Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard had the greatest impact with his 1969 hit Okie from Muskogee, which emerged as an anthem of sorts for the counterculture to the counterculture who had become so prominent among the US youth

Country music legend Merle Haggard, an outlaw in both song and life who gave voice to the hippie era's disaffected conservatives but moderated his views, died on Wednesday on his 79th birthday.

Merle Haggard had the greatest impact with his 1969 hit Okie from Muskogee, which emerged as an anthem of sorts for the counterculture to the counterculture who had become so prominent among the US youth

Country music legend Merle Haggard, an outlaw in both song and life who gave voice to the hippie era's disaffected conservatives but moderated his views, died on Wednesday on his 79th birthday.