Merle Haggard: Learning to Live with Myself on PBS

A new episodeof the PBS series American Masters will highlight the life and career of legendary country singer Merle Haggard.

This documentary follows singer Merle Haggard as he describes his life and career and includes interviews with his family and friends in and out of the country music business. Haggard has had an eventful life, which he talks about openly to the cameras and to his fans.

“I’m living proof that things go wrong in America and I’m also living proof that things can go right,” Haggard says. Haggard was a troubled kid and teenager. His problems began with the death of his beloved father. Soon after his father passed away, Haggard went down a path of personal destruction. He was a delinquent, in simple terms.

Merle Haggard was sent to several different juvenile detention facilities, but always managed to escape. He was beaten in the facilities and developed a rugged philosophy about life. Then he was sent to San Quentin prison where the hard-core prisoners spend time and where many have been executed. Haggard was dumped in the middle of this tough prison, and it was there he decided to turn his life around.

His hard life helped him with his career. At first he emulated his singing idols, but soon developed a style of his own.

“I would’ve become a lifetime criminal if music hadn’t saved my ass,” Haggard confesses. While many people feel music is for the soul, Haggard is the first to admit it saved his soul.

Merle Haggard: Learning to Live with Myself premiers Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 9 pm ET on PBS.