In a career that spanned half a century, Merle Haggard (1937-2016) upheld the authenticity of traditional country music. Sentenced to San Quentin for a robbery, Haggard later brought an outlaw edge and a working-class honesty to his songs, which included "The Fightin' Side of Me" and "Okie from Muskogee." Drawing on interviews with Hag's many friends and enemies, Marc Eliot chronicles his many successes as well as the personal demons that continued to plague this charismatic yet volatile star.