Country Music Legend Merle Haggard Dies at 79.

Merle Haggard, the country music outlaw who
lived the life he sang about in his songs, died
Wednesday on his 79th birthday after losing a
battle with double-pneoumonia.

His death at his home near Redding, California
was confirmed by his manager in an interview
with NBC affiliate WSMV .

Haggard, best-known
for songs like the
anti-hippie anthem
"Okie From
Muskogee," "Mama
Tried" and "Workin'
Man Blues," had been
sick for some time.

He had just canceled
his April concert
dates as he
recovered from a
recurring bout of
double pneumonia. He had also nixed dates in
February and March.

Born on April 6, 1937 in Oildale, California —
inside a refurbished railroad boxcar — Haggard's
life had all the elements of a classic country
song.

There were troubles with the law (he did time in
San Quentin Prison as a young man for
attempted robbery), troubles with women (he was
married five times), there were dead-end jobs (he
dug ditches to support himself when he launched
his musical career), and other struggles.

But Haggard also waved the flag at a time when
that was considered "square," most famously in
his first and biggest 1969 hit in which he
declared himself proud to be an Okie and sang
lyrics like, "We don't burn no draft cards down on
Main Street / We like livin' right, and bein' free."

Haggard could lay claim to Oklahoma because
his parents had moved to California during the
Great Depression to escape the Dust Bowl.

Losing his father at age 9, Haggard had a rough-
and-tumble childhood marked by frequent run-ins
with police. He was in solitary when he turned
21, an event that became the inspiration for his
song "Mama Tried."

"Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading I
denied," he sang. "That leaves only me to blame
'cause Mama tried."

But prison was also where Haggard was inspired
to follow his musical muse after seeing Johnny
Cash perform in 1958, They two men later
performed together.

Haggard, however, had little patience with
polished Nashville country music, favoring a style
that grew out of the honky-tonk bars which relied
heavily on the twang of Fender Telecaster guitars
and came to be known as the Bakersfield Sound.

He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of
Fame in 1994.