"Daddy Frank" is a 1971 single written and recorded by Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard

Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

. "Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)" was Haggard's tenth No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

. The song topped the chart for two weeks around Thanksgiving 1971, and spent 13 weeks in the chart's Top 40.

Content

The song's main characters are part of a family band, led by the blind patriarch in the title character, a guitarist who also played the French harp. While the sister played the tambourine, the mother (only referred to as "Mama") was totally deaf but, by reading lips, sang along with the band. The family lived in a highway camp, and the band was its only means of living. The song's values come from how Frank and Mama use their handicaps to "make each other strong."

Chart performance

Chart (1971)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	1
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	2