Julien Baker and Torres turned 21 in prison doing life without parole. No one could steer them right, but mama tried. Mama tried, mama tried to raise them better, but her pleading they denied. That ...

In his 1968 song Mama Tried, Merle Haggard sang of turning 21 in prison. Haggard, who died Wednesday in California on his 79th birthday, had done just that, though not, as he sang in the song, “doing ...

Merle Haggard was one of the greatest country singer/songwriters to walk the earth. He was also one of the only (reformed) criminals in the Outlaw Country movement. Haggard also helped to bring the ...

Merle Haggard is a country music icon. He wrote, recorded, and released some of the most memorable songs in the genre’s history. Songs like “Mama Tried,” “If We Make It Through December,” “Sliver ...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – One of Merle Haggard’s most famous songs was “Mama Tried,” but the woman who stood behind the Bakersfield-born singer longest in his life was his older sister Lillian, 17 ...

The late Merle Haggard sang about breakups, working, loving, fighting, American flags, getting drunk and working some more. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WORKIN' MAN BLUES") HAGGARD: (Singing) Well, hey, hey, ...

Merle Haggard was an escape artist. The future country music legend broke out of juvenile hall and prison 17 times by his own count as a teenager and young man. But his greatest escape was getting out ...