 Jennings had covered two Haggard songs previously on his 1968 LP "Jewels" but, as he recounted in his autobiography years later, he became wary of the country star after a card game, recalling, "Merle Haggard and his manager, Fuzzy Owen, got me in a poker game and cleaned me out.I had four or five thousand dollars on me, and they won everything.I think Merle is a great singer and songwriter, and probably he was in as bad a shape as I was, but we've never been close since that night.