Merle Haggard, the working man’s poet, an architect of the Bakersfield Sound, and an artist who influenced country music like few others, died Wednesday in California. He had just turned 79 years old, ...

At age 12, Merle Haggard received his first-ever guitar from older brother Lowell. Teaching himself to play, the “Okie From Muskogee” hitmaker hoped to earn a living as a session guitarist.

On October 10, 1969, outlaw country extraordinaire Merle Haggard and his band The Strangers recorded the first live album of his career, Okie From Muskogee, at the Civic Center in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Country giant Merle Haggard, who rose from poverty and prison to international fame though his songs about outlaws, underdogs and an abiding sense of national pride in such ...