Buck Owens, creator of the Bakersfield sound, was born 85 years ago today. A singer and guitarist, Owens had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos. They pioneered what came to be called the Bakersfield sound — a reference to Bakersfield, California, the city Owens called home and from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call American music. While Owens originally used fiddle and retained pedal steel guitar into the 1970s, his sound on records and onstage was always more stripped-down and elemental, incorporating elements of rock and roll. His signature style was based on simple story lines, infectious choruses, a twangy electric guitar, an insistent rhythm supplied by a drum track placed forward in the mix and high two-part harmonies featuring Owens and his guitarist Don Rich. In the early 1960s, the countrypolitan sound was popular, with smooth, string-laden, pop-influenced styles used by Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline, among others. Owens went against the trend, using honky tonk hillbilly feel, mixed idiosyncratically with the Mexican polkas he had heard on border radio stations while growing up. Beginning in 1969, Owens co-hosted the TV series Hee Haw with Roy Clark. He left the cast in 1986. In 1974, the accidental death of Rich, his best friend, devastated him for years and abruptly halted his career until he performed with Dwight Yoakam in 1988. Owens died at age 76 of a heart attack on March 25, 2006 shortly after performing at his Crystal Palace restaurant, club and museum in Bakersfield. Owens is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Here, Owens performs “Loves Gonna Live Here” in 1966.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 04:09:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015