Introduction:
From a troubled childhood to the unforgiving walls of a San Quentin prison cell, Merle Haggard certainly overcame plenty of obstacles on his own to get to some of his greatest career highs, but none of it would have been possible without the help of one woman. Haggard would say as much in later interviews, even after the pair divorced following a 13-year marriage.
His final memory with her, although heartbreaking, is a beautiful testament to the love and respect the pair had for one another, even as the natural curvature of their live paths’ led them apart.
Merle Haggard On The Woman Who Came Up With His Hits
Merle Haggard had just divorced from his first wife, Leona Hobbs, when he met Bonnie Owens in sunny California, 1961. The pair began working together musically, and with that, a romantic relationship formed. Haggard and Owens married in 1965. This was the same year the former artist won the Academy of Country Music Award for Female Vocalist of the Year. Despite being at a career high of her own, Owens switched gears around this time. She focused more of her energy on helping Haggard with his career and raising their family.
During a 2012 appearance at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Haggard recalled, “I got into a heated period where I was writing pretty good. It was right after she and I had got married. If I even indicated that I was going to write, well, she was there with a pad and a pen. She didn’t miss anything, you know. There wouldn’t have been no “Mama Tried” or “Working Man Blues” if it wouldn’t have been for her. She took the words down at the right time. I think it was ‘68 or ‘69 we had six BMI Awards that year, and she took down the songs. Each one of them, she took them down.”
Haggard said that included “Today I Started Loving You Again.” The song was inspired by a comment he had made to Owens in the middle of a grueling tour. While embarking on a one-week break from the road, Haggard told Owens he finally had time to love her again. “And she said, ‘What an idea for a song.’”
Haggard wrote the song in one night while Owens was out grabbing him some food. But he gave her a majority of the song’s publishing rights.
A Heartbreaking But Touching Final Memory
Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens, the woman he credits with helping him create some of the biggest hits of his career, were married for 13 years. They divorced in 1978, but they maintained a positive relationship and even continued touring in the decades that followed. Owens’ health began to decline in the early 2000s, and in 2006, she entered hospice for Alzheimer’s disease. While at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2012, Haggard recalled the last time he saw Owens.
Haggard was visiting with several other people when Owens grabbed him by the arm and said, “I got to take you down to the room.” When they entered the room, Haggard saw a giant photo of her and Owens, much younger, on the wall behind her bed. “She looked at me, and she said, ‘He’s my favorite.’ She didn’t identify me with that picture,” Haggard said, his voice shaky.
As devastating of a final memory as that may be, it’s also an incredibly touching testament to how much Bonnie Owens loved Merle Haggard and how much he loved her back. A lifelong marriage might not have been in the cards for the couple. But the music they created and the legacy they built together are prizes enough from a relationship rooted in love and respect—both for one another and the musical genre they helped evolve throughout the 1960s.