I wasn’t really a Buck Owens fan in the 1960-70s but creating an alternative to Nashville did wonders for C&W. Merle Haggard is one of the best song writers alive.
Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Buck Owens, along with Merle Haggard, was the leader of the Bakersfield sound, an twangy, electricified, rock-influenced interpretation of hardcore honky tonk that emerged in the '60s. Owens was the first bona fide country star to emerge from Bakersfield, scoring a total of 15 consecutive number one hits in the mid-'60s. In the process, he provided an edgy alternative to the string-laden country-pop that was being produced during the '60s. Later in his career, his musical impact was forgotten by some as he became a television personality through the country comedy show Hee Haw. Nevertheless, several generations of musicians — from Gram Parsons in the late '60s to Dwight Yoakam in the '80s — were influenced by his music, which wound up being one of the blueprints for modern country music.
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Owens didn’t record or perform frequently in the ‘90s, but his classic Capitol recordings began to appear on compact disc; they hadn’t been in print since 1980, when he gained control of the tapes from Capitol. Furthermore, Owens’ influence continued to reverberate throughout country music as well as some quarters of rock & roll.
Sad to see Buck Owens pass. For a really long time his records were pretty much impossible to get unless you stumbled on one secondhand. For me, the expectations that built up in that time weren’t quite met when I finally heard him; he was harder than Nashville but not as hard as the classic honky tonkers like Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams. That said, I really wish mainstream country had gone his way rather than strings and schmaltz. And those early Capitol albums really are worth searching out. And somehow he’s never come even close to receiving the recognition he deserved.
Amen brother. I was listening to Johnny Cash version of Sunday Morning Coming Down and the thing was so overproduced with strings and crap it really destroyed the song.
Does anyone remember the year that Clayton Delany died?
Speaking of guys who kept the real spirit of country going in lean times, George Jones is another who somehow didn’t seem to register with the broader public, but oh, what a voice.