Buck Owens
Buck Owens dead at 76:
His career was one of the most phenomenal in country music, with a string of more than 20 No. 1 records, most released from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.
They were recorded with a honky-tonk twang that came to be known throughout California as the "Bakersfield Sound," named for the town 100 miles north of Los Angeles that Owens called home.
"I think the reason he was so well known and respected by a younger generation of country musicians was because he was an innovator and rebel," said Shaw, who played keyboards in Owens' band, the Buckaroos. "He did it out of the Nashville establishment. He had a raw edge."
Owens was modest when describing his aspirations.
"I'd like to be remembered as a guy that came along and did his music, did his best and showed up on time, clean and ready to do the job, wrote a few songs and had a hell of a time," he said in 1992.
I worked at my first country-western gig in 1982 - and while I'd grown up hating country-western, I quickly grew to love Owens; he stood out from the cookie-cutter replicants that Music Row cranked out then (and, if you listen to K102, now):
Owens himself could be rebellious, choosing among other things to label what he did "American music" rather than country.
"I took a little heat," he once said. "People asked me, 'Isn't country music good enough for you?' "
He also criticized the syrupy arrangements of some country singers, saying "assembly-line, robot music turns me off."
After his string of hits, Owens stayed away from the recording scene for a decade, returning in 1988 to record another No. 1 record, "Streets of Bakersfield," with Dwight Yoakam.
Bummer.
Q
Posted by Mitch at
March 27, 2006 06:34 AM
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Like Johnny Cash, I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like Buck Owens.
He was a shrewd businessman too.
RIP.
Posted by: JB Doubtless at March 27, 2006 10:09 AMJB Doubtless said: "Like Johnny Cash, I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like Buck Owens."
Then again, we all know you don't get out much, JB.
Posted by: angryclown at March 27, 2006 10:38 AM...and while members of the Red State Hee Haw Brigade mourn the death of Buck, the New York Time FINALLY confirms that Bush was going to war in Iraq regardless of what anyone said or did to stop him...
http://nytimes.com/2006/03/27/international/europe/27memo.html?hp&ex=1143522000&en=1a8220fd45b2aca0&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Posted by: Doug at March 27, 2006 11:57 AMF**k impeachment - we should be going for indictment.
Of course if one of the Hee Haw Honeys died, that would be very sad.
Posted by: angryclown at March 27, 2006 12:07 PMAh. The NEW YORK TIMES says so. It MUST be true.
F*ck indictment; if this is the kind of crap the opposition is into, we might be looking at third term.
Posted by: mitch at March 27, 2006 12:27 PMAngryclown...when you start badmouthing Buck and HeeHaw....you are going to get hed to the hogs in short order in "red state" country..
Great shows...HeeHaw, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction....satire way ahead of their times and would like to deflate pompous guys like 'clown....
Posted by: Greg at March 27, 2006 12:36 PMI'm sure that's the plan, Mitch. But I don't think Bush will be able line up enough military for a coup.
Posted by: angryclown at March 27, 2006 12:37 PM'fed to the hogs....of course hed for the hogs angry may like also....hehehe
Posted by: Greg at March 27, 2006 12:38 PMGreg rambled: "HeeHaw, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction..."
Don't forget The Dukes of Hazzard, Greg. Together those are some of the best documentaries ever.
"Bakersfield Cemetery, Population 9,385. SAL-LUTE!"
Posted by: angryclown at March 27, 2006 12:44 PMDukes were liked to recycle a lots of scripts but had cool cars, crashes and babes.....Smoky and the Bandit is much better form...and Jerry Reed is a stitch along with Jackie Gleason...
We shall never see their likes again...(tear in my eye..sniffle)
....as for the cemetery, angry', you will be there too someday. Be careful of the enemies you make along the way...
Posted by: Greg at March 27, 2006 12:52 PMAgain, I urge all to remember that the Clown loves (exists, really) to yank chains.
Like most New Yorkers, he knows less about the part of the US west of the Hudson than those west of the Hudson know about New York; he regards that part of the world like those medieval maps that said "HERE BE DRAGONS" somewhere west of Portugal. And he, like so many New Yorkers, compensates for the combined anger, insecurity and sense of something missing he feels when he picks syringes out of his salad, or asks the seven union plumbers who responded to his drippy faucet to kindly not urinate in his cabinetry, or regards the miasma of regulation, cockroaches and niggling urban petit morts that assail him on the one side, and the sense that he's earning $95,000 a year and can barely afford living in a one-bedroom railroad tenement with his wife and children on the other, by making "Kissin' cousin!" jokes.
