Country music legend Merle Haggard, who rose from poverty and prison to international fame died Wednesday on his 79th birthday after losing a battle with double-pneumonia Best known for songs like the anti-hippie anthem “Okie From Muskogee,” “Mama Tried” and “Workin’ Man Blues,” Haggard’s musical style budded from the honky-tonk bars and relied on the twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, later known as the Bakersfield Sound He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994
