OldiesButGoodies

Country

Without her influence, Merle Haggard’s career might have taken a very different path. The timeless classics we know today, like “Mama Tried” and “Working Man,” may never have reached the world without the presence of this remarkable woman. She stood behind him during his most crucial years, offering the support, inspiration, and grounding he needed. In many ways, she was the hidden force that helped shape not only Haggard’s music but also his lasting legacy.

Without This Woman, Merle Haggard Might Have Never Released Hits Like “Mama Tried” and “Working Man” - American Songwriter

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.

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Merle Haggard’s childhood was becoming increasingly chaotic when something entered his life that would eventually change everything: a guitar. His older brother Lowell gave him one when Merle was around 12. Merle began teaching himself, absorbing the records and styles of country heroes such as Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams. There were no expensive lessons preparing him for Nashville. There was simply a troubled California kid listening closely and learning how another man’s sadness could live inside a melody. Merle would still make plenty of mistakes. Music didn’t instantly rescue him from running away, juvenile detention or eventually prison. But the guitar remained. Years later, millions would recognize Merle’s voice within seconds. Perhaps that’s because he wasn’t merely learning how to sing songs as a boy. He was slowly learning how to tell the truth about his own life.

Merle Haggard rarely needed to invent heartbreak. He had known it since childhood. In 1946, when Merle was only nine years old, his father, James Haggard, died following a stroke. For a boy who deeply needed his father’s presence, the loss became a turning point. His mother, Flossie, worked to support the family. Merle, meanwhile, became increasingly restless. He skipped school, ran away, got into trouble, and began a long journey through juvenile institutions that eventually led somewhere far darker. Looking back at his life, it is difficult not to see that nine-year-old boy behind many of the adult Merle Haggard’s songs. People later called him a rebel, an outlaw and a survivor. But before any of those labels existed, there was simply a grieving boy who had lost his dad—and never seemed to completely outrun that loss.

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