Upon his release, Haggard started digging ditches and wiring houses for his brother. Soon he was performing again, and later began recording with Tally Records. The Bakersfield Sound was developing in the area as a reaction against the over-produced honky tonk of the
Nashville Sound. Haggard's first song was "Skid Row." In
1962, Haggard wound up performing at a
Wynn Stewart show in
Las Vegas and heard Wynn's "
Sing a Sad Song". He asked for permission to record it, and the resulting single was a national hit in
1964.
Haggard released a series of successful singles in the early
1960s, including "Just Between the Two of Us" (duet with Bonnie Owens) and "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers", both songs written by
Liz Anderson. He then signed to
Capitol Records and released "I'm Gonna Break Every Heart I Can" to limited sales. In
1966, however, his second Capitol single, "Swinging Doors", was a Top Five hit and Haggard had become a nationally known superstar. During the late 1960s, Haggard's chart success was consistent and impressive. "The Bottle Let Me Down", "The Fugitive", "Branded Man", "
Mama Tried", "Sing Me Back Home", "
Hungry Eyes," "
Workin' Man's Blues," "The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde" and "I Threw Away the Rose" are among the more well-remembered titles. "Mama Tried" and "Killers Three Theme", sung by Merle, were part of the
soundtrack to the
1968 film
Killers Three, which also included Haggard's acting debut.
In
1968, Haggard's first tribute LP
Same Train, Different Time: A Tribute to Jimmie Rodgers, was released to great acclaim.
"
Okie From Muskogee", 1969's apparent political statement, was actually written as an abjectly humorous character portrait. Haggard called the song a "documentation of the uneducated that lived in America at the time." (Phipps
2001). He said later on the
Bob Edwards Show that "I wrote it when I recently got out of the joint. I knew what it was like to lose my freedom, and I was getting really mad at these protestors. They didn't know anything more about the war in Vietnam than I did. I thought how my dad, who was from Oklahoma, would have felt. I felt I knew how those boys fighting in Vietnam felt." Later, Alabama Gov.
George Wallace asked Haggard for an endorsement, which Haggard declined. However, Haggard does express sympathy with the "parochial" or conservative way of life expressed in "Okie" and songs such as "
The Fightin' Side of Me" (ibid). It should be noted, however, that after "Okie" was released, Haggard wanted to release a self-penned song titled "Irma Jackson" about an interracial couple; the single was quashed by his record company, although
Tony Booth went on to record it in
1970.
Regardless of exactly how they were intended, "Okie From Muskogee", "The Fightin' Side of Me", and "I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am" were hailed as anthems of the
silent majority and presaged a trend in patriotic songs that would reappear years later with
Charlie Daniels' "In America",
Lee Greenwood's "
God Bless the USA", and others. But other Haggard songs were appreciated regardless of politics: the
Grateful Dead began performing Haggard's tune "Mama Tried" in
1969, and it stayed in their regular repertoire thereafter; singer-activist
Joan Baez, whose political leanings couldn't be more different from those expressed in Haggard's above-referenced songs, nonetheless covered "Sing Me Back Home" and "
Mama Tried" in
1969. The Everly Brothers also used both songs in their 1968 country-rock album
Roots.
Haggard's next LP was
A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (Or My Salute to Bob Wills), which helped spark a revival of
western swing.
In
1972, then-Gov.
Ronald Reagan gave Haggard a full pardon for his past crimes. Haggard often quips that few figures in history can become public enemy No. 1 and man of the year in the same 10-year period.
During the early to mid
1970s, Haggard's chart domination continued with songs like "Someday We'll Look Back", "Carolyn", "Grandma Harp", "Always Wanting You" and "The Roots of My Raising". He also wrote and performed the theme song to the TV series
Movin' On, which gave him a further top-ten country hit. The 1973
recession anthem "If We Make It Through December" furthered Haggard's status as a champion of the working class.
Haggard was inducted into the
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in
1977.
