born April 6, 1937, Bakersfield, Calif., U.S. U.S. country-music singer and songwriter. Poverty marked Haggard's childhood, and in his teens he began a career of theft and burglary. After his release from San Quentin prison in 1960, he returned to Bakersfield and became a professional musician. He was soon producing hit recordings regularly, including "Mama Tried," "The Bottle Let Me Down," "The Fightin' Side of Me," "Okie from Muskogee" (controversial for its apparent attack on hippies), and later hit duets with George Jones and Willie Nelson
born Nov. 29, 1917, Rosewood, Ky., U.S. died Oct. 20, 1983, Tahlequah, Okla. U.S. country music singer and songwriter. Travis learned banjo as a youth, later applying banjo technique to the guitar. He worked on radio in Cincinnati in the 1930s. Moving to California in 1944, he quickly rose to prominence on the strength of his guitar style and for writing and recording honky-tonk classics such as "Divorce Me C.O.D." and "No Vacancy" and the coal-mining protest songs "Sixteen Tons" and "Dark as a Dungeon
born April 6, 1937, Bakersfield, Calif., U.S. U.S. country-music singer and songwriter. Poverty marked Haggard's childhood, and in his teens he began a career of theft and burglary. After his release from San Quentin prison in 1960, he returned to Bakersfield and became a professional musician. He was soon producing hit recordings regularly, including "Mama Tried," "The Bottle Let Me Down," "The Fightin' Side of Me," "Okie from Muskogee" (controversial for its apparent attack on hippies), and later hit duets with George Jones and Willie Nelson
born Nov. 29, 1917, Rosewood, Ky., U.S. died Oct. 20, 1983, Tahlequah, Okla. U.S. country music singer and songwriter. Travis learned banjo as a youth, later applying banjo technique to the guitar. He worked on radio in Cincinnati in the 1930s. Moving to California in 1944, he quickly rose to prominence on the strength of his guitar style and for writing and recording honky-tonk classics such as "Divorce Me C.O.D." and "No Vacancy" and the coal-mining protest songs "Sixteen Tons" and "Dark as a Dungeon