“Born October 1, 1929… she wasn’t just Buck Owens’s ex-wife — she was the woman who steadied Merle Haggard when his life was coming apart at the seams.” Before the fame found him, Merle Haggard was still a man trying to claw his way out of the shadows he carried. Bonnie Owens saw all of it — the temper, the fear, the brilliance that flickered like a match in the wind — and instead of turning away, she stepped closer. While Merle wrestled with old wounds he rarely spoke about, Bonnie quietly shaped the songs that would outlive them both — “Today I Started Loving You Again,” “Just Between the Two of Us,” and the lines only someone who loved him could help him reach. People remember the voice. People remember the legend. But behind the gravel and the glory was a woman fixing rough edges into melodies, turning the parts he hid into something the world could finally hear.
“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” Introduction There are love songs, and then there…