Merle Haggard is one of the only country stars to be able to sing songs like “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive” and “Mama Tried” and sound truly believable. This is because he lived those songs, to an extent. While he didn’t turn 21 in prison doing life without parole, he did spend time behind bars before he started his country music career. He famously saw Johnny Cash perform while doing time in California’s infamous San Quentin prison. As the story goes, that performance inspired him to change his life and follow his dream of being a musician.
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Before he passed away, Haggard sat down with Dan Rather to talk about his life and career. During their conversation, he recalled the day that Cash performed for the inmates in San Quentin.
Merle Haggard on Seeing Johnny Cash Behind Bars
Dan Rather asked if it was true that Merle Haggard saw Johnny Cash perform while he was in prison. Haggard told him that it was true. However, they didn’t meet one another until years later. “He didn’t meet me and I didn’t meet him then. The day he was there was New Year’s Day 1958,” Haggard recalled.
“He’d been over in San Francisco having a party the night before and he’d sung or talked his voice completely off. He could just barely talk. I thought ‘This guy’s in trouble. There’s five thousand men here and he can’t talk and can’t sing.’ I was engrossed with wondering how he was going to pull this off,” he said.
While many believe that seeing Cash perform would be a highlight for anyone, that wasn’t the case back in the late fifties. “First of all, country music was not like it is now. Country music was down your nose at that time, compared to what it is now. So, a visit from Johnny Cash was not all that cool in the joint,” Haggard explained. “Before he started his show, he asked for a glass of water. He pointed at one of the guards and this guard was standing in the daylight of the doorway chewing gum. When he asked for the water, he mocked that guard,” Haggard recalled while making exaggerated open-mouthed chewing motions. “Well, he won the whole audience,” he added. Cash did something that all of the inmates wanted to do but couldn’t for fear of repercussion.
Then, Haggard explained how the concert changed things within the prison. “When Cash left there was guys all over that yard with guitars. They all knew that I played and there must have been 20 guys come up to me and say ‘Can you show me how he did that intro on Folsom Prison Blues?’” he recalled. “Pretty soon, we were more popular, we had more clout because we understood what that guy did.”
Haggard released his debut single “Singing My Heart Out” in 1962, just four years after seeing Cash perform in San Quentin.
Featured Image by Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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