My guest today is an icon of country music. He along with Buck Owens helped form the Bakersfield Sound. A dusty picking style that fed them on those freight trains and on the bandstand.
My guest today was a rabble-rouser. Mama tried but couldn't hold him anymore as he ran roughshot in the west. My guest went to prison in his early days, working jobs for the prison, had a hard time getting it out of his head, so much so that he began writing about all these experiences Singing Me back Home before I die.
These experiences and stories told through and by my guest catapulted him to stardom and branding and than a concerted effort by my guest to change the publics perception of what they think it's like to be a music star.
He's saddled up in cowboy bars and Casino's and saw Johnny Cash @ San Quetin who along with Bonnie Owens helped inspire my guest to write and sing and entertain.
He's coming to the Fox Theatre here in Tucson this Thursday Merle Haggard welcome to the JFS.....