--- description: The country-music icon died at 79 title: How Merle Haggard Went From Solitary Confinement to Stardom image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65affd2e96b4f864/69888e03f887dc918fe955c6/1101740506_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [remembrance](/tag/remembrance/) ## remembrance Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How Merle Haggard Went From Solitary Confinement to Stardom  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 6, 2016 6:08 PM CUT  The May 6, 1974, cover of TIME The May 6, 1974, cover of TIMECover Credit: EDDIE ADAMS  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 6, 2016 6:08 PM CUT Merle Haggard, the country-music icon who has [died at 79](http://time.com/4283993/merle-haggard-obit/ "undefined"), wasn’t always a musician. First, he was a thief. But, as TIME pointed out in a 1974 cover story about his role as a “pure, proud and prominent link between country’s past and present,” those two careers were not unrelated. At the time, in the early 1970s, a craze for country music was sweeping the U.S. The genre accounted for one-fifth of the entire American music economy at the time—thanks in no small part to Haggard, who had gained national fame in 1969 with “Okie from Muskogee.” Part of the music’s appeal, the story explained, was its determination not to shy away from raw emotion and the harsh realities of life. As Haggard put it, country was “just journalism put to music.” And, as the article’s opening paragraphs make clear, the trouble of which he sang was something he knew about firsthand: --- > “” --- **_Read the full story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Songs of Love, Loyalty and Doubt](http://time.com/vault/issue/1974-05-06/page/1/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4283986/merle-haggard-death-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4283986/merle-haggard-death-history/"},"headline":"How Merle Haggard Went From Solitary Confinement to Stardom","datePublished":"2016-04-06T18:08:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:30:52.926Z","description":"Haggard called country \"journalism put to music\"","url":"https://time.com/4283986/merle-haggard-death-history/","keywords":["remembrance","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65affd2e96b4f864/69888e03f887dc918fe955c6/1101740506_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65affd2e96b4f864/69888e03f887dc918fe955c6/1101740506_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"May 6, 1974","caption":"May 6, 1974","creditText":"Cover Credit: EDDIE ADAMS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4283986/merle-haggard-death-history/","name":"How Merle Haggard Went From Solitary Confinement to Stardom"}}]}] ```