Buck Owens

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Buck Owens
Buck Owens
Buck Owens
Background information
Birth name Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr.
Born August 12, 1929(1929-08-12)
Origin Sherman, Texas
Died March 25, 2006 (aged 76)
Bakersfield, California
Genre(s) Bakersfield Sound, country music
Occupation(s) singer-songwriter
Instrument(s) guitar, vocals
Years active 1950s-2006
Label(s) Capitol Records, Warner Bros. Records, Rhino Records
Associated acts Susan Raye, Rose Maddox, Dwight Yoakam, Roy Clark, Merle Haggard
Website Buck Owens Official Website

Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens, Jr., (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006) was an American singer and guitarist, with 20 number-one hits on the Billboard country music charts. Both as a solo artist and with his band, the Buckaroos, Buck Owens, along with his partner Don Rich, 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".[1]

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'n'roll. Owens met Rich while in Tacoma. Rich can be heard harmonizing on all of Owens' hits until his untimely death in a motorcycle accident in 1974. The loss of his best friend devastated Owens for years and abruptly halted his career until Owens performed with Dwight Yoakam in 1988.

Owens co-hosted Hee Haw 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. But following the death of Rich, a deep depression set in and lasted throughout the remaining years of his stint on Hee Haw.

In 2007 Dwight Yoakam released a tribute album to Buck Owens, Dwight Sings Buck.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Owens was born on a farm in Sherman, Texas to Maicie Azel Ellington and Alvis Edgar Owens, Sr. A shopping mall, (Midway Mall of Sherman, Texas), located at 4800 Texoma Parkway, now sits where his farm used to be in Sherman. [2] (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."[3]

In 1937, his family migrated to Mesa, Arizona, during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.

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, 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 many others.

Owens recorded a rockabilly record called "Hot Dog" for the 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.

Owens' career 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 4, and then "Above and Beyond" hit #3.

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, utilizing honky-tonk hillbilly feel, 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.

1963's "Act Naturally" became Buck Owens and the Buckaroos' first #1 hit. The Beatles later recorded a cover of it in 1965. It appears on their Help! album. Ringo Starr later re-recorded the song as a duet with Buck Owens in 1988.

The 1966 album Carnegie Hall Concert was a smash hit and further cemented Buck Owens and the Buckaroos as more than just another honky tonk country band. Buck Owens and the Buckaroos achieved cross over success on to the pop charts.

In 1967, Owens and the Buckaroos toured Japan, a then-rare occurrence for a country musician. The subsequent live album, appropriately named Buck Owens and His Buckaroos in Japan, is the first country music album recorded outside the United States.[4]

At the White House the following year, Owens and the Buckaroos performed for President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

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":

A dinosaur Victrola
List'nin' to Buck Owens
Doo, doo, doo
Lookin' out my back door

Hee Haw hit the television airwaves in 1969, keeping Owens busy throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

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.

In 1971 the Buckaroos' bass gutarist Doyle Holly left the band to pursue a solo career. The departure of Doyle was a blow to the band as Doyle had received the "Bass Player of the Year" award from the Academy of Country and Western Music the year before in 1970. Doyle Holly went on to record two solo records in the 1970s, both were top 20 hits. Doyle Holly has subsequently been honored with a Block in the Walkway of Stars at the Country Music Hall of Fame as a solo artist and as a member of the legendary band Buck Owens and the Buckaroos.

In 1972 Buck Owens and the Buckaroos had another #1 hit, "Made in Japan".

On July 17, 1974, his best friend and Buckaroos guitarist Don Rich was killed when he 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. Owens was devastated. "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."[5]

KUZZ Radio logo featuring a depiction of Owens' trademark guitar
KUZZ Radio logo featuring a depiction of Owens' trademark guitar

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 KNIX-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.

Owens recorded for Warner Bros. Records, but Owens and his longtime fans were less than happy with the results; the recordings, made in 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 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 #1 single in 16 years.

The 1990s saw a flood of reissues of his Capitol recordings on compact disc. In 1974, Owens had bought back publishing rights to all of his Capitol recordings, as part of his final contract with the label. His albums had been out of print for nearly 15 years, when he released a retrospective box set in 1990. Encouraged by brisk sales, Owens struck a distribution deal with "Sundazed Records" of New York, which specializes in reissuing obscure recordings. A bulk of his Capitol catalog was reissued on CD in 1995, 1997 and recently in 2005. Sometime in the 1970s, Owens had also purchased the remaining copies of his original LP albums from Capitol's distribution warehouses across the country. Many of those records(still in the shrinkwrap) were stored by Owens for decades. He often gave them away as gifts and sold them at his nightclub for a premium price some 35 years later!

In August 1999, Owens brought back together his original Buckaroo Band to help him celebrate his 70th Birthday. They performed at Buck's Crystal Palace in Bakersfield. All the original surviving Buckaroos were there. Buck Owens, Doyle Holly, Tom Brumley, and Wille Cantu performed old hits from their heyday including "Tiger by the Tail" and "Act Naturally."

Owens was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. He was ranked #12 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003.

CMT (Country Music Television) named the Buckaroos as 2nd greatest country music band in history.

Long before Owens became the famous co-host of Hee Haw, his band became known for their signature 'Bakersfield Sound', later emulated by artists such as Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam, and Brad Paisley. This sound was originally made possible with two trademark silver-sparkle Fender Telecaster guitars, often played simultaneously by Owens and longtime wing-man Don Rich. In 2003, Paisley blended creative styles with this guitar and his own famous Paisley Telecaster, creating what became known as the "Buck-O-Caster". Initially, only two were made; one for Paisley himself and the other presented to Buck during a New Year celebration that Paisley attended in 2004. Subsequent copies can be custom ordered at Crook Custom Guitars.

Following the death of Don Rich, Owens' latter trademark was a red, white and blue acoustic guitar, along with a 1974 Pontiac convertible "Nudiemobile", adorned with pistols and silver dollars. A similar car, created by Nudie Cohn for Elvis Presley and later won by Owens in a bet, is now enshrined behind the bar at Owens' Crystal Palace Nightclub in Bakersfield, California.

Owens would hand out replicas of his trademark acoustic guitar to friends, acquaintances and fans. Each would contain a gold plaque with the name of the recipient. Some of these guitars cost $1000 and up.

[edit] 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.

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."[6]

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

His first wife, country singer Bonnie Owens, died just a month after Owens himself. His second wife was the fiddle soloist in his Hee Haw band, Janna Jae Greif. They were married for only a few days before she filed for divorce. Owens also had three sons: Buddy Alan (who charted several hits as a Capitol recording artist in the early 1970s), Michael and Johnny Owens.

[edit] Single Discography

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Please improve this article if you can. (May 2008)
YEAR SINGLE US COUNTRY US LABEL
1959 SECOND FIDDLE 24 CAPITOL
1959 UNDER YOUR SPELL AGAIN 4 CAPITOL
1960 ABOVE AND BEYOND (THE CALL OF LOVE) 3 CAPITOL
1960 EXCUSE ME (I THINK I'VE GOT A HEARTACHE) 2 CAPITOL
1961 FOOLIN' AROUND 2 CAPITOL
1961 LOOSE TALK w/Rose Maddox 4 CAPITOL
1961 UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF LOVE 2 CAPITOL
1962 NOBODY'S FOOL BUT YOURS 11 CAPIT0L
1962 SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME 11 CAPITOL
1962 KICKIN' OUR HEARTS AROUND 8 CAPITOL
1962 YOU'RE FOR ME 10 CAPITOL
1963 ACT NATURALLY 1 CAPITOL
1963 WE'RE THE TALK OF TOWN w/Rose Maddox 15 CAPITOL
1963 LOVE'S GONNA LIVE HERE 1 CAPITOL
1964 MY HEART SKIPS A BEAT 1 94 CAPITOL
1964 I DON'T CARE (JUST AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME) 1 92 CAPITOL
1964 I'VE GOT A TIGER BY THE TAIL 1 25 CAPITOL
1965 BEFORE YOU GO 1 83 CAPITOL
1965 ONLY YOU (CAN BREAK MY HEART) 1 CAPITOL
1965 TOGETHER AGAIN 1 CAPITOL
1965 BUCKAROO 1 60 CAPITOL
1965 SANTA LOOKED A LOT LIKE DADDY 2 CAPITOL
1966 WAITIN' IN YOUR WALFARE LINE 1 57 CAPITOL
1966 THINK OF ME 1 74 CAPITOL
1966 OPEN UP YOUR HEART 1 CAPITOL
1966 WHERE DOES THE GOOD TIMES GO 1 CAPITOL
1967 SAM'S PLACE 1 92 CAPITOL
1967 YOUR TENDER LOVING CARE 1 CAPITOL
1967 IT TAKES PEOPLE LIKE YOU (TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKE ME) 2 CAPITOL
1968 HOW LONG WILL MY BABY BE GONE 1 CAPITOL
1968 GONNA HAVE LOVE 10 CAPITOL
1968 SWEET ROSIE JONES 2 CAPITOL
1968 LET THE WORLD KEEP ON A TURNIN' w/Buddy Alan 7 CAPITOL
1968 I'VE GOT YOU ON MY MIND AGAIN 5 CAPITOL
1968 CHRISTMAS SHOPPING 5 CAPITOL
1969 WHO'S GONNA MOW YOUR GRASS 1 CAPITOL
1969 JOHNNY B. GOODE LIVE 1 CAPITOL
1969 TALL DARK STRANGER 1 CAPITOL
1969 BIG IN VEGAS 5 100 CAPITOL
1970 WE'RE GONNA GET TOGETHER w/Susan Raye 13 CAPITOL
1970 TOGETHERNESS w/Susan Raye 12 CAPITOL
1970 KANSAS CITY SONG 2 CAPITOL
1970 GREAT WHITE HORSE 8 CAPITOL
1970 I WOULDN'T LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY 9 CAPITOL
1971 BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER 9 CAPITOL
1971 RUBY (ARE YOU MAD) 3 CAPITOL
1971 ROLLIN' IN MY SWEET BABY'S ARMS 2 CAPITOL
1971 TOO OLD TO CUT THE MUSTARD 29 CAPITOL
1972 I'LL STILL BE WAITING FOR YOU 8 CAPITOL
1972 MADE IN JAPAN 1 CAPITOL
1972 YOU AIN'T GONNA HAVE OL'BUCK TO KICK AROUND 13 CAPITOL
1972 IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND 23 CAPITOL
1973 AIN'T IT AMAZING GRACIE 14 CAPITOL
1973 ARMS FULL OF EMPTY 27 CAPITOL
1973 BIG GAME HUNTER 8 CAPITOL
1974 ON THE COVER OF THE MUSIC CITY NEWS 9 CAPITOL
1974 (IT'S A) MONSTER'S HOLIDAY 6 CAPITOL
1974 GREAT EXPECTATIONS 8 CAPITOL
1975 WEEKEND DADDY 19 CAPITOL
1975 41ST STREET LONELY HEART'S CLUB 19 CAPITOL
1978 PLAY TOGETHER AGAIN, AGAIN w/Emmylou Harris 11 WARNER BROTHERS
1988 HOT DOG 46 CAPITOL
1988 STREETS OF BAKERSFIELD w/Dwight Yoakam 1 REPRISE
1989 A-11 54 CAPITOL
1989 ACT NATURALLY w/Ringo Starr 27 CAPITOL

[edit] Discography

Year Album US Country US Label
1960 Buck Owens La Brea
1961 Sings Harlan Howard Capitol
1961 Buck Owens Capitol
1962 You're For Me Capitol
1962 Fabulous Country Music Sound Starday
1963 On The Bandstand 2 Capitol
1963 Buck Owens Sings Tommy Collins 1 Capitol
1964 The Best of Buck Owens 1 46 Capitol
1964 Together Again 1 88 Capitol
1964 I Don't Care 1 135 Capitol
1965 I've Got a Tiger By The Tail 1 43 Capitol
1965 Before You Go 1 Capitol
1965 The Instrumental Hits 4 Capitol
1965 Christmas With Buck 12 Capitol
1966 Roll Out The Red Carpet 1 106 Capitol
1966 Dust On Mother's Bible 1 Capitol
1966 Carnegie Hall Concert 1 114 Capitol
1966 Open Up Your Heart 1 Capitol
1967 In Japan "live" 1 Capitol
1967 Your Tender Loving Care 1 177 Capitol
1968 It Takes People Like You 1 Capitol
1968 Best of Buck Owens Vol. 2 5 Capitol
1968 Sweet Rosie Jones 2 Capitol
1968 Christmas Shopping 31 Capitol
1968 The Guitar Player 27 Capitol
1968 I've Got You On My Mind Again 19 199 Capitol
1968 Best of Buck Owens Vol. 3 12 Capitol
1969 Tall Dark Stranger 2 122 Capitol
1969 In London "live" 5 113 Capitol
1969 Big in Vegas 9 Capitol
1970 Your Mother's Prayer 198 Capitol
1970 We're Gonna Get Together Duet w/Susan Raye 10 154 Capitol
1970 The Kansas City Song 10 196 Capitol
1970 Merry Hee-Haw Christmas 34 Capitol
1970 The Great White Horse Duet w/Susan Raye 22 Capitol
1970 I Wouldn't Live In New York City 12 190 Capitol
1970 Live in Scandinavia Capitol
1971 Bridge Over Troubled Water 11 Capitol
1971 Ruby 9 Capitol
1971 Best of Buck Owens Vol. 4 17 Capitol
1971 Merry Christmas Duet w/Susan Raye Capitol
1972 Too Old To Cut The Mustard Duet w/Buddy Alan 35 Capitol
1972 Live at John Ascuga's Nugget 3 Capitol
1972 The Best of Buck and Susan w/Susan Raye 15 Capitol
1972 Live at The White House 10 Capitol
1973 In The Palm of Your Hand 21 Capitol
1973 Ain't It Amazing Gracie 17 Capitol
1973 Good Old Days Duet w/Susan Raye 29 Capitol
1973 Arms Full of Empty 32 Capitol
1974 Best of Buck Owens Vol. 4 35 Capitol
1974 It's a Monster's Holiday 10 Capitol
1974 Live in New Zealand Capitol
1974 Live at The Sydney Oprah House Capitol
1975 4th Street Lonely Hearts Club 21 Capitol
1976 Best of Buck Owens Vol. 6 34 Capitol
1976 Buck 'Em Warner Brothers
1977 Our Old Mansion Warner Brothers
1988 Hot Dog 37 Capitol
1989 Act Naturally Capitol
1991 Kickin' In Capitol

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Risling, Greg. "Country Music Star Buck Owens Dies at 76", Associated Press, March 25, 2006. 
  2. ^ Ancestry of Buck Owens
  3. ^ buckowens.com. Buck Owens' Crystal Palace: About Buck. Retrieved on March 28, 2006.
  4. ^ buckowens.com. Buck Owens Collection. Retrieved on March 30, 2006.
  5. ^ Salon Brilliant Careers | The Baron of Bakersfield
  6. ^ Lewis, Randy. "Singer Found Gold and Inspiration in California", Los Angeles Times, March 26, 2006. 

[edit] External links

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