Ken Burns' 'Country Music': Inmate Merle Haggard saw Johnny Cash perform at San Quentin
Yes, Merle Haggard was at that show.
A streak of teenage mischief landed the “Mama Tried” outlaw in San Quentin Prison by age 21 and, as a by-product, granted him admission to a life-changing concert hosted by the Man in Black himself, Johnny Cash.
Ken Burns’ 16-hour “Country Music” documentary highlights the did-that-really-happen anecdote in Episode 4, “I Can’t Stop Loving You.”
Cash played Jan. 1, 1959, at San Quentin. A kindred spirit to embattled men, Cash hadn’t served prison time but sang spiritedly about the experience on his track “Folsom Prison Blues.”
It’s considered a turning point in Haggard’s life; a moment he later discussed as helping him become a better person. Haggard escaped juvenile detention centers 17 times before landing in San Quentin, the film said.
“I was really worried for (Cash) because men are cruel in San Quentin,” Haggard, who died in 2016, said in the film. “They don't applaud unless they like ya. But they were crazy about him.
Haggard continued: “He identified with us and he was the kinda guy that might've been in there with us if things had gone the wrong way for him.”
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Cash and Haggard reunited in Nashville a decade later, The Washington Post notes, for a segment on “The Johnny Cash Show,” filmed at the Ryman Auditorium. Haggard mentioned the appearance during a back-and-forth on air with Cash.
“The first time I ever saw you perform, it was at San Quentin,” Haggard said, to which Cash replied: “I don’t remember you being in that show, Merle.”
"I was in the audience, Johnny,” Haggard said.
It proved a watershed moment for Haggard, who hadn’t widely discussed his criminal past.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Ken Burns' 'Country Music': Merle Haggard saw Johnny Cash play prison
