In 1959, Merle Haggard sat in San Quentin prison doing three years for armed robbery. He had turned 21 and didn’t see any clear path for his future. Then a singer showed up to sing for the prisoners. Johnny Cash took the stage with Merle Haggard sitting in the audience. Cash’s empathy for the prisoners was palpable and Haggard heard in his raw authenticity a way forward.
Nearly nine years later, Haggard released “Mama Tried.” Clearly influenced by his life story, though not a factual telling, Haggard internalized Cash’s rough edges, understanding that truth came in the song and its delivery, not in the slickness of the production. “Mama Tried” became his fifth number one hit and became one of his signature songs.
It stands as a testament to Haggard’s songwriting skills. The spare recording fit with the Bakersfield sound that he helped create and ran counter to the smoothness of the Nashville sound of the day. The song follows an emotional arc starting in the narrator’s youth and winds up with regret, yet acceptance, of his fate. It walks up to the line but never falls into sentimentality.
Many others have covered this song including the Avett Brothers, the Everly Brothers, Percy Sedge, Joan Baez and the Grateful Dead, who performed it over 300 times.
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YouTube: https://youtu.be/XyRCvukVv6w?si=_ClxnLFPMRUXtcEW
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6h3YJ05BovN1Pgk145J3r9?si=d9b24587900f486c