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