"Branded Man" is a song written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield ...

and The Strangers. It was released in June 12th 1967 as the second single and title track from the album '' Branded Man''. The song was Haggard and The Strangers second number one on the country charts. The single stayed at number one for a single week and spent 15 weeks on the chart.

Content

The song is about an ex-

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convicts ...

's fear of not being accepted by the outside world after being

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

Personnel

– vocals, guitar The Strangers: *

Roy Nichols Roy Ernest Nichols (October 21, 1932 – July 3, 2001) was an American country music guitarist best known as the lead guitarist for Merle Haggard's band The Strangers for more than two decades. He was known for his guitar technique, a mix ...

– guitar *

Ralph Mooney Ralph Mooney (September 16, 1928 – March 20, 2011) was an American steel guitar player and songwriter, he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1983. He was the original steel guitarist in Merle Haggard's band, the Strangers and ...

– steel guitar *George French – piano *Jerry Ward – bass *Eddie Burris – drums

Chart performance

References

1967 singles Merle Haggard songs Songs written by Merle Haggard Songs about prison Song recordings produced by Ken Nelson (American record producer) Capitol Records singles 1967 songs {{1960s-country-song-stub