Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard was born on April 6, 1937 in Oildale, California. During the Great Depression, Haggard's parents lived in Oklahoma but decided to relocate to Bakersfield, California for a better life after their barn burned down. The singer's father, James, worked for the Santa Fe Railroad and ended up converting an old boxcar into a home for his family. Merle was born in that very boxcar and spent many years as a child there. He claims life was fairly normal until the death of his father James when Merle was just 9-years-old turned his world upside down and its crushing blow delivered far reaching results.
Following his father's death, Haggard's brother Lowell gave him his first guitar. Inspired by Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams, he taught himself to become a skilled guitarist. However, once Haggard’s daddy was gone, the boy just had no use for discipline or authority and no desire to attend school. The year after his father died, he hopped his first of many freight trains with his schoolmate Billy Thorpe, riding to Fresno. Of course they were caught.
By age 14, Haggard had been in and out of juvenile hall several times for truancy. Out mostly, because he had escaped – another problem. So early in 1952 he was sent to a juvenile detention center in Whittier, California called the Fred C. Nelles School for Boys, surrounded by barbed wire. After several escapes from Nelles, Haggard was transferred to Preston School of Industry in Stockton, serving his time out there, despite one escape.
By the mid ‘50s, Haggard was beginning to work the club scene in Bakersfield. He had married his first wife, Leona Hobbs, in 1956 and just when life seemed as if it was fairly normal, Haggard got himself arrested for one of his car “borrowing” schemes and landed in the Ventura County Jail for a year. That was 1956 and he lamented that he missed the birth of his first child, Dana.
No matter what, trouble followed Haggard and he couldn’t resist its lure. By January 1958 he had earned a place in San Quentin State Prison. Merle was an inmate there when he was 20 years old and saw Johnny Cash perform. He had been in and out of jail for a slew of crimes and was currently serving a maximum 15-year sentence. (He really did turn 21 in prison.)
Haggard once described his friendship with Johnny Cash they had built over the years. "We were always humorous with each other," Haggard said. "I criticized him one time for something he did, and he answered me, 'Haggard, you have the ugliest face in country music.' We had that kind of sense of humor back then.” But Haggard emphasized that down through the years, “Cash helped me every time he had a chance to help me, and I would have done the same for him."
He experienced a personal epiphany in isolation while at San Quentin and vowed to himself to change his ways. Released on parole in 1960, Haggard went to work for his brother Lowell, digging ditches and wiring houses. That didn’t last very long as Merle’s musical talents began to shine through very quickly.
An opportunity to play at one of the premier local clubs, the Lucky Spot, not only liberated Haggard from his day job, but also united him in a band with Fuzzy Owen who co-owned the small record label Tally Records along with Lewis Talley. Haggard recorded his first Top 20 hit on the Billboard chart within three years. Owen and Haggard would become lifelong associates.
In 1972, Governor Ronald Reagan pardoned all of the past crimes that the country singer had to his name. The star was so touched he even mentioned it when he performed for President Reagan 10 years later. At the concert, he said, "I hope the president will be as pleased with my performance today as I was with his pardon 10 years ago."
In 1971, Haggard returned to San Quentin to perform for the inmates, just as Johnny Cash had done when he was an inmate himself.
Haggard was so skilled at impersonating other country artists he was frequently asked to do so, as evidenced by his performance on the Glen Campbell Show. Not only does he perfectly capture the sounds of Marty Robbins, Hank Snow, Buck Owens and Cash, but he also nails their facial expressions and their mannerisms when performing.
During his career Merle recorded landmark albums such as ‘A Tribute To The Best Damn Fiddle Player In The World’ (his nod to Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys), and ‘Same Train, A Different Time’ (his tribute to Jimmy Rodgers). He was known to record many of Lefty Frizzell’s songs because of his admiration for the iconic country singer.
He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for contributions to American culture.
He had 38 No. 1 country hits and created and performed numerous other classics. The country legend is known for hit country songs such as "Hungry Eyes," "I Am a Lonesome Fugitive, "If We Make It Through December," "Sing Me Back Home," "Mama Tried," "Pancho and Lefty" (with Willie Nelson), "Workin' Man Blues," "The Fightin' Side of Me," and "Today I Started Loving You Again" (with Bonnie Owens), among many others.
Toby Keith saved one of Merle’s last shows; Haggard was performing at Mandalay Bay Ballroom in Las Vegas on Feb. 6, 2016, and he was in really rough shape. It was one of his very last performances, and he probably should have been in a hospital instead of on stage. Toby Keith came to see the show and later jumped up on stage to help perform Haggard's songs when he was unable to. Actor and musician W. Earl Brown shared how Keith saved the day for the country legend at the Mandalay Bay Ballroom in Las Vegas on Feb. 6, 2016 — one of the last nights he was ever onstage: "Merle had to pay his band and crew, so there was no calling in sick for this gig," Brown wrote. "Toby got word that Merle was in Vegas, so he went to see him … Merle was in bad shape. He needed to be in a hospital – not on a stage; but The Show Must Go On. Merle would not take charity from anyone, but he did turn to Toby and say, 'How many songs of mine do you know?'” Keith said, “About all of them”.
Keith ended up finishing Haggard's set after a few songs. Keith shared his memories from that night; "He looked really frail, and I walked him on the stage and said, 'I'll be over here. You call me up whenever you need me,'" he recalled. "He made it through about eight songs, and he called me up and said, 'Let's do something.'"
Haggard announced in late March of 2016 that he was canceling all of his scheduled shows on doctor’s orders. He died on April 6, 2016, his 79th birthday, after battling pneumonia and breathing problems off and on for the final months of his life.
(Toby Keith died almost exactly eight years to the day after filling in for Haggard, on Feb. 5, 2024. He had battled stomach cancer since late 2021, but even so, he retained his fighting and performing spirit to the very end. Keith was 62 years old at the time of his death.)
By the time of his death Merle Haggard had recorded more than 100 albums, had a star on Hollywood Blvd., had been on the cover of Time Magazine and even received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from California State University of Bakersfield. He was one of the most celebrated and recognized country music stars in the world; a true icon.
In a 1997 story published in Country Weekly as Haggard was turning 60, he said he believed in predestination. “There’s a reason for everything,” he said. “The route my life took was meant to be that way in order for it to be the way it is now. It’s been incredible, and frankly, if He pulled the switch tomorrow, it’s been a great ride.”
Aragon Ballroom - Wills Point Ballroom
Sacramento, CA (Mid-40’s and -50’s)
For regular freeway commuters heading from the direction of downtown Sacramento and exiting Business 80 at Auburn Boulevard, the large, brick Heritage Oaks Hospital building at the end of the long exit at 4250 Auburn Blvd. is certainly a familiar sight. Although many commuters have no memory of the significant history predating this building, the structure rests on the site of what was once a very renowned entertainment venue at Del Paso Park. The Aragon Ballroom was a popular post-depression public diversion for dancing and family activities for the Sacramento area.
Sacramento resident Marie Steppan’s memories of the area date back to the Depression years when she spent time with her family at her grandfather’s Carmichael ranch. She recalls the days when the now-hospital site was home to the Aragon Ballroom. “I went up there to the Aragon many years ago during the 1940s; I just remember the building being plain, kind of square-like and I do remember somebody who was in charge at the door and he knew my father pretty well. It wasn’t fancy. You just paid and you went in and danced usually on an ordinary weekend, but quite often when some of the more renowned big bands would go up to Tahoe, they would take one-night jobs in Sacramento at the Aragon.” One known act who performed at the Aragon was entertainer, band leader and singer Bob Crosby and his orchestra. He was good but wasn’t quite as well-known as his brother, Bing.
In addition to its ballroom – which featured a wooden dance floor with a capacity for about 1,000 people in the building’s center, couches bordering part of the dance floor, a bandstand to the west and a beer garden area to the east – the Aragon also drew many guests to its outdoor Olympic-size swimming pool, known as the Aragon Plunge.
Wills Point
Located near a grove of ancient oaks the plunge was open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. During evening hours the pool, with a 10-foot-tall diving board, was illuminated with 11,000 watts of underwater lighting. In 1948, national prominence came to the old Aragon site, when Bob Wills of the extremely popular Western swing band, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, purchased the entertainment center and renamed it Wills Point.
Wills selected the site with the intention of turning it into a venue similar to the popular Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Okla. Wills Point became the headquarters for Bob Wills’ musical operations, thus drawing band members and others associated with the band to establish residences in the area. One such band member was former Carmichael resident, Texas Playboy and world-renowned five-string mandolinist and violinist Tiny Moore, who described Bob Wills in a Sacramento Union newspaper article as “a master as a band leader. Playing with Bob when he was on the bandstand, and on the ball, was sheer joy,” Moore told The Union. “When he would walk on stage, it was like a light would come on. The band would click five to 10 times better. Everyone would play better and probably with less effort. It’s a strange thing.”
After performing for a short time at Wills Point, Bob Wills and his band took their act on the road and eventually Bob Wills’ brother, Billy Jack Wills, who had his own Western Swing band, took hold of the reins as the Point’s regular performing house band. Along with many other acts that performed at Wills Point Ballroom, Billy Jack Wills continued to draw many people during its heyday. In 1950, Tiny Moore was hired by Bob Wills as the manager of the Wills Point ballroom.
Chuckling a bit when thinking back on visiting Wills Point during the 1950s, resident Karen Peart remembered her reaction to seeing a sign on an easel with an advertisement for Billy Jack’s band. “I was probably about 8 or 9 years old and I went out with my mom, my dad and my brothers to go swimming there at Wills Plunge,” Karen said. “That was really out in the country, even for those of us who lived in North Sacramento. I do remember walking around near the pool and seeing this big black and white picture of this band and they had the big cowboy hats and they were dressed Texan-style.”
End of an Era
The popularity of television during the mid-1950s severely affected business at the ballroom. Moore described this impact, noting that within six months after local TV station Channel 40 went on the air, crowds at the ballroom were half the size. Tragically, the ballroom was destroyed in a fiery blaze on June 15, 1956 and the following day, the Sacramento Bee reported; “Flash fire levels Wills Point Ballroom: arson is suspected.” The tragedy marked the end of the ballroom, but the plunge continued to operate for at least another year.
(Story taken and edited from Arden-Carmichael News, Sept. 24, 2009)
