David Cantwell is the coauthor of Heartaches by the Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles and the author of the first edition of this book, Merle Haggard: The Running Kind (2013). His journalism appears in the New Yorker, Salon, Rolling Stone Country, the Oxford American, and No Depression.

Introduction. "Silver Wings": Kansas City, Missouri, September 14, 2001

1. "Hungry Eyes," 1969

2. The Roots of His Raising

3. "Mama Tried," 1968

4. Toward the Bad He Kept on Turnin'

5. He Loves Them So: A Playlist of Early Influences

6. "Leonard," 1981

7. The Bakersfield Sound and Fury

8. Someone Told His Story in a Song

9. "I Started Loving You Again," 1968

10. The Legend of Bonnie and Him

11. "Sing Me Back Home," 1967

12. They Won't Let His Secret Go Untold

13. He's Living in the Good Old Days: Countrypolitan, Country Soul, Country Rock

14. "Workin' Man Blues," 1969

15. He Likes Living Right and Being Free

16. "Irma Jackson," 1969

17. His Fightin' Side

18. He'd Rather Be Gone

19. "It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad)," 1972

20. He Wishes He Was Santa Claus

21. Merle Loves Dolly

22. Songs He'll Always Sing

23. He Takes a Lot of Pride in What He Is (Hint: He's a White Boy)

24. "A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today," 1977

25. His Country Girl with Hot Pants On

26. He's Always on a Mountain When He Falls

27. "Rainbow Stew," 1981

28. He Wishes a Buck Was Still Silver (Not Really) and Likes the Taste of Yesterday's Wine (Really)

29. "Kern River," 1985

30. He's Going Where the Lonely Go

31. "Me and Crippled Soldiers," 1990

32. The Hag versus the Man in Black

33. He'll Never Be Gone? Merle Haggard in the Twenty-First Century

34. "If I Could Only Fly," 2001

Epilogue. Cuba, Missouri: July 15, 2010

Acknowledgments

Selected Discography

Selected Bibliography

Index