980 and 1981 and, ten years later, Favorite Country Song of all time.

The late '60s were a politically divisive time and Merle was in the middle of it. His "Working Man Blues" appealed to the rock crowd with its hard-driving beat and anti-elitism but it also delivered a clear message of solidarity to the blue collar country audience. The most popular song of Merle's career, "Okie From Muskogee," drew a clear line between "us" and "them" and he underlined it with the belligerent "Fightin’ Side of Me" which made Merle a political symbol.

George met his fourth and final wife, Nancy Sepulvado, in 1981 during the height of the "He Stopped Loving Her Today" frenzy. "I’d heard the horror stories," Nancy told People magazine, "but I’m of the opinion you don’t believe it til you see it. I ended up seeing plenty of it but we just clicked. I saw a lot of good in a man who was being totally destroyed."

In 1984, George was told he would only live another couple of days if he continued to drink. He entered a hospital and dried out. It just about killed him and he spent the next year trying to kick his bad habits, reentering the hospital seven times in his effort to get straight.

Merle has been married five times. His second wife, Bonnie Owens (who had been married to Buck Owens), was his first duet partner and a good friend as well. Merle's third wife, Leona Williams, was also a singer and songwriter. Merle's romantic hurts and happiness were chronicled in songs like "Things Aren’t Funny Anymore," "Always Wanting You" "Someday When Things Are Good" and "You Take Me For Granted."

Merle and George recorded their only previous project together in 1982. The album, entitled A Taste Of Yesterday’s Wine produced a No. 1 record for them with the title track.

The '90s saw the hits come to an end for both George and Merle. The changing nature of the country music business and the resistance by radio to play anything released by older artists exiled them to "Living Legend" status. Both artists were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and they received all the acclaim that "Living Legends" are given. They both continued to record and release critically acclaimed projects. George told his story in the best selling autobiography in "I Lived To Tell It All" in 1996.

George finally sobered up for good following a car accident in 1998 that just about killed him. He had just finished recording his highly acclaimed Cold Hard Truth project that earned him his second Grammy Award in 1999. In 2003, George received the 2002 Medal of Arts from President George W. Bush at a White House ceremony. The National Medal of Arts is the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence. His 50th anniversary as a recording artist was celebrated in 2004 with the release of a three disc set featuring one hit from each year of his career and a two-hour PBS special that featured a star-studded cast paying homage to George with his songs.

Merle continues to amaze listeners with his incredible voice and heartfelt songwriting. His music has been assembled into numerous box sets with Capitol/Nashville proclaiming 2006 as "The Year of Hag" with a re-mastered and expanded set of ten original Merle albums on five CDs. Merle also released the highly acclaimed Chicago Wind project. Merle was the recipient of the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from NARAS and will be honored as a BMI Icon at this year’s BMI Country Music Awards.

Both artists continue to tour--George works about 100 shows a year and Merle, at his own choice, about 60 or 70. In fact, Merle worked a series of shows this year with fellow singer/songwriting icon, Bob Dylan as well as the unlikely pairing with The Rolling Stones.

It is only fitting that these two architects of country music should reunite one last time. They are the last of a dying breed, maintaining a tradition that will never be again. They are among the very few who remember touring in automobiles, let alone buses and jets; who recorded live with a band on two tracks and no pro-tools and whose time on the frontier of the music business created relationships that are seldom experienced in the modern music world. So, with respect and love, Merle and George recorded Kickin' Out The Footlights...Again singing each other’s songs and reminding everyone of the standards they set in country music including the almost impossible bench mark of still being able to break your heart with song fifty years after they started.