It is an act of Christian charity to laugh; it'll make him feel better.
Hah hah!
Posted by: mitch at March 27, 2006 12:59 PMMitch, I'm sure you're aware that New York is the safest big city in the country - far safer than, say, Minneapolis. Compare the crime rates:
http://www.areaconnect.com/crime/compare.htm?c1=new+york&s1=NY&c2=minneapolis&s2=MN
And the chart doesn't even compare cow-related crimes!
Posted by: angryclown at March 27, 2006 01:08 PMSure, I'm aware. I am among the Twin Cities' (note: not Minneapolis. As if) GOP bloggers that are trying to give uber-DFL Mpls mayor RT Rybak the death of a thousand cuts (more or less like the ones that any unarmed person visiting downtown Minneapolis after 8PM suffers). Duly noted.
But notice that I didn't mention crime in the least, AC. "Safety" isn't the only metric for quality of life.
Posted by: mitch at March 27, 2006 01:13 PMSt. Paul is the Danny-DeVito-conjoined-shrunken-twin kinda Twin City, unless I'm mistaken.
Posted by: angryclown at March 27, 2006 01:24 PM"unless I'm mistaken"
Well played, sir, allowing for the possibility. Because you are!
Mark Twain once said "Saint Paul is the last city of the east, Minneapolis if the first city of the West". Minneapolis feels like Denver or Fargo or Phoenix. In the meantime, the late August Wilson was drawn to St Paul because Cathedral Hill reminded him of his NYC home (sans the moving encrustation of cockroaches), and is more reminiscent of Chicago or Boston or points east...
Posted by: mitch at March 27, 2006 01:32 PMOh, yeah - and Saint Paul has less than half the violent crime, per capita, of Minneapolis.
Posted by: mitch at March 27, 2006 01:35 PMWell, I've been in both cities, Mitch, and I must agree that I liked St. Paul better. I enjoyed an excellent brunch in that hotel with the revolving restaurant on top (Your local ladies weren't shy about sidling up to the bacon, but that's a quibble.) I'm not sure that the Angryclown seal of approval will carry much weight with your blog fans, but there you go.
Posted by: angryclown at March 27, 2006 01:40 PMMitch observed: "Oh, yeah - and Saint Paul has less than half the violent crime, per capita, of Minneapolis."
Less stuff to steal, duh!
Posted by: angryclown at March 27, 2006 01:41 PMMitch said,
"Ah. The NEW YORK TIMES says so. It MUST be true."
Hey Mitch... I forget... What's that big long river in Africa?
"F*ck indictment; if this is the kind of crap the opposition is into, we might be looking at third term."
Funny you say that Mitch. I've been saying for a few years that that is EXACTLY what the administation will attempt.
They'll start a war in Iran or Syria and of course we can't switch Presidents NOW? What - you want the terrorists to win?
I mean, hell they've already shreaded the Constitution. Might as well go all the way.
Posted by: Doug at March 27, 2006 02:38 PM"I'm not sure that the Angryclown seal of approval will carry much weight with your blog fans"
If you go back to the extended "City Vs. Burbs" threads a few months back, it's pretty clear that my own seal of approval doesn't buy me much with the readership...
Posted by: mitch at March 27, 2006 02:38 PMEr, Doug? This is a thread on Buck Owens.
But while we're on the subject; name one thing in the Constitution that the Administration has "shredded".
Posted by: mitch at March 27, 2006 02:39 PMMitch, not that it matters to you one bit but here ya go...
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/03/24/bush_shuns_patriot_act_requirement/
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Congressman_writes_White_House_Did_President_0315.html
http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/faculty/2006/01/why_the_nsa_sur.html
Posted by: Doug at March 27, 2006 04:09 PMGeez Doug, stay on topic!
So Buck Owens was the guy who played with thAT fat guy, Roy Rogers or something, right?
Posted by: angryclown at March 27, 2006 05:17 PMNo Angry. Buck Owens was the character played by Gil Gerard in the show Buck Owens in the 25th Century which aired from 1979 - '81 and co-starred a certain young lovely named Dorian Gray.
Posted by: Doug at March 27, 2006 05:50 PMGreat blog you have going on. KarlaX
Posted by: KarlaX at April 25, 2006 09:20 PM