Owens, Buck

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'''Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens, Jr.''', ([[August 12]], [[1929]] [[March 25]], [[2006]]) was an [[United States|American]] [[singer]] and [[guitarist]], with twenty number-one hits on the [[Billboard magazine]] [[country music]] charts. Both as a solo artist and with his band, the Buckaroos (so named by [[Merle Haggard]], a former bandmate), Buck Owens pioneered what has come to be called the [[Bakersfield sound]]&mdash;a reference to [[Bakersfield, California]], the city Owens called home and from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call "American Music".<ref name="APobit">{{cite news | first=Greg | last=Risling | title=Country Music Star Buck Owens Dies at 76 | date=[[March 25]] [[2006]] | publisher=Associated Press | url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060325/ap_en_tv/obit_owens }}</ref>
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'''Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens, Jr.''', (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006) was an [[United States|American]] [[singer]] and [[guitarist]], with 21 number-one hits on the [[Billboard magazine]] [[country music]] charts. Both as a solo artist and with his band, the Buckaroos, Owens pioneered what has come to be called the [[Bakersfield sound]]&mdash;a reference to [[Bakersfield, California]], the city Owens called home and from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call "American Music." Among Owens best known hits are: "Act Naturally," "Love's Gonna Live Here," "Together Again," and "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail."
  
A consummate [[bandleader]], Buck Owens pioneered a unique and fresh sound: clean and crisp, characterized by sharp staccato guitar riffs, and pedal steel guitar solos, with straight forward lyrics.  It was far more streamlined than the honky tonk music of the late 40's and early 1950s with its fiddles and back up singer arrangments. While Owens originally used fiddle and retained pedal steel into the 1970s, his sound on records and onstage was always more stripped-down and elemental, incorporating elements of rock and roll. The sound Owens developed with the Buckaroos depended on his comrarderie and talents of his best friend, Don Rich, whom he met while in Tacoma. Rich can be heard harmonizing on all of Owens hits until his untimely death in 1974, when Rich lost control of his motorcycle and struck a guard rail on Highway 99 north of Bakersfield as he made his way to join his family for a vacation on the coast at Morro Bay. The loss of his best friend devastated Owens for years and abruptly halted his singing successes and career until Owens performed with Dwight Yoakam in the late-1980s.  
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A consummate [[bandleader]], Owens pioneered a unique and fresh sound rooted in the traditions of earlier country stars such as [[Hank Williams]] and [[George Jones]], but more streamlined than the [[honky-tonk music]] of the late 1940s and early 1950s. His  clean, crisp, style was characterized by strong vocal solos or duets with straightforward [[lyric]]s, sharp staccato guitar riffs, and distinctive pedal steel-guitar solos.  
  
Owens co-hosted the popular and groundbreaking ''[[Hee Haw]]'' program with [[Roy Clark]]. ''Hee Haw'', originally envisioned as country music's answer to ''[[Laugh-In]]'', outlived that show and ran for twenty-four seasons. Owens was co-host from 1969 until he left the cast in 1986, convinced that the show's exposure had obscured his immense musical legacy.
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The sound Owens developed with the Buckaroos depended on his camaraderie and talents of his partner and best friend, guitarist Don Rich, whom he met while in [[Tacoma]]. Rich can be heard [[harmony|harmonizing]] on all of Owens hits until his untimely death in 1974. The loss of his best friend devastated Owens for years and halted his recording successes and career until Owens performed with Dwight Yoakam in the late 1980s.
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{{toc}}
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However, Owens co-hosted the popular and groundbreaking ''[[Hee Haw]]'' program with [[Roy Clark]]. ''Hee Haw'', originally envisioned as country music's answer to ''[[Laugh-In]]'', outlived that show and ran for 24 seasons. Owens was co-host from 1969 until he left the cast in 1986, convinced that the show's exposure had obscured his immense musical legacy.
  
 
==Biography==
 
==Biography==
Alvis Owens, Jr., was born in [[Sherman, Texas|Sherman]], [[Texas]]. ([[U.S. Highway 82]] through Sherman was named "Buck Owens Freeway" in his honor). "'Buck' was a mule on the Owens farm," Rich Kienzle wrote in ''About Buck'', the biography at Owens' official website adapted from Kienzle's notes for [[Rhino Records]]' 1992 "The Buck Owens Collection" box set. "When Alvis, Jr., was three or four years old, he walked into the house and announced that his name was also Buck. That was fine with the family; the boy was Buck from then on."<ref name="nickname">{{cite web | title=buckowens.com | work=Buck Owens' Crystal Palace: About Buck | url=http://www.buckowens.com/aboutbuck1.html | accessdate=March 28 | accessyear=2006}}</ref>  
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===Early years===
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Buck Owens was born Alvis Owens, Jr. in [[Sherman, Texas|Sherman]], [[Texas]]. "'Buck' was a mule on the Owens farm," Rich Kienzle wrote in ''About Buck'', the biography at Owens' official website. "When Alvis, Jr., was three or four-years-old, he walked into the house and announced that his name was also Buck. That was fine with the family; the boy was Buck from then on."<ref name="nickname">{{cite web | title=buckowens.com | work=Buck Owens' Crystal Palace: About Buck | url=http://www.buckowens.com/aboutbuck1.html | accessdate=March 28 | accessyear=2006}}</ref>  
  
In 1937, his family migrated to [[Mesa, Arizona|Mesa]], [[Arizona]], during the [[Dust Bowl]] and the [[Great Depression]].  
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In 1937, the Owens family migrated to [[Mesa, Arizona|Mesa]], [[Arizona]], during the [[Dust Bowl]] and the [[Great Depression]]. By 1945, Owens was co-hosting a radio show called "Buck and Britt." In the late 1940s, he became a truck driver and discovered the [[San Joaquin Valley]] of California. He was impressed by [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]], where he and his wife settled in 1950.
  
In 1945, Owens co-hosted a radio show called "Buck and Britt". In the late [[1940s]], Owens became a truck driver and discovered the [[San Joaquin Valley]] of California. He was impressed by [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]], where he and his wife settled in 1950.
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Soon, Owens was frequently traveling to [[Hollywood]] for session recording jobs at [[Capitol Records]], playing backup for [[Tennessee Ernie Ford]], [[Sonny James]], [[Wanda Jackson]], [[Del Reeves]], [[Tommy Sands]], [[Tommy Collins]], [[Faron Young]], and [[Gene Vincent]], and others.
  
[[image:Buckowensjapan.jpg|left|thumb|230px|The ''Buck Owens in Japan'' album.]]
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===Recording success===
Soon, Owens was frequently traveling to [[Hollywood]] for session recording jobs at [[Capitol Records]], playing backup for [[Tennessee Ernie Ford]], [[Sonny James]], [[Wanda Jackson]], [[Del Reeves]], [[Tommy Sands]], [[Tommy Collins]], [[Faron Young]] and [[Gene Vincent]], and many others.
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During the [[Rock-and-Roll]] [[craze]] of the 1950s, Owens recorded a [[rockabilly]] record called "Hot Dog" for the [[Pep Records|Pep label]], using the [[pseudonym]] Corky Jones. His career finally took off in 1959, when his song "Second Fiddle" hit number 24 on the [[Billboard magazine|Billboard]] country chart. A few months later, "Under Your Spell Again" hit number four, and then "Above and Beyond" hit number three.
  
During the [[Rock and Roll]] [[craze]] of the 1950s, Owens recorded a [[rockabilly]] record called "Hot Dog" for the [[Pep Records|Pep label]], using the [[pseudonym]] '''Corky Jones'''. He used the pseudonym because he did not want the fact he recorded a rock n' roll tune to hurt his country music career. Buck loved rock n' roll virtually from the start and it influenced his style of country from then on.
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In the early 1960s, Owens found himself at odds with the popular "[[countrypolitan]]" sound of the time, with its smooth, string-laden, [[pop music|pop]]-influenced styles as exemplified by [[Eddy Arnold]], [[Jim Reeves]], and [[Patsy Cline]], among others. Owens went against the trend, utilizing a raw honky-tonk approach, mixed idiosyncratically with the Mexican [[polkas]] he had heard on [[border blaster|border radio]] stations while growing up.
  
Buck's career took off in 1959, when his song "Second Fiddle" hit number 24 on the [[Billboard magazine|Billboard]] country chart. A few months later, "Under Your Spell Again" hit number 4, and then "Above and Beyond" hit #3.  
+
Owens was named the most promising Country-and-Western singer of 1960 by [[Billboard magazine|Billboard]] and his Top-10-charting duets with [[Rose Maddox]] in 1961 earned them awards as vocal team of the year. "Act Naturally" in 1963 became Buck's first number-one hit. [[The Beatles]] later did a cover of it in 1965. In all, Owens would have 21 hits that reach number one on the Billboard charts, including 15 consecutive chart toppers. Among his best known hits are:
  
In the early [[1960s]], the "[[countrypolitan]]" sound was popular, with smooth, string-laden, [[pop music|pop]]-influenced styles used by [[Eddy Arnold]], [[Jim Reeves]], and [[Patsy Cline]], among others. Owens went against the trend, utilizing pure and raw honky-tonk [[hillbilly]] feel, mixed idiosyncratically with the Mexican [[polkas]] he had heard on [[border blaster|border radio]] stations while growing up.
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"Love's Gonna Live Here" (1963), "My Heart Skips a Beat" (1964), "Together Again" (1964), "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail" (1965), "Waitin' in Your Welfare Line," (1966), and "Sam's Place" (1967).
  
Owens was named the most promising country and western singer of [[1960]] by [[Billboard magazine|Billboard]] and his Top-10-charting duets with [[Rose Maddox]] in [[1961]] earned them awards as vocal team of the year.
+
In 1967, Owens and the Buckaroos toured [[Japan]], a then-rare occurrence for a country musician. The subsequent live album, appropriately named ''Buck Owens in Japan'', is possibly the first country-music album recorded outside the [[United States]].<ref name="BOiJ">{{cite web | title=buckowens.com | work=Buck Owens Collection | url=http://www.buckowens.com/music-merch/sl_japan_live.htm | accessdate=March 30 | accessyear=2006}}</ref> At the [[White House]] the following year, Owens performed for President [[Lyndon Baines Johnson]].
  
In the 1970s, he enjoyed a string of hit duets with a protege, [[Susan Raye]], who subsequentally became a popular solo artist, with recordings produced by Owens.  
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===Hee-Haw and decline===
 +
''[[Hee Haw]]'' hit the television airwaves in 1969, keeping Owens busy throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The comedy-variety show featured Owens performances along with those of country performers such as Roy Clark, but its emphasis on hilarity tarnished Owens' reputation as a no-frills country singer. Financially, however, Owens prospered.
  
1963's "Act Naturally" became Buck's first #1 hit. [[The Beatles]] later did a straight cover of it in 1965.  
+
Before the 1960s were done, Owens&mdash;with the help of manager [[Jack McFadden]]&mdash;began to concentrate on his financial future. He bought several radio stations, including [[KNIX]] [[AM broadcasting|AM]] and [[FM]] in [[Phoenix]] and KUZZ in Bakersfield. In 1999, Owens sold the KNIX duo stations to [[Clear Channel Communications]], but he maintained ownership of KUZZ until his death. Owens established Buck Owens Enterprises and produced records by several artists.  
  
In 1967, Owens and the Buckaroos toured [[Japan]], a then-rare occurrence for a country musician. The subsequent live album, appropriately named ''Buck Owens in Japan'', is possibly the first country music album recorded outside the [[United States]].<ref name="BOiJ">{{cite web | title=buckowens.com | work=Buck Owens Collection | url=http://www.buckowens.com/music-merch/sl_japan_live.htm | accessdate=March 30 | accessyear=2006}}</ref>
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In the 1970s, he enjoyed a string of hit duets with a protege, [[Susan Raye]], who subsequently became a popular solo artist, with recordings produced by Owens. In 1972 he had another number-one hit, "Made in Japan."
  
At the [[White House]] the following year, Owens performed for President [[Lyndon Baines Johnson]].
+
On July 17, 1974, Owens' [[guitar]]ist, singing partner, and best friend, [[Don Rich]], was killed in a [[motorcycle]] accident. Owens was devastated and never fully recovered from the loss. "He was like a brother, a son and a best friend," he said in the late 1990s. "Something I never said before, maybe I couldn't, but I think my music life ended when he did. Oh yeah, I carried on and I existed, but the real joy and love, the real lightning and thunder is gone forever." <ref>[http://www.salon.com/bc/1999/02/23bc.html Brilliant Careers Salon: Buck Owens]. ''www.salon.com'' Retrieved April 25, 2008.</ref>
  
[[Creedence Clearwater Revival]], one of the biggest American rock bands of the period, often demonstrated a country flavor and even mentioned Owens in the hit, "Lookin' Out My Back Door":
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Owens continued recording, but he and his longtime fans were less than happy with the results. The records, made in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]] for [[Warner Brothers]], reflected the very type of bland country music he had always assailed. He was no longer recording by the 1980s, devoting his time to overseeing his business empire from Bakersfield. Time allowed him to realize that, despite the excellent pay and friendships he had developed on ''[[Hee-Haw]]'', the show had effectively ruined his musical career by redefining him as a comedian, to the point that many who tuned in knew nothing of his phenomenal country-music career or his classic hit recordings. He left the show in 1986.
:''<span style="font-size: 12px;">A dinosaur Victrola</span>''
 
:''<span style="font-size: 12px;">List'nin' to Buck Owens</span>''
 
:''<span style="font-size: 12px;">Doo, doo, doo</span>''
 
:''<span style="font-size: 12px;">Lookin' out my back door</span>''
 
  
''[[Hee Haw]]'' hit the television airwaves in 1969, keeping Owens busy throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In 1972 he had another #1 hit, "Made in Japan".
+
[[Dwight Yoakam]] was largely influenced by Owens' style of music and eventually teamed up with him for a duet of "Streets of Bakersfield" in 1988. Their duet was Owens' first number-one single in 16 years.
  
[[Image:KUZZ logo.gif|right|thumb|150px|KUZZ Radio logo featuring a depiction of Owens' trademark guitar]]
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==Death==
Before the [[1960s]] were done, Owens&mdash;with the help of manager [[Jack McFadden]]&mdash;began to concentrate on his financial future. He bought several radio stations, including [[KNIX]] [[AM broadcasting|AM]] and [[FM]] in [[Phoenix]] and KUZZ in Bakersfield. In 1999, Owens sold the KNIX duo stations to [[Clear Channel Communications]], but he maintained ownership of KUZZ until his death.
+
Buck Owens died in his sleep of an apparent [[heart attack]] on March 25, 2006, only hours after performing at his Crystal Palace restaurant, club, and museum in Bakersfield. He had successfully recovered from [[oral cancer]] in the early 1990s, but had additional health problems near the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the twenty-first century, including [[pneumonia]] and a minor [[stroke]] suffered in 2004. These health problems had forced him to curtail his regular weekly performances with the Buckaroos at his Crystal Palace.
  
Owens established Buck Owens Enterprises and produced records by several artists.
+
The ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' interviewed longtime Owens spokesman (and Buckaroos keyboard player) Jim Shaw, who said Owens "had come to the club early and had a [[chicken-fried steak]] dinner and bragged that it's his favorite meal." Afterwards, Owens told band members that he wasn't feeling well and was going to skip that night's performance. Shaw said a group of fans introduced themselves while Owens was preparing to drive home; when they told him that they had traveled from [[Oregon]] to hear him perform, Owens changed his mind and took the stage, anyway.
 
 
On [[July 17]], [[1974]], his guitarist and best friend [[Don Rich]] was killed in a motorcycle accident. Owens was devastated and never really recovered from the loss. "He was like a brother, a son and a best friend," he said in the late 1990s. "Something I never said before, maybe I couldn't, but I think my music life ended when he did. Oh yeah, I carried on and I existed, but the real joy and love, the real lightning and thunder is gone forever." [http://www.salon.com/bc/1999/02/23bc.html]
 
 
 
Owens recorded for [[Warner Brothers]], but Owens and his longtime fans  were less than happy with the results; the recordings, made in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], reflected the very type of bland country music he had always assailed. His spirit broken by the depression of Rich's death, he simply allowed himself to be led. He was no longer recording by the 1980s, devoting his time to overseeing his business empire from Bakersfield. Slowly, during that time, he recovered his equilibrium. Time allowed him to realize that, despite the excellent pay and friendships he'd developed on ''[[Hee-Haw]]'', the show effectively ruined his musical career by redefining him as a comedian, to the point that many who tuned in knew nothing of his phenomenal country music career or his classic hit recordings. He left the show in 1986.
 
  
[[Dwight Yoakam]] was largely influenced Owens' style of music and eventually teamed up with him for a duet of "Streets of Bakersfield" in 1988. Their duet was Owens' first #1 single in 16 years.  
+
Shaw recalled Owens telling the audience, "'If somebody's come all that way, I'm gonna do the show and give it my best shot. I might groan and squeak, but I'll see what I can do.'" Shaw added, "So, he had his favorite meal, played a show and died in his sleep. We thought, that's not too bad."<ref name="LATobit">{{cite news | first=Randy | last=Lewis | title=Singer Found Gold and Inspiration in California | date=March 26 2006 | publisher=Los Angeles Times | url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-owens26mar26,0,7553898.story? }}.</ref>
==Death==
 
Buck Owens died in his sleep of an apparent [[heart attack]] on [[March 25]], [[2006]], only hours after performing at his Crystal Palace restaurant, club and museum in Bakersfield. He had successfully recovered from [[oral cancer]] in the early 1990s, but had additional health problems near the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, including [[pneumonia]] and a minor [[stroke]] suffered in 2004. These health problems had forced him to curtail his regular weekly performances with the Buckaroos at his Crystal Palace.
 
  
The ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' interviewed longtime Owens spokesman (and Buckaroos keyboard player) Jim Shaw, who said Owens "had come to the club early and had a [[chicken-fried steak]] dinner and bragged that it's his favorite meal." Afterwards, Owens told band members that he wasn't feeling well and was going to skip that night's performance. Shaw said a group of fans introduced themselves while Owens was preparing to drive home; when they told him that they had traveled from [[Oregon]] to hear him perform, Owens changed his mind and took the stage, anyway.
+
Owens left behind three ex-wives and three sons: Buddy Alan (who charted several hits as a Capitol recording artist in the early 1970s), Michael, and Johnny Owens.  
  
Shaw recalled Owens telling the audience, "'If somebody's come all that way, I'm gonna do the show and give it my best shot. I might groan and squeak, but I'll see what I can do.'" Shaw added, "So, he had his favorite meal, played a show and died in his sleep. We thought, that's not too bad."<ref name="LATobit">{{cite news | first=Randy | last=Lewis | title=Singer Found Gold and Inspiration in California | date=[[March 26]] [[2006]] | publisher=Los Angeles Times | url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-owens26mar26,0,7553898.story? }}</ref>
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The front of the mausoleum where Owens is buried is inscribed "The Buck Owens Family" with the word's "Buck's Place" beneath.
  
Owens left behind three ex-wives and three sons: Buddy Alan (who charted several hits as a Capitol recording artist in the early 1970s), Michael and Johnny Owens.  
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==Legacy==
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Buck Owens had 21 Billboard number-one country hits spanning 1963-1988, including his final number one, the 1988 recording of "Streets Of Bakersfield," a collaboration with [[Dwight Yoakam]]. Owens defined the Bakersfield sound, which was a major force  redefining country music in the 1960s when Nashville commercialism had opted for a smooth polish that left many country fans longing for a more authentic product.
  
The front of the mausoleum where Owens is buried is inscribed "The Buck Owens Family" with the word's "Buck's Place" beneath.  
+
Along with [[Merle Haggard]], Owens was central to Bakersfield's energetic [[music]] scene. Owens' signature twisted-note [[Telecaster]] guitar style is legendary, and his vocal duets with Don Rich rank among the most perfect ever recorded in the country field.
  
His first wife, country singer [[Bonnie Owens]], died in April of the same year that Buck Owens' died.
+
Over a career spanning six decades, Owens delivered scores of hits, became a TV star on "Hee Haw," and entered the Country Music and [[Nashville]] Songwriters' Halls of Fame. He opened Bakersfield's Crystal Palace in the mid-1990s, his final [[concert]] taking place on its stage the night before he died on March 25, 2006.
  
==See also==
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==Notes==
* [[KUVI-TV]], [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]] &ndash; TV station originally owned by Buck Owens
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<div class="references-small"><references /></div>
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
*Flippo, Chet: [http://www.cmt.com/artists/news/1527048/03252006/haggard_merle.jhtml "NASHVILLE SKYLINE: Buck Owens' Supercharged Music"'] cmt.com, [[March 30]] [[2006]]
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* Ching, Barbara. ''Wrong's What I Do Best: Hard Country Music and Contemporary Culture''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0195108353
</div>
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* Dawidoff, Nicholas. ''In the Country of Country: People and Places in American Music''. New York: Pantheon Books, 1997. ISBN 067941567X
 +
* Owens, Buck, and Jackie Phelps. ''Buck Owens at His Best with `Hee Haw' co-star Jackie Phelps''. Nashville, TN: Gusto Records, 2006. {{OCLC|78763216}}
 +
* Stacey, Linda, Angela Gia, and Karlene Copenhaver. ''Freight train running: A Biography of Buck Owens''. Exeter, CA: Bear State Books, 2006. ISBN 1892622270
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* Yoakam, Dwight, and Buck Owens. ''Tomorrow's Sounds Today''. Burbank, CA: Reprise, 2000. {{OCLC|45292768}}
  
===Footnotes===
 
<div class="references-small"><references /></div>
 
  
==External links==
 
* [http://www.buckowens.com/ Buck Owens Official Website]
 
* [http://www.buckowensfan.com/ BuckOwensFan]
 
* [http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/inductees/buck_owens.html at the Country Music Hall of Fame]
 
* [http://www.kuzz.com/ KUZZ's Official Website]
 
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=13734879 Buck Owens' Gravesite]
 
* [http://www.rhino.com/store/ProductDetail.lasso?Number=74093 Rhino Entertainment - Buck Owens]
 
* [http://www.eyeoutforyou.com/buckowens EyeOutForYou.com Buck Owens Spotlight & Stories]
 
  
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[[Category:Country music songwriters|Owens, Buck]]
 
[[Category:Deaths from cardiovascular disease|Owens, Buck]]
 
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[[Category:People from the Sherman-Denison, Texas, area|Owens, Buck]]
 
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Latest revision as of 19:09, 17 February 2022

Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens, Jr., (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006) was an American singer and guitarist, with 21 number-one hits on the Billboard magazine country music charts. Both as a solo artist and with his band, the Buckaroos, Owens pioneered what has come 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." Among Owens best known hits are: "Act Naturally," "Love's Gonna Live Here," "Together Again," and "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail."

A consummate bandleader, Owens pioneered a unique and fresh sound rooted in the traditions of earlier country stars such as Hank Williams and George Jones, but more streamlined than the honky-tonk music of the late 1940s and early 1950s. His clean, crisp, style was characterized by strong vocal solos or duets with straightforward lyrics, sharp staccato guitar riffs, and distinctive pedal steel-guitar solos.

The sound Owens developed with the Buckaroos depended on his camaraderie and talents of his partner and best friend, guitarist Don Rich, whom he met while in Tacoma. Rich can be heard harmonizing on all of Owens hits until his untimely death in 1974. The loss of his best friend devastated Owens for years and halted his recording successes and career until Owens performed with Dwight Yoakam in the late 1980s.

However, Owens co-hosted the popular and groundbreaking Hee Haw program with Roy Clark. Hee Haw, originally envisioned as country music's answer to Laugh-In, outlived that show and ran for 24 seasons. Owens was co-host from 1969 until he left the cast in 1986, convinced that the show's exposure had obscured his immense musical legacy.

Biography

Early years

Buck Owens was born Alvis Owens, Jr. in Sherman, Texas. "'Buck' was a mule on the Owens farm," Rich Kienzle wrote in About Buck, the biography at Owens' official website. "When Alvis, Jr., was three or four-years-old, he walked into the house and announced that his name was also Buck. That was fine with the family; the boy was Buck from then on."[1]

In 1937, the Owens family migrated to Mesa, Arizona, during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. By 1945, Owens was co-hosting a radio show called "Buck and Britt." In the late 1940s, he became a truck driver and discovered the San Joaquin Valley of California. He was impressed by Bakersfield, where he and his wife settled in 1950.

Soon, Owens was frequently traveling to Hollywood for session recording jobs at Capitol Records, playing backup for Tennessee Ernie Ford, Sonny James, Wanda Jackson, Del Reeves, Tommy Sands, Tommy Collins, Faron Young, and Gene Vincent, and others.

Recording success

During the Rock-and-Roll craze of the 1950s, Owens recorded a rockabilly record called "Hot Dog" for the Pep label, using the pseudonym Corky Jones. His career finally took off in 1959, when his song "Second Fiddle" hit number 24 on the Billboard country chart. A few months later, "Under Your Spell Again" hit number four, and then "Above and Beyond" hit number three.

In the early 1960s, Owens found himself at odds with the popular "countrypolitan" sound of the time, with its smooth, string-laden, pop-influenced styles as exemplified by Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves, and Patsy Cline, among others. Owens went against the trend, utilizing a raw honky-tonk approach, mixed idiosyncratically with the Mexican polkas he had heard on border radio stations while growing up.

Owens was named the most promising Country-and-Western singer of 1960 by Billboard and his Top-10-charting duets with Rose Maddox in 1961 earned them awards as vocal team of the year. "Act Naturally" in 1963 became Buck's first number-one hit. The Beatles later did a cover of it in 1965. In all, Owens would have 21 hits that reach number one on the Billboard charts, including 15 consecutive chart toppers. Among his best known hits are:

"Love's Gonna Live Here" (1963), "My Heart Skips a Beat" (1964), "Together Again" (1964), "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail" (1965), "Waitin' in Your Welfare Line," (1966), and "Sam's Place" (1967).

In 1967, Owens and the Buckaroos toured Japan, a then-rare occurrence for a country musician. The subsequent live album, appropriately named Buck Owens in Japan, is possibly the first country-music album recorded outside the United States.[2] At the White House the following year, Owens performed for President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Hee-Haw and decline

Hee Haw hit the television airwaves in 1969, keeping Owens busy throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The comedy-variety show featured Owens performances along with those of country performers such as Roy Clark, but its emphasis on hilarity tarnished Owens' reputation as a no-frills country singer. Financially, however, Owens prospered.

Before the 1960s were done, Owens—with the help of manager Jack McFadden—began to concentrate on his financial future. He bought several radio stations, including KNIX AM and FM in Phoenix and KUZZ in Bakersfield. In 1999, Owens sold the KNIX duo stations to Clear Channel Communications, but he maintained ownership of KUZZ until his death. Owens established Buck Owens Enterprises and produced records by several artists.

In the 1970s, he enjoyed a string of hit duets with a protege, Susan Raye, who subsequently became a popular solo artist, with recordings produced by Owens. In 1972 he had another number-one hit, "Made in Japan."

On July 17, 1974, Owens' guitarist, singing partner, and best friend, Don Rich, was killed in a motorcycle accident. Owens was devastated and never fully recovered from the loss. "He was like a brother, a son and a best friend," he said in the late 1990s. "Something I never said before, maybe I couldn't, but I think my music life ended when he did. Oh yeah, I carried on and I existed, but the real joy and love, the real lightning and thunder is gone forever." [3]

Owens continued recording, but he and his longtime fans were less than happy with the results. The records, made in Nashville for Warner Brothers, reflected the very type of bland country music he had always assailed. He was no longer recording by the 1980s, devoting his time to overseeing his business empire from Bakersfield. Time allowed him to realize that, despite the excellent pay and friendships he had developed on Hee-Haw, the show had effectively ruined his musical career by redefining him as a comedian, to the point that many who tuned in knew nothing of his phenomenal country-music career or his classic hit recordings. He left the show in 1986.

Dwight Yoakam was largely influenced by Owens' style of music and eventually teamed up with him for a duet of "Streets of Bakersfield" in 1988. Their duet was Owens' first number-one single in 16 years.

Death

Buck Owens died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on March 25, 2006, only hours after performing at his Crystal Palace restaurant, club, and museum in Bakersfield. He had successfully recovered from oral cancer in the early 1990s, but had additional health problems near the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the twenty-first century, including pneumonia and a minor stroke suffered in 2004. These health problems had forced him to curtail his regular weekly performances with the Buckaroos at his Crystal Palace.

The Los Angeles Times interviewed longtime Owens spokesman (and Buckaroos keyboard player) Jim Shaw, who said Owens "had come to the club early and had a chicken-fried steak dinner and bragged that it's his favorite meal." Afterwards, Owens told band members that he wasn't feeling well and was going to skip that night's performance. Shaw said a group of fans introduced themselves while Owens was preparing to drive home; when they told him that they had traveled from Oregon to hear him perform, Owens changed his mind and took the stage, anyway.

Shaw recalled Owens telling the audience, "'If somebody's come all that way, I'm gonna do the show and give it my best shot. I might groan and squeak, but I'll see what I can do.'" Shaw added, "So, he had his favorite meal, played a show and died in his sleep. We thought, that's not too bad."[4]

Owens left behind three ex-wives and three sons: Buddy Alan (who charted several hits as a Capitol recording artist in the early 1970s), Michael, and Johnny Owens.

The front of the mausoleum where Owens is buried is inscribed "The Buck Owens Family" with the word's "Buck's Place" beneath.

Legacy

Buck Owens had 21 Billboard number-one country hits spanning 1963-1988, including his final number one, the 1988 recording of "Streets Of Bakersfield," a collaboration with Dwight Yoakam. Owens defined the Bakersfield sound, which was a major force redefining country music in the 1960s when Nashville commercialism had opted for a smooth polish that left many country fans longing for a more authentic product.

Along with Merle Haggard, Owens was central to Bakersfield's energetic music scene. Owens' signature twisted-note Telecaster guitar style is legendary, and his vocal duets with Don Rich rank among the most perfect ever recorded in the country field.

Over a career spanning six decades, Owens delivered scores of hits, became a TV star on "Hee Haw," and entered the Country Music and Nashville Songwriters' Halls of Fame. He opened Bakersfield's Crystal Palace in the mid-1990s, his final concert taking place on its stage the night before he died on March 25, 2006.

Notes

  1. buckowens.com. Buck Owens' Crystal Palace: About Buck. Retrieved March 28, 2006.
  2. buckowens.com. Buck Owens Collection. Retrieved March 30, 2006.
  3. Brilliant Careers Salon: Buck Owens. www.salon.com Retrieved April 25, 2008.
  4. Lewis, Randy, "Singer Found Gold and Inspiration in California", Los Angeles Times, March 26 2006..

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Ching, Barbara. Wrong's What I Do Best: Hard Country Music and Contemporary Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0195108353
  • Dawidoff, Nicholas. In the Country of Country: People and Places in American Music. New York: Pantheon Books, 1997. ISBN 067941567X
  • Owens, Buck, and Jackie Phelps. Buck Owens at His Best with `Hee Haw' co-star Jackie Phelps. Nashville, TN: Gusto Records, 2006. OCLC 78763216
  • Stacey, Linda, Angela Gia, and Karlene Copenhaver. Freight train running: A Biography of Buck Owens. Exeter, CA: Bear State Books, 2006. ISBN 1892622270
  • Yoakam, Dwight, and Buck Owens. Tomorrow's Sounds Today. Burbank, CA: Reprise, 2000. OCLC 45292768

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