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DISGRACELAND

Merle Haggard (Pt. 1): A Christmas Robbery Leads To Hard Time at San Quentin

DISGRACELAND

Jake Brennan

True Crime, Music, Society & Culture

4.613.1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 November 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Merle Haggard was what authorities liked to call a “repeat offender.” He was arrested for riding trains, for skipping school, for stealing cars, for robbing gas stations, and for attempting to knock over a restaurant – during the Christmas Eve rush. He was committed to juvenile halls, correctional facilities, and reform schools 17 times, and 17 times he escaped. When he was arrested for the final time, he was sent to do hard time at San Quentin. He turned 21 in prison. And it was in prison that he found the freedom he’d been running towards his whole life – freedom that was delivered from an unlikely source. For the full list of contributors, visit ⁠disgracelandpod.com⁠ This episode was originally published on July 25, 2023. To listen to Disgraceland ad free and get access to exclusive content and more, become a Disgraceland All Access member at ⁠disgracelandpod.com/membership⁠. Sign up for our newsletter and get the inside dirt on events, merch and other awesomeness - ⁠GET THE NEWSLETTER⁠ Follow Jake and DISGRACELAND: ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠ ⁠X⁠ (formerly Twitter)  ⁠Facebook Fan Group⁠ ⁠TikTok⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Double Elvis.

0:06.0

Huh, have you ever wondered what a sandwich sounds like?

0:10.0

Not much to it, is there?

0:13.0

Unless, of course, it's a Walker's sandwich.

0:16.0

Mmm, that is good.

0:20.0

Now that's what Asarni should sound like.

0:22.9

Go all crisp in with walkers.

0:26.1

Delicious.

0:27.8

Disgrace Land is a production of Double Elvis.

0:43.0

The story is about Merle Haggard are insane.

0:50.9

He turned 21 in prison, not just any prison, but one of the most hardcore prisons in the country, San Quentin.

0:56.2

And though he wasn't doing life without parole, like the song says, he did serve an indefinite sentence of six months to 15 years. He was what authorities called a repeat offender.

1:03.9

He was arrested for riding trains, for skipping school, for stealing cars, for robbing a gas station,

1:10.2

for attempting to knock over a restaurant

1:12.3

on Christmas Eve. He was committed to juvenile halls, correctional facilities, and reform schools

1:18.6

17 times, and every time he escaped. This all happened before Merle Haggard ever made great music.

1:28.9

Music that many would consider the platonic ideal of country music.

1:32.9

Music that went all the way to number one on the country charts 38 times.

1:37.3

Unlike that clip I played for you at the top of the show, that wasn't great music.

1:42.0

That was a preset loop from my Melotron called Unpainted Maricopa, MK1.

1:49.0

I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to April Love by Pat Boone.

1:54.0

And why would I play you that specific slice of white buck, clean-cut cheese, could I afford it? Because that was the number one song in America on December 25th, 1957.

...

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