Merle Haggard Sings About Huntsville

While the town of Huntsville, Texas may seem like a quite little community in the middle of the state, it has actually had an impact on popular culture and has been the residence of some famous personalities. One of its claims to fame is due to a popular country and western song by Merle Haggard. The song is titled Huntsville and refers to the local prison. This somewhat notorious association is similar to that created by Johnny Cash and his song Folsom Prison Blues, which brought the small Californian town to instant and lasting fame. This is an interesting fact that most of the tourists who are staying in one of the hotels Huntsville will be pleased to know.

Haggard was actually a California native, and was born in Bakersfield in April of 1937. He, along with fellow country artist Buck Owens, are primarily responsible for the sub-genre of music known as Bakersfield Sound. This music incorporates a rough edge to the overall sound and uses vocal harmonies. Its trademark is the Fender Telecaster guitar to create a twang that is unique to this style. When it was first developed and created an impact on the country scene, this type of music stood in contrast to the more polished Nashville sound.

It is appropriate that Haggard would sing about Huntsville prison, as he as experience time in a state penitentiary himself. He served three year’s time at San Quentin in California for robbing a Bakersfield tavern, and this wasn’t his first brush with the law. However, it was during his incarceration that he was in the audience for three of Johnny Cash’s prison concerts. He was inspired enough by Cash’s performance that he decided to turn his life around and carve out a career in music. Throughout the 1970s he was associated with the outlaw country music scene. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame for his popular hit Okie from Muskogee.