About The Song
“The Roots of My Raising” is a heartfelt country ballad by Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in January 1976 as the title track and lead single from their twenty-first studio album on Capitol Records. Written by Tommy Collins, it became Haggard’s twenty-third No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, holding the top spot for one week and charting for ten. The song, a first-person reflection, follows a man returning to his childhood home, reminiscing about the gravel road, one-room schoolhouse, and his parents’ enduring love. Lines like “The roots of my raising run deep / I come back for the strength that I need” capture a longing for simpler times, with Haggard’s weathered voice grounding the nostalgia. As he told Billboard in 1976, “It’s about where I come from, that dirt-poor life in Oildale. Tommy wrote it, but it’s my story.” The album hit No. 8 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and marked Haggard’s final Capitol release until 2004.
Recorded in 1975 at Capitol Studios in Nashville, the 2:48 track was produced by Ken Nelson and Fuzzy Owen. The Strangers—Roy Nichols on guitar, Norm Hamlet on pedal steel, Tiny Moore on mandolin, Ronnie Reno on rhythm guitar, Mark Yeary on piano, Johnny Meeks on bass, and Biff Adam on drums—deliver a classic Bakersfield sound, with twangy Telecaster and steel guitar framing Haggard’s baritone. The arrangement’s simplicity, per AllMusic, lets the lyrics shine, especially the image of his father clutching a photo of his late mother. Haggard, born in a converted boxcar in Oildale, California, in 1937, channeled his hardscrabble roots here, a theme central to his work. Rate Your Music fans praise the album’s cover art—a battered barn and Haggard’s wide-collared swagger—as a visual echo of its themes. The song’s G-C-D chord progression and hopeful refrain, per Genius, made it a radio staple.
Haggard, a Bakersfield sound architect alongside Buck Owens, was at his commercial peak in the mid-1970s, with nine consecutive No. 1s from 1973 to 1976. The album also spawned another chart-topper, “Cherokee Maiden,” and covers of Jimmie Rodgers and Lefty Frizzell, nodding to Haggard’s influences. AllMusic’s Thom Jurek calls it “a hell of a way to go out” from Capitol, though Daniel Cooper in a 1994 essay notes Haggard’s later Capitol output felt “uninspired” compared to gems like “What Have You Got Planned Tonight, Diana.” The song was a live favorite, performed on his 1976 tours and later at Billy Bob’s Texas in 1999, per YouTube clips. Covers are scarce, but Tommy Collins’ original demo exists, and fans on Amazon note its emotional pull. Some confusion surrounds a compilation titled the same, omitting tracks like “Colorado,” frustrating buyers expecting the original LP.
The song’s legacy lies in its raw honesty, reflecting Haggard’s life—from juvenile delinquency to country icon. It appeared in no major films but resonates on platforms like Spotify, where listeners call it “pure Merle.” Haggard, who died April 6, 2016, saw it as a tribute to his parents’ resilience, telling Rolling Stone in 2010, “That’s the strength I draw from, those roots.” Its lack of controversy and universal theme—family, home, perseverance—keep it timeless, a dusty road back to Haggard’s heart.
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Lyric
I left the four lane highway took a blacktop seven miles
Down by the old country school I went to as a child
Two miles down a gravel road I could see the proud old home
A tribute to a way of life that’s almost come and goneThe roots of my raising run deep
I come back for the strength that I need
And hope comes no matter how far down I sink
The roots of my raising run deepI pulled into the driveway Lord it sure was good to be there
And through the open door I could see that dad was asleep in his favorite chair
In his hand was a picture of mom and I remembered how close they were
So I just turned away I didn’t want to wake him spoil his dreams of herA Christian mom who had the strength for life the way she did
Then to pull that apron off and do the Charleston for us kids
Dad a quiet man whose gentle voice was seldom heard
Who could borrow money at the bank simply on his wordThe roots of my raising run deep
I come back for the strength that I need
And hope comes no matter how far down I sink
The roots of my raising run deep
The roots of my raising run deep
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