Buck Owens, grew up poor, developed a signature sound, hit the pass with the buckaroos, went down with the Hee Haw (2023)

Between 1963 and 1967, American singer-songwriter Buck Owens (1929–2006) achieved 14 consecutive chart-topping records.billboardcountry music charts Owen's distinctive stripped-down, up-tempo sound helped usher in the era of cutting-edge country music, nicknamed the "Bakersfield Sound" for its origins in the honky-tonks of Bakersfield, California. The style had a far-reaching influence on country music for decades to come..

Fellow musician Marty Stuart described the attraction to popular American country music star Buck Owens and told Darrin Foh about it.guitar playerthat Owens' musical style "was made to cut through a loud, smoky club on a Saturday night and go straight to people's hearts." Although Owens scored 21 chart-topping singles (of which he co-wrote 15), Owens lost his status among country music's elite after he became co-host of the television variety musical comedy show.Hi Jajain 1969. While appearing on the show, Owens also appeared in comedy skits, wearing overalls and telling corny jokes, thus perpetuating the redneck stereotype. WeatherHi Jajait made Owens a household name, damaged his reputation as a serious country musician, and spent the rest of his life regaining his 1960s stature.

grew up in poverty

Owens was born on August 12, 1929 in Sherman, Texas, the son of Alvis Edgar Owens, Sr. and Maicie Azel Ellington Owens. Born two months before the stock market crash that preceded the Great Depression, he had an extraordinary childhood. due to economic difficulties. Owens' first name was Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr., but around the age of three he adopted the nickname "Buck" after his family mule. Alvis Owens, Sr. worked as a renter and the family moved frequently while he looked for work to support his wife and their four children. Maicie Owens introduced her son to music at an early age by taking him to church. As a pianist, he spent Sundays playing gospel music while Little Buck sat nearby.

In 1937, the Owens family headed west in hopes of escaping the drought and dust storms that now plagued the Great Plains region of the United States, including the farms and ranches of Texas. The family settled in Mesa, Arizona after a trailer hitch broke there. To support the family, Buck worked in the cotton and corn fields before and after school. He also traveled to California with his family several months a year, going from farm to farm picking fruits and vegetables as they ripened.

Although his farm work took Owens out of school, it laid the foundation for his future career as immigrant labor camps filled with music. During the day, African-American and Spanish-speaking workers sang in the fields to pass the time, and at night the men gathered with their violins and mandolins. Intrigued, Owens asked his parents for a mandolin and was given it in 1942.

After dropping out of school in the ninth grade, Owens worked at a citrus stand and skating rink, and delivered Western Union telegrams by bicycle. In his spare time he honed his skills on the mandolin and guitar. He was soon hanging out with bands, playing for free at whatever honkytonk would let him in. In his teens, Owens befriended a musician named Theryl Ray Britten, and the pair landed a radio show on KTYL in Mesa. The Buck and BrittShow featured Owens on mandolin while Britt covered guitar and vocals. It was around this time that he acquired a steel guitar and added his sound to the mix.

At 18, Owens was married with a child on the way. He met his future wife, Bonnie Campbell, at the skating rink where he worked. His first child, Buddy, was born in 1948, followed by Michael in 1950. By the late 1940s, Owens was spending his nights playing music and his days transporting goods to the San Joaquin Valley, making frequent trips through Bakersfield. . In 1951 he moved to Bakersfield with his family and two years later he and Bonnie divorced. In 1955, Owens married Phyllis Buford, with whom he had a son, Johnny, born in 1956, before divorcing in 1971. He was married to Jana Grief in the 1970s but divorced in 1979. That year he married Jennifer Smith, and that marriage ended in 2001. According to Eileen Sisk in Buck Owens: The Biography, the musician also had a daughter from a marriage that took place when he was 16, but he has never publicly acknowledged the relationship. .

Characteristic designed sound

Meanwhile, newly arrived in Bakersfield, Owens landed a spot in the house band at Blackboard, a popular honky-tonk venue. At first he played backing guitar, but soon began doing vocals. In his autobiography Buck 'Em! Owens recalled developing his singing style while performing at Blackboard, which lacked proper sound equipment to provide feedback to stage performers. "Since Blackboard had no monitors, I'm pretty sure that's why I developed my heavy-sounding vocal style," he explained. "I was trying so hard to listen to myself that I was always singing really loud."

With growing confidence, Owens formed his own band, the Schoolhouse Playboys, in the early 1950s. The group performed in dance halls and bars in Bakersfield and these performances helped him develop his idiosyncratic style. Owens knew the audience wanted to dance, so he played with a lot of energy to keep them happy and moving. As his reputation as a guitarist spread, he was invited to Los Angeles to work as a session musician for Capitol Records and added his Fender Telecaster accent to songs recorded by Tommy Collins, Del Reeves and Gene Vincent.

In 1956 Owens began recording his own songs. After several releases, he finally made his breakthrough in 1959 with "Under Your Spell Again", which stayed on the country charts for over five months and peaked at number four. In 1961, Owens toured as the opening act for country music star Johnny Cash and gained further notoriety. In the same year he reached number two on the charts with two songs. By the early 1960s, Nashville was churning out pop-inspired country songs filled with soaring strings and backing vocals. Owens offered something different: rockabilly style, sparse arrangements, and raucous harmonies. Pedal Steel and his electric Fender Telecaster gave his music a stripped-down tone that stuck and became known as the "Bakersfield Sound."

Stride Robe with Buckaroos

In the early 1960s, Owens began assembling a backing band to accompany him on stage. Known as the Buckaroos, the band's early lineup was fluid. Merle Haggard played bass for a time, but by 1963 the band's sound was enriched by the talents of fiddler/guitarist Don Rich, steel guitarist Jay McDonald, bassist Kenny Pierce, and drummer Ken Presley.

In the mid-1960s, the Buckaroos' lineup changed again. Rich stayed on and was joined by bassist Doyle Holly, steel guitarist Tom Brumley, and drummer Willie Cantu. This classic lineup of buckaroos helped Owens solidify his sound. He recruited Rich as an additional vocalist and occasional songwriter, and the violinist/guitarist played an important role in keeping Owens' career afloat. The Buckaroos recorded dozens of albums, and their support reached No. 1 in 1964 with "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail" and "I Don't Care (Just as You Love Me)."

Although the buckaroos played with Owens, they also played and recorded independently of him, creating tension. In 1965, the Buckaroos scored a number-one instrumental hit with "Buckaroo," often cited as one of the greatest country numbers of all time for its dueling guitar riffs between Owens and Rich. The Buckaroos also received Academy of Country Music Awards for Band of the Year from 1965 to 1968. They also won Country Music Association Instrumental Group of the Year awards in 1967 and 1968.

Buckaroos were very popular - they were not only talented musicians, but also great performers who managed to attract the attention of the crowd. Owens and the Buckaroos played New York's Carnegie Hall in 1966, only the second country band to take the stage there. The performance was recorded and a live album was released, cementing their position as one of the most successful country bands of the day. As Buckaroo steel guitarist Brumley saidold guitarby collaborator Rich Kienzle, the Carnegie Hall record was truly a live album. "There was no correction on the whole album and I don't think there was a mistake. We were used to that, which was fine with us and it made us pick up the stick. It was a habit: go to the studio, play something and do it right.

Owens and the Buckaroos continued to produce singles throughout the late 1960s, scoring number one hits in 1969 with "Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass" and "Tall Dark Stranger". By this time, loyalty within the buckaroos had become shaky. Owens gained a reputation for being difficult to handle and reportedly suffered from mood swings. Brumley is gone, as is Cantu. Holly left the company in 1971 to pursue a solo career. Three years later, Rich was killed in a motorcycle accident, and the buckaroos lost their reputation.

Suffered a fallHi Jaja

In 1969, Owens began hosting television shows.Hi Jaja🇧🇷 The variety show featured Owens' music and plenty of cornpone humor, with Owens playing a throwback jerk alongside his banjo co-host, Roy Clark. The show took place in the fictional "Kornfield Kounty" against a backdrop of cornfields, hay bales and ramshackle shacks.Hi JajaIt was an instant ratings winner: After being dropped by CBS after just two seasons, it was picked up and ran in syndication through its 1990s heyday, playing to 15 million homes a week. As the show expanded Owens' popularity beyond the world of country music, most of his new fans saw him as a comedian rather than a musician.

For Owens, who has spent most of his life campaigning for road shows,Hi Jajaprovided security and didn't take long. Taping took place twice a year, in Nashville, with 13 episodes filmed in June and October. however he leftHi Jajain 1986, frustrated that it had outshone his musical legacy. share your regrets with meWashington PostAuthor Richard Harrington, Owens, recalled losing interest in the show when he was asked to do more comedy than music. "I was paid a lot of money to do this show, so I looked away, blinked, and said, 'Well, I don't have to stay in a lonely little hotel room tonight.'" the money and run.'”

He worked to become famous again

In the 1980s, Owens mentored a new generation of country musicians who moved the genre away from pop and back to its roots. She became interested in Dwight Yoakam and joined him onstage for a performance at a fair near Bakersfield in 1987. The pair subsequently collaborated on the recording of "Streets of Bakersfield" and took it to number one on the charts. .billboardcountry music charts in 1988. Owens had not topped the charts since 1972 with "Made in Japan." Now back in the spotlight, she received the 1989 Academy of Country Music Pioneer Award.

In 1996, the Owens Crystal Palace, a concert venue in Bakersfield, opened. Designed to take country music to the next level, Crystal Palace offers a sophisticated venue far from the smoky bars of your youth. Willie Nelson, George Jones, Clint Black, and the Dixie Chicks also performed there. Owens also attended the Crystal Palace stage and even performed on the eve of his death.

On March 24, 2006, Owens arrived at Crystal Palace around 4 p.m. m. to prepare a show. He wasn't feeling well and was about to leave when he heard that a group of fans from Oregon had made the long drive south just to watch him play. He stayed and did the show, which ended with Big in Vegas. Owens then went home and died of a heart attack in his sleep around 3:30 the next morning.