{"id":350580,"date":"2026-06-07T14:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T14:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/350580\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T14:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T14:12:09","slug":"born-to-missouri-sharecroppers-92-years-ago-today-the-bakersfield-sound-pioneer-who-wrote-merle-haggards-first-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/350580\/","title":{"rendered":"Born to Missouri Sharecroppers 92 Years Ago Today, the Bakersfield Sound Pioneer Who Wrote Merle Haggard\u2019s First Hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arising in rebellion against the sleek sounds coming from Nashville at the time, the California \u201cBakersfield sound\u201d gave rise to some of country music\u2019s finest, most notably Merle Haggard<\/a> and Buck Owens. While his name is less recognizable, neither artist would exist without Wynn Stewart.<\/p>\n

Born in Morrisville, Missouri, on this day (June 7) in 1934, Stewart never quite broke mainstream ground during his three-decade career. However, his influence still lingers more than 40 years after his death in 1985.<\/p>\n

Country Music Wasn\u2019t Wynn Stewart\u2019s First Choice<\/p>\n

Although born in Missouri, Winford Lindsey \u201cWynn\u201d Stewart moved frequently throughout his childhood with his sharecropper family. He picked up his first guitar at age 8.<\/p>\n

Stewart\u2019s first love was baseball, but his full height of 5\u20195\u2033 crushed that dream.<\/a> Moving to California with his family in 1948, he formed a band in high school with steel guitarist Ralph Mooney, guitarist Roy Nichols, and bassist Bobby Austin.<\/p>\n

They began playing clubs around the state. Since he wasn\u2019t yet 21, Stewart\u2019s father had to chaperone these performances.<\/p>\n

In 1954, Stewart signed a contract<\/a> with the independent label Intro, where he released \u201cI\u2019ve Waited a Lifetime\u201d and \u201cStrolling.\u201d Neither cracked the charts, but the latter caught the attention of Stewart\u2019s idol, Skeets McDonald, who was so impressed that he arranged an audition at Capitol Records for the younger man.<\/p>\n

Stewart nailed the audition, signing with Capitol Records and releasing his first major hit, \u201cWaltz of the Angels\u201d, which reached number 14 on the country charts. Later, George Jones would record the song as a duet with Margie Singleton.<\/p>\n

He Gave Merle Haggard His Start<\/p>\n

With none of his singles gaining traction, Wynn Stewart had parted ways with Capitol Records by the late 1950s.<\/p>\n

With the help of country songwriter Harlan Howard, he signed with Jackpot, a subsidiary of Challenge Records, in early 1958. While there, his singles ranged in genre from rockabilly and pop to straight-up honky-tonk. Stewart found chart success with the 1959 single \u201cWishful Thinking\u201d, which climbed to number five.<\/p>\n

During the early 1960s, he moved to Las Vegas and became part owner of a nightclub called Nashville Nevada\u2014where he performed six nights a week and hosted his own TV show.<\/p>\n

While Stewart was out of town, a young artist named Merle Haggard sat with the band. Returning early, Stewart was so impressed that he offered Haggard a steady gig as his bassist. He also wrote Haggard\u2019s first hit, \u201cSing a Sad Song\u201d.<\/p>\n

Throughout his career, Wynn Stewart recorded 11 studio albums and 50 singles, among them \u201cIt\u2019s Such a Pretty World Today\u201d (1967) and \u201cAfter the Storm\u201d (1975).<\/p>\n

[RELATED: 3 Country Radio Hits From the 1960s That Practically Disappeared Overnight]<\/a><\/p>\n

He quit performing in the early 1980s, but was plotting his comeback when he died of a sudden heart attack on July 17, 1985, at age 51.<\/p>\n

Featured image by Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arising in rebellion against the sleek sounds coming from Nashville at the time, the California \u201cBakersfield sound\u201d gave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[143408,151,153,152,44992,143409],"class_list":["post-350580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-1930s","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-country-music","tag-wynn-stewart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}