Merle Ronald Haggard was born on April 6, 1937 is an American country music singer, guitarist and songwriter. Emerging from prison in the 1960s, Haggard was one of the early innovators of the Bakersfield Sound.

With his hard biting electric guitar, he almost singlehandedly introduced the electric sound to country music. By the 1970s, he was aligned with the growing outlaw country movement, and has continued to release successful albums through the 1990s and into the 2000s.

His work in familiar country themes – jail, betrayal, drinking and wandering – include a directness that reflects his own life experience. His deep, grumbling voice and his guitar work gives his country a blues-like quality in many cuts.

In 2006, Haggard was back on the radio, in a duet with Gretchen Wilson, "Politically Uncorrect". He also featured on "Pledge Allegiance to the Hag" on Eric Church's debut album.

On April 24, 2006 Haggard's former wife Bonnie Owens died in Bakersfield, CA due to Alzheimer's disease. She was 76.

On December 19, 2006, the Kern County Board of Supervisors approved a citizen led resolution to re-name a portion of 7th Standard Road in Oildale "Merle Haggard Drive." Merle Haggard Drive will stretch from North Chester Avenue west to Highway 99.

The first street travelers will turn onto when they leave the new airport terminal will be Merle Haggard Drive. The name change, however is conditional in that $41,100 be raised by private funds to pay for the new road signs that will go up on county surface streets and along Highway 99. Haggard's Oildale home, made from a converted box car, is still lived in just south of Norris Road.