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Marty Haggard
Marty Haggard
Marty Haggard will be performing “A Tribute To My Dad Merle Haggard” at the Llano Country Opry on Saturday, August 3, at the Lantex Theater in downtown Llano, Texas. The show will begin at 2:30 p.m., and tickets are available at the Llano Chamber of Commerce, www. heartoftexascountry.com or by calling (325) 247-5354.
Marty Haggard was born June 18, 1958, in Bakersfield, California. He was named after Marty Robbins. At the time that Marty Haggard was born, his father, Merle Haggard, was serving time in San Quentin State Prison.
Marty Haggard was raised by his grandmother in a railroad boxcar, but by the time the younger Haggard was 12, he had moved in with his father.
He began an acting career in his teens. He had a recurring role in the CBS drama The Fitzpatricks, and a bit part in a TV movie starring Henry Fonda. While driving to the filming location of the TV movie, he stopped for a hitchhiker who then shot him and left him for dead. A wounded Haggard drove for 15 miles before spotting a 13-year-old girl who called an ambulance for him. He recovered fully but later developed an infection in the bullet wounds which required further surgery.
Haggard toured with his sister in the Driftwood Band for three years. Later, he worked on an oil field. He signed with Dimension Records in 1979 and released one single, 'Charleston Cotton Mill,' which spent three weeks on the Hot Country Songs charts in 1981. At his father's request, Haggard joined his road band, in which he sang harmony and played rhythm guitar.
He decided to begin a solo career again in 1985. He then signed with MTM Records, for which he released four singles under the production of Billy Strange. The most successful of these was 'Trains Make Me Lonesome,' which peaked at number 57 on the country charts, and which helped him receive a nomination for Top New Male Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music. 'Trains Make Me Lonesome' was covered by George Strait on his 1992 album Holding My Own.
After the MTM singles, Haggard was seriously injured in a car accident, suffering head injury and memory loss which required four years of recovery. He signed to Critique Records in 1995 and released his album 'Borders & Boundaries.' The singles off of that album were 'Amnesia' and 'Here in the Afterlife.' After stopping at Fellowship Bible Church in Conway, Arkansas, Haggard decided to take up music ministry, and went on to record his countrygospel albums titled 'Ready or Not,' 'Here He Comes' and 'The Bridge.'
Haggard has released two tribute albums to his father.
Other entertainers on the show will include Kaye Tolson, Bode Barker, Tom Tolson, Bucille Snotgrass, Charlie Walton and Benny Fred Kothmann.
Tracy Pitcox will MC the show.