Song was not Haggard’s own story
This week in 1971: Labor leader George Meany urged Congress to take control of the U.S. economy from President Nixon; Moscow ousted four British aides in reprisal action; House of Representatives passed the ERA 354 to 23; and a singer from Oildale, Calif., had his 26th hit record.
Contrary to popular belief, Merle Haggard’s 1971 No. 1 “Daddy Frank,” was not a true story, at least according to one of Merle’s band members.
Norm Hamlet commented, “a lot of fans thought that was Hag’s life story but it’s not. The idea for that song came from The Maddox Brothers and Rose, who were a real traveling family band, consisting of Rose Maddox and her brothers. Merle changed the idea around, gave the daddy the name Frank, and in the song, he was a blind man. His wife called ‘mamma,’ was deaf and drove the family truck.”
The session was recorded in Buck Owens’ Bakersfield, Calif., studio and entered the country music charts Oct. 16th, 1971 and was in the No. 1 spot the week of November 20th, where it stayed for two weeks. It was Haggard’s 10th No. 1. It was on the charts for 14 weeks.
Haggard placed 106 songs on the country charts between 1963 and 2015, including 38 No. 1s. Twelve of those 106 charted country songs also placed on the pop music charts.
He was inducted into The Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1994. Merle Haggard died in 2016.