Merle Haggard’s Wild Ride with Author Marc Eliot

If you thought you knew who Merle Haggard was, Marc Eliot, author of the bestselling “The Hag,” the definitive biography of the country music legend assures you, you don’t. Marc, who got his start contributing to magazines while enmeshed in New York’s famous Greenwich Village scene in the 1960s, has written about such 20th-century icons as James Dean, Walt Disney and Ronald Reagan. On today’s show, he offers a glimpse of the man behind the indelible image of a hard-living, chart-topping “Lonesome Fugitive.” 

 

Merle, along with fellow musicians Buck and Bonnie Owens, defined the Bakersfield Sound, which rebelled against the mainstream country sound coming out of Nashville. Marc discusses Merle and Buck’s contentious relationship, and the cunning way Buck got his revenge after Merle married Bonnie. 

 

Profoundly affected by the early death of his father, Merle became an ambitious if not overly strategic juvenile delinquent, and was eventually sentenced to 30 years in California’s infamous San Quentin prison. Hear how he managed to be creative and enterprising even while behind bars and what his driving force was to becoming a musician. 

 

Marc, who himself got his start as a child actor, would eventually go on to tutor child star Danny Bonaduce. Marc shares his views on the problems with the entertainment industry and why the shock-jock era led by Howard Stern will be hard to replicate.

 

Meet the man whose own life has proven to be as interesting as those of his many subjects. 

 

Quotes

• “When you talk to people about their favorite movies, let's say everybody has the same top five. ‘Vertigo,’ ‘Citizen Kane,’ ‘The Searchers.’ But the action is in the 20th or  25th Film. That's what I like–when you get to talk to people who aren't standard issue stars.” (2:14 | Marc)
• “I babysat for Danny Bonaduce at one point when he was a kid…And we became very friendly. It was a fun afternoon, he was still young and cute.” (4:32 | Marc)
• “You're only good if you're a talent. Management, they're not talent. For non-talent to tell talent what is good, what is funny, what is usable is insane. What they should do, and they never do, is sit back and say, ‘Go for it.’” (6:41 | Marc)
• “Somebody asked Merle, ‘What's the difference between Nashville country music and Bakersfield and Merle said, ‘Nashville country music comes out of the church. Bakersfield country music comes out of the bars.’” (9:30 | Marc)
• “He took a man's wife and then he's indebted to him for the rest of his life. That's got to be so painful. Well, that's country.” (12:28 | Bart and Marc)
• “Did he believe he was gifted? How do you go from being just a kid to thinking, ‘You know what? I'm going to be a superstar?’ It never entered his mind. He just was interested in women and women.” (15:22 | Bart and Marc)

Links

Connect with Marc Eliot:

Website: https://www.marceliot.net/

Learn more and subscribe to the Bart Show Fan Newsletter at https://thebartshow.com 

 

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