Johnny Cash’s unprecedented January 1958 performance at San Quentin Prison did more than offer up a slice of normalcy for the more than 1,000 inmates in attendance. It also set the wheels in motion for a particular prisoner named Merle Haggard. Then serving a 15-year sentence for robbery, that day marked Haggard’s transition from common criminal to one of the most influential country music artists of all time. On this day (Jan. 24) in 1968, the Hag scored his third No. 1 single with “Sing Me Back Home”, arguably one of the saddest country tunes ever written and recorded.
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Merle Haggard’s Rocky Start
For Merle Haggard, the “outlaw country” label wasn’t something he slipped on like a costume. His father, James, died of a brain hemorrhage when the future Country Music Hall of Famer was just 9 years old, setting him upon a dark path.
After various stints in juvenile detention centers for offenses like truancy and petty larceny, Haggard graduated to robbery. This landed him in California’s San Quentin State Prison, where he befriended a man named James “Rabbit” Kendrick. Rabbit was doing time for bank robbery.
A Fateful Near-Escape Attempt
As the country music legend wrote in his 1981 autobiography, Merle Haggard: Sing Me Back Home, Rabbit hatched a plot to escape from prison. While he extended the invitation to Haggard, the inmate also cautioned against it. “You can sing and write songs and play guitar real good,” he reportedly told the “Mama Tried” singer. “You can be somebody someday.”
Ultimately, Haggard opted to stay behind. Rabbit escape attempt was successful, shipping out of San Quentin in a packing crate. However, his newfound freedom came to a halt two weeks later. On Feb. 23, 1961, California Highway Patrolman Richard Duvall pulled his vehicle over on the Barstow Freeway near Victorville. When Duvall ordered Rabbit out of the car, he picked up a .32 automatic gun and shot the trooper twice, killing him.
Six days later, law enforcement recaptured Rabbit at a Shell Beach near San Luis Obispo. On Nov. 3, 1961, Haggard watched his friend take his final walk through San Quentin. He was executed in the San Quentin gas chamber at age 31.
“Even though the crime was brutal and the guy was an incorrigible criminal, it’s a feeling you never forget when you see someone you know make that last walk… That was a strong picture that was left in my mind,” Merle Haggard recalled in a 1977 interview with Billboard.
Featured image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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