Pullin’ ‘Tubes: Learning To Live With Myself

We’re big fans of PBS’ long running American Masters series, which debuted in 1986 and features profiles of iconic figures that “have left a profound impact on the nation’s popular culture.” The show – which has already featured episodes on Sam Cooke, The Doors and I.M. Pei – debuted their latest installment last week focusing on the life of country music legend Merle Haggard called Learning To Live With Myself.

Born in 1937, Haggard led a troubled early life after his father died and found himself in and out of juvenile detention centers and prison – which provided the subject matter for Mama Tried. It was after seeing Johnny Cash perform while an inmate at San Quentin Prison that Hag decided to turn around his life and pursue a career in music and was one of the artists that was influential in developing the Bakersfield Sound. Earlier this year the now 72 year-old Haggard released his latest album, and first since overcoming cancer, I Am What I Am on Vanguard Records.

Here’s Hag with his most identifiable song, Okie From Muskogee, which peaked at number one on Billboard’s Country charts in November of 1969…

For those of you that missed it you can watch the full episode online here.

Related Content

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter