The Hag

Mark Pulliam over at Law & Liberty reviews Marc Eliot's biography of Merle Haggard:

It is sometimes difficult to place popular musicians in a larger cultural context, and this was not the goal of Marc Eliot’s The Hag, an impressively thorough biography of country music icon Merle Haggard. ... Fans of Haggard or country music generally will enjoy The Hag as a celebration of Haggard’s contribution to the “Bakersfield sound,” a distinctive variation of a genre typically associated with Nashville. Readers may balk at Eliot’s comparison of his subject to Robert Frost, Frank Sinatra, Bob Wills, and Bob Dylan, but they will emerge with a deeper appreciation for a musician who is often undeservedly overshadowed by “crossover” artists such as Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings.

I did not know Haggard was a prisoner in the audience when Cash did his concert at San Quentin.

It's an enjoyable review, and I expect to enjoy the biography as well.

Of course, as his biography notes, Haggard used cocaine and marijuana, and he was married five times. But good musicians tell the stories of a people, not necessarily of themselves.