A PBS one hour special airing in prime time, Sunday, 10pm, January 24, 1971.
Merle Haggard shows the talent it took to win the industry's Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year awards as he hits the concert circuit with his wife Bonnie and the Strangers.
HIGHLIGHTS:
"Okie from Muskogee," "Mama's Hungary Eyes," " The Fightin' Side of Me," "Branded Man," "Today, I Started Loving you Again," "Right or Wrong," "Misery."
Merle also imitates Johnny Cash, singing "Jackson" and "Orange Blossom Special." Off-stage Merle talks with trouper Ernest Tubb; and Merle's mother, Flossie Mae, discusses his boyhood in Bakersfield, California.
Merle Haggard, country's music "Okie from Muskogee," is the subject of an intimate profile on NET's Fanfare. Titled, "And Now, All the Way from Bakersfield, CA, Merle Haggard," the program enacts the drama prior to the Country Music Association awards in Nashville. At these ceremonies, Haggard emerges as the country music "entertainer of the year," top male vocalist, and performer with the best single record and single album. Merle Haggard the performer is seen in wide-ranging concerts from Providence, RI to Pueblo, Colorado, and many of his best-known songs are contained in the hour program ("Okie from Muskogee," "Fightin' Side of Me," "Mama Tried," "Working Man's Blues," "Mama's Hungry Eyes," "Today, I Started Loving You Again," and "Branded Man." Through these songs and through Haggard's comments the program seeks to define him in human and in social terms. His youthful vagabond life is suggested when he sings of his wild oats ("Mama used to pray my crops'd fail") and of his prison years("In spite of Sunday learning, I turned 21 in prison"). His current popularity is delineated in scenes with his admirers we 're your fans, we all love ya," shouts a woman outside the auditorium in Hartford, Conn. "Oh my goodness, oh my gosh," replies Haggard.