Country music legend Merle Haggard, best known for such patriotic hits as “Okie From Muskogee” and “The Fightin’ Side of Me,” died Wednesday at his home in Northern California of complications from pneumonia. He turned 79 today. Haggard recorded more than three dozen No. 1 country hits in a musical career that spanned six decades. Before his music career, he served a prison term in San Quentin after attempting to rob a Bakersfield roadhouse in 1957. He played in the prison’s country music band and took as inspiration a performance at the prison by Johnny Cash in 1958. Despite his advancing age Haggard maintained a robust touring schedule in recent years, only recently cancelling for health reasons some performances scheduled for this April.