My second wife Bonnie Owens and I worked together after we divorced for a period of maybe 20 years. And I managed to stay friends with another wife. And then there's one that I don't mess with. Everybody's got one of those.

He married his current wife Theresa Ann Lane on September 11 1993. He was arrested for attempting to rob a Bakersfield tavern in 1957 and was sent to the San Quentin state prison for three years. It's always been my nature to fight the system.

Merle Ronald Haggard (born April 6 1937) is an American country music song writer singer guitarist fiddler and instrumentalist. Along with Buck Owens Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster and the unique mix with the traditional country steel guitar sound new vocal harmony styles in which the words are minimal and a rough edge not heard on the more poliMerle Haggardd Nashville Sound recordings of the same era.