Merle Haggard has been called the Poet of the Common Man, and his ability to capture the hopes and fears of real people with his songwriting, not to mention his articulacy as a singer, helped him lock up a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Now Merle Haggard got a place in another hall of honor: the California Hall of

Fame, housed at the California Museum. Merle Haggard’s induction was proclaimed by the state’s First Lady, Maria Shriver, among a class of 14 new members.

The class includes Barbra Streisand, Betty White, former Governor Pat Brown, jeans maker Levi Strauss and director James Cameron.

Now 73, Merle Haggard has just fought another major battle in his life. He is a cancer survivor, having had a tumor removed from his lung at the end of 2008. By spring of 2009, Merle Haggard was back the stage, saying at the time that he thought it would be one of his busiest years to date.