The Strangers were the back-up band for Merle Haggard, country music singer and guitarist in the Bakersfield sound.

The group mainly served as the backup band for Haggard. However, 1969 to 1973, it issued several records independent of Haggard. While most of the performers were contemporaries of Haggard in age or younger, some performers, notably Tiny Moore, were older performers in the country or western swing genres. Glen Campbell, who had a solo career as a singer and a short career leading a television variety show, began with the group. Pianist Mark Yeary penned many songs for Haggard. Horns joined the group for the first time in 1969,^[1] yet instrumentation mainly consisted of guitars, bass guitar, keyboard and drums.