Buck Owens Died

[dee12682]

Didnt see it anywhere, but unfortanatly Buck Owens passed away in his sleep last night after playing his last show at the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, Ca....

[May_G&T_fan]

I just read this on Yahoo. I'm shocked. It feels like a family member has passed. God Bless Buck Owens.

[plethora12]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060325/ap_en_tv/obit_owens

[Paula]

Sad to hear this news...a great loss to the country music world. I never had the opportunity to see him in concert, but I did watch his TV shows when they aired.

Paula

[vegitoth]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Singer Buck Owens, the flashy rhinestone cowboy who shaped the sound of country music with hits like "Act Naturally" and brought the genre to TV on the long-running "Hee Haw," died Saturday. He was 76.

Owens died at his home, said family spokesman Jim Shaw. The cause of death was not immediately known. Owens had undergone throat cancer surgery in 1993 and was hospitalized with pneumonia in 1997.

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.

An indefatigable performer, Owens played a red, white and blue guitar with fireball fervor. He and the Buckaroos wore flashy rhinestone suits in an era when flash was as important to country music as fiddles.

Among his biggest hits were "Together Again" (also recorded by Emmylous Harris), "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail," "Love's Gonna Live Here," "My Heart Skips a Beat" and "Waitin' in Your Welfare Line."

And he was the answer to this music trivia question: What country star had a hit record that was later done by the Beatles?

"Those guys were phenomenal," Owens once said.

Ringo Starr recorded "Act Naturally" twice, singing lead on the Beatles' 1965 version and recording it as a duet with Owens in 1989.

In addition to music, Owens had a highly visible TV career as co-host of "Hee Haw" from 1969 to 1986. With guitarist Roy Clark, he led viewers through a potpourri of country music and hayseed humor.

"It's an honest show," Owens told The Associated Press in 1995. "There's no social message - no crusade. It's fun and simple."

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.

He spent much of his time away concentrating on his business interests, which included a Bakersfield TV station and radio stations in Bakersfield and Phoenix.

"I never wanted to hang around like the punch-drunk fighter," he told The Associated Press in 1992.

He had moved to Bakersfield in 1951, hoping to find work in the thriving juke joints of what in the years before suburban sprawl was a truck-stop town on Highway 99, between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area.

"We played rhumbas and tangos and sambas, and we played Bob Wills music, lots of Bob Wills music," he said, referring to the bandleader who was the king of Western swing.

"And lots of rock 'n' roll," he added.

Owens started recording in the mid-1950s, but gained little success until 1963 with "Act Naturally," his first No. 1 single.

Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. was born in 1929 outside Sherman, Texas, the son of a sharecropper. With opportunities scarce during the Depression, the family moved to Arizona when he was 8.

He dropped out of school at age 13 to haul produce and harvest crops, and by 16 he was playing music in taverns.

He once told an audience, "When I was a little bitty kid, I used to dream about playing the guitar and singing like some of those great people that we had the old, thick records of."

Owens' first wife, Bonnie Owens, sometimes performed with him and went on to become a leading backup singer after their divorce in 1955. She had occasional solo hits in the '60s, as well as successful duets with her second husband, Merle Haggard.

One of her two sons with Owens also became a singer, using the name Buddy Alan. He had a Top 10 hit in 1968, "Let the World Keep on a-Turnin'," and recorded a number of duets with his father.

In addition to Buddy, he is survived by two other sons, Michael and John.

[Hasselblad]

From the Associated Press March 25 2006

LOS ANGELES - Singer Buck Owens, the flashy rhinestone cowboy who shaped the sound of country music with hits like "Act Naturally" and brought the genre to TV on the long-running "Hee Haw," died Saturday. He was 76.

Photos:
Photo by Casey Christie
Buck Owens holds a copy of "Freight Train Running: A Biography of Buck Owens," Wednesday, at the Crystal Palace.
Owens died at his home, said family spokesman Jim Shaw. The cause of death was not immediately known. Owens had undergone throat cancer surgery in 1993 and was hospitalized with pneumonia in 1997.

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.

An indefatigable performer, Owens played a red, white and blue guitar with fireball fervor. He and the Buckaroos wore flashy rhinestone suits in an era when flash was as important to country music as fiddles.

Among his biggest hits were "Together Again" (also recorded by Emmylous Harris), "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail," "Love's Gonna Live Here," "My Heart Skips a Beat" and "Waitin' in Your Welfare Line."

And he was the answer to this music trivia question: What country star had a hit record that was later done by the Beatles?

"Those guys were phenomenal," Owens once said.

Ringo Starr recorded "Act Naturally" twice, singing lead on the Beatles' 1965 version and recording it as a duet with Owens in 1989.

In addition to music, Owens had a highly visible TV career as co-host of "Hee Haw" from 1969 to 1986. With guitarist Roy Clark, he led viewers through a potpourri of country music and hayseed humor.

"It's an honest show," Owens told The Associated Press in 1995. "There's no social message — no crusade. It's fun and simple."

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.

He spent much of his time away concentrating on his business interests, which included a Bakersfield TV station and radio stations in Bakersfield and Phoenix.

"I never wanted to hang around like the punch-drunk fighter," he told The Associated Press in 1992.

He had moved to Bakersfield in 1951, hoping to find work in the thriving juke joints of what in the years before suburban sprawl was a truck-stop town on Highway 99, between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area.

"We played rhumbas and tangos and sambas, and we played Bob Wills music, lots of Bob Wills music," he said, referring to the bandleader who was the king of Western swing.

"And lots of rock 'n' roll," he added.

Owens started recording in the mid-1950s, but gained little success until 1963 with "Act Naturally," his first No. 1 single.

Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. was born in 1929 outside Sherman, Texas, the son of a sharecropper. With opportunities scarce during the Depression, the family moved to Arizona when he was 8.

He dropped out of school at age 13 to haul produce and harvest crops, and by 16 he was playing music in taverns.

He once told an audience, "When I was a little bitty kid, I used to dream about playing the guitar and singing like some of those great people that we had the old, thick records of."

Owens' first wife, Bonnie Owens, sometimes performed with him and went on to become a leading backup singer after their divorce in 1955. She had occasional solo hits in the '60s, as well as successful duets with her second husband, Merle Haggard.

One of her two sons with Owens also became a singer, using the name Buddy Alan. He had a Top 10 hit in 1968, "Let the World Keep on a-Turnin'," and recorded a number of duets with his father.

In addition to Buddy, he is survived by two other sons, Michael and John.

[Garth_BradFan]

Its a great shame that Buck doesn't get the credit he deserves as a writer, musician and performer and it just remembered as the guy who did 'Act Naturally', which The Beatles covered.

Sadly, it could be another case of a man's talents being recognised after death.

R.I.P Buck, your loss is a profound one.

[sandis]

BUCK OWENS | 1929-2006
Singer Found Gold and Inspiration in California
By Randy Lewis
Times Staff Writer

March 26, 2006

Buck Owens, the Bakersfield rebel who brought a distinctly California flavor to country music in the 1950s and '60s and built a Central Valley-based multimedia empire belying his "Hee Haw"-bred bumpkin persona, died Saturday. He was 76.

Owens died at his home in Bakersfield, said Jim Shaw, the family's spokesman and longtime member of his Buckaroos band. The cause of death was not immediately known, but the country music giant who charted 21 No. 1 country singles from 1963 to 1988, among them "Act Naturally," "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail" and "Streets of Bakersfield," had been in declining health for years after undergoing surgery for throat cancer in 1993.

Just hours before he died, Owens was on stage Friday night with the Buckaroos singing at his $5-million Bakersfield nightclub and restaurant, Buck Owens' Crystal Palace, something he'd done routinely since opening it almost 10 years ago.

"He had come to the club early and had a chicken-fried steak dinner and bragged that it's his favorite meal," Shaw said. After dinner, Owens told band members he didn't feel up to performing and decided to drive home. On his way to his car, fans on their way in told him that they had come from Bend, Ore., and that they were really looking forward to hearing him sing. Owens turned around and did the show.

"He mentioned that onstage: '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 said. "He died in his sleep — they figure it was about 4:30 [a.m.] — probably of heart failure. So he had his favorite meal, played a show and died in his sleep. We thought, that's not too bad."

In the 1950s, when the music coming out of country capital Nashville was laden with swelling violins, swirling piano fills and choirs of background singers, Owens put out stripped-down records that were part Chuck Berry and part Hank Williams. His recordings jumped with stinging electric guitar work by his close friend and musical partner Don Rich, further punched up by an energetic rhythm section.

"I don't think there have ever been two people in this business closer than Don and I," Owens said backstage after a rare L.A. performance at the House of Blues in 1998. "It's like we could read each other's minds."

The relationship was central to Owens' success, and when Rich was killed in 1974 in a motorcycle accident, the loss was devastating. After Rich died, Owens recorded sporadically, but famously came out of his self-imposed retirement and landed his final No. 1 hit in 1988 with "Streets of Bakersfield." That duet paired him with Dwight Yoakam, one of many younger-generation country stars who sang his praises, in part hoping to undo some of the damage inflicted on his musical credibility by his years playing a hayseed on "Hee Haw."

"What a musical innovator," said Chris Hillman, a veteran of California rock, country and folk music as a member of the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Desert Rose Band. "His music had so much norteño and Tex-Mex in it. It had such a California influence that Nashville never had….

"That put the state of California on the map. Not better, just different. It had more edge," Hillman said Saturday. "There was a regional difference, and the different music that was out here — 90% of which was Hispanic, especially in Central California — filtered right into their stuff."

Robert Hilburn, former pop music critic at The Times, said Saturday that Owens was quick to embrace what most of Nashville was shying away from: rock 'n' roll.

"Owens and his indispensable musical partner Don Rich embraced the energy and exuberance of the youthful sound," Hilburn said. "Even after all these years, