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Music: Rock/Pop Merle Haggard

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Merle Haggard is country music's original bad boy. Having escaped from jail 17 times before he even had a hit single, he's consistently bucked Nashville's polished honky-tonk sound for a grittier, electrified tone suited to songs of prison, betrayal, and the bottle. Though he was eventually pardoned for his youthful criminal record (by California's then-governor Ronald Reagan), Haggard's gravelly voice has remained outspoken, recently taking shots at the Iraq War. Nice to know he still refuses to cozy up with the crossover imperatives of the country-music establishment.

– Matt Sussman

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