The Hag

The Life, Times, and Music of Merle Haggard

By: Marc Eliot

Narrated by: Marc Eliot

Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

The definitive biography of country legend Merle Haggard by the New York Times best-selling biographer of Clint Eastwood, Cary Grant, The Eagles, and more.

Merle Haggard was one of the most important country music musicians who ever lived. His astonishing musical career stretched across the second half of the 20th century and into the first two decades of the next, during which he released an extraordinary 63 albums, 38 that made it on to Billboard's Country Top 10, 13 that went to number one, and 37 number one hit singles. With his ample songbook, unique singing voice, and brilliant phrasing that illuminated his uncompromising commitment to individual freedom, cut with the monkey of personal despair on his back and a chip the size of Monument Valley on his shoulder, Merle's music and his extraordinary charisma helped change the look, the sound, and the fury of American music.

The Hag tells, without compromise, the extraordinary life of Merle Haggard, augmented by the deep secondary research, sharp detail, and ample anecdotal material that biographer Marc Eliot is known for, and enriched and deepened by more than 100 new and far-ranging interviews. It explores the uniquely American life of an angry rebellious boy from the wrong side of the tracks bound for a life of crime and a permanent home in a penitentiary, who found redemption through the music of "the common man".

Merle Haggard's story is a great American saga of a man who lifted himself out of poverty, oppression, loss, and wanderlust to catapult himself into the pantheon of American artists admired around the world. Eliot has interviewed more than 100 people who knew Haggard, worked with him, were influenced by him, loved him, or hated him. The book celebrates the accomplishments and explore the singer's infamous dark side: the self-created turmoil that expressed itself through drugs, women, booze, and betrayal. The Hag offers a richly anecdotal narrative that will elevate the life and work of Merle Haggard to where both properly belong, in the pantheon of American music and letters.

The Hag is the definitive account of this unique American original and will speak to fans of country music and rock biographies alike.

©2022 Marc Eliot (P)2022 Hachette Books

If you want to understand America…

If you want to understand America… start here. What an extraordinary human. Authentic to the core. Through Merle Haggard’s story, meticulously reported by Marc Eliot, not only do we learn the history of Country and Western music and meet the artists who shaped it, we get a glimpse of “the silent majority” struggles, along with social, economic and political forces that have shaped this country’s history and culture. I have a whole new level of appreciation for The Hag. Highly recommend!

Worth Your time

I have been listening to Merle Haggard for many decades. I've learned some of his songs
and even recorded a few for my own enjoyment. I knew a little about him, once you listen
to this book you will know who he was and how he became a country music superstar!
This is a very detailed account of his life and rise to the top!

very interesting book

Learned alot about the Hag in this book. Interesting story about this great musician

Greatest book about the Greatest Musician to ever walk the earth!!!

Well done all the way around. You get a behind the scenes peak at the legend from some of his closest friends and fam. Was truly as unbelievable as the HAG himself!!! Def for the Hag faithful, Thank you

WOW!

Just when you thought you couldn’t love Merle anymore! What a life.I laughed,got mad & cried….Amazing bio

Good overall

Book was good overall, but more of a history of country music in general as much as Merle Haggard.. interesting to me in that I too was a musician during the time period and r3membered some of the incidents happening. I never got accustomed to the presentation, not the best, in my opinion.

Great biography!

This fella did a great job researching Merle Haggard. I enjoyed the information but geez, the narration is awful! Still worth a listen and it does supply comic relief at time with the voice impersonating. Some of the writing is elementary, like “the trip was a rough one and I don’t mean just the road..” but still, great info and insight into the Hag! Loved it.

Very good, worthwhile, but could have been better

Overall, I love this book. However, there were a few things that detracted from this being a slam dunk five star review. First, the author, while obviously a very talented writer, should not be an audiobook narrator. His ridiculous impersonations of various characters in the story (Buck Owens, for example) bordered on insulting. This and his mediocre narration detracted from what could’ve been one of the best audiobooks I ever read.

Also, the author got a few facts wrong about songs, etc. I’ve been a long time classic country fan. I grew up with the stuff and I know if I caught some errors they’re probably other ones lurking. Of course, every book has some errors in it. Nobody is perfect regarding any subject but I found it irritating. That being said, for the true Haggard fan, I would absolutely recommend this. It was very good material and very compellingly told (writing not narration). I was both surprised and touched by the author’s comments about his own fandom of Merle Haggard in his notes section.

Recommend with slight reservations.

the book was great

I loved the book. I had no idea half of the struggles Merle went through. I did not like the way Marc would alter his voice for different peoples recollections. He made men sound like women and women like uneducated loosers. would have been better just to read the whole book in his own voice!

Entertaining yes, but...

The only unforgivable aspect of this book is the fact that he doesn't even mention Haggard's partnership with George Jones. How can you write a definitive book about Merle or George and not at least touch on their work or friendship? I think George's name came up maybe four times in the entire book with no mention of any duets or performing together.

The voice impersonations by the narrator of Willie Nelson, Buck Owens and anybody from Europe were pretty difficult to listen to. Somebody else already brought up "Buddy Holly and the Critics", but I still have to mention it because good lord..

It was a good listen, but if I'm reading a book about Willie Nelson, I want to hear a bunch of stories about him and Waylon. Same goes for Haggard and Jones.