The origins of the Bakersfield sound
On Sept. 29, 1969, Merle Haggard released a track protesting the protesters of the Vietnam War called “Okie from Muskogee.” The song and the accompanying live album of the same name pushed him into the stratosphere of country music legend and icon — an instant hit that came to define not only his career but the sound he helped pioneer.
“Okie” not only clearly surrounds the legend of Haggard but is largely credited with being one of the tentpoles of the Bakersfield sound, a brand of country most associated with electric guitars along with an infusion of hard-edged blues and early rock ’n’ roll beats. The Bakersfield sound has an unvarnished veneer that relies heavily on hard times and folklore, the antithesis of the well-produced sheen and rhinestone glitter out of Nashville.
Haggard grew up in Oildale, California, an enclave of 34,000 about 3.5 miles north of downtown Bakersfield. His father, James Francis, died at 47 of a brain hemorrhage when Merle was only 9 years old.
His older brother Lowell had passed down his guitar, and young Merle taught himself by listening to country greats like Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell, the latter, though from Texas, widely credited as providing early inspiration for the Bakersfield sound.
By the time Haggard was 13, he had grown restless, and his interest in things like passing bad checks and petty theft caused his mother, Flossie Mae, to send him to a weekend in a juvenile facility, hoping to scare him straight. But that experiment only made matters worse, and Haggard was back committing petty crimes at a furious rate in the wake of the visit.
That same year he was caught shoplifting and sent to a juvenile hall, for real this time. He spent much of his youth hitchhiking, hopping trains, including to Texas for a stint, and was jailed at 14 on suspicion of armed robbery.
Out of school and in and out of jail, dead-end jobs and general trouble, Haggard got the chance to see Frizzell in a concert in Bakersfield and started singing along to an opener while standing backstage. Legend has it Frizzell said he wouldn’t go on unless Haggard, then only 16, could go up before him, and he did. After that, Haggard started playing bars at night while working in the oil fields during the day.
But Haggard didn’t walk the straight and narrow for long as his music career didn’t take off and money issues started to pile up. In 1957, Haggard attempted to rob a roadhouse and was caught and thrown into Bakersfield Jail.
On Feb. 21, 1958, after one of his reported 17 attempts to escape jail, he was transferred to San Quentin — still months shy of his 21st birthday. While in San Quentin, Haggard continued to struggle mentally, being fired from several prison jobs. He survived his own missteps and side hustles, including running booze with his cellmate and doing time in solitary confinement for being drunk.
It was in solitary Haggard met Caryl Chessman. Chessman, who wrote four books, including the memoir “Cell 2455, Death Row: A Condemned Man’s Own Story,” and made a lasting impression on the young inmate. Between getting to know Chessman and seeing Johnny Cash perform at the prison on New Year’s Day 1959, Haggard decided to do better. He earned his high school diploma and was released from San Quentin on parole in 1960.
Haggard’s struggles have only made him more relatable. “You know trauma will make a young man do things like hopping a train or do little crimes,” Bakersfield local Eric Warnock, a docent at the Kern County Museum, noted. “I think Merle means a lot to people because we’ve all endured some kind of trauma. He got into trouble. He said some things and sang some things he didn’t mean. He atoned for them.”