Merle Haggard

Lefty Frizzell photographed circa 1950

Haggard loved the “brilliance and clarity” of Lefty Frizzell’s music, and he studied Frizzell’s effortless onstage charisma, which came less naturally to Haggard. “For three or four years I didn’t sing anything but Lefty Frizzell songs,” he wrote, “and then because Lefty was a fan of Jimmie Rodgers I learned to imitate him too.”