Book summary

Merle Haggard's biography is a candidly told tale of dissipated talent, drugs, women, and country music. One of the most significant country artists of the 1960s, Haggard's musical strength came from the realism of his lyrics, which in turn reflected the difficulties of his own life, perhaps the defining event of which was the death of his father when Haggard was nine years old. His problems with authority, which were to continue for much of his professional career, started soon afterwards. Sentenced to 15 years in San Quentin, and subsequently placed in solitary confinement, he had several conversations with the convicted rapist and killer Caryl Chessman through an air vent, and though he states they had no effect on his later rehabilitation, his life appears to have improved considerably thereafter. On his release he became part of the thriving Bakersfield country music scene and had the first in a string of hits that would continue through to the mid-'80s. MY HOUSE OF MEMORIES is a blunt retelling of Merle Haggard's hard-scrabble life, written with the pithy turn of phrase of a master songsmith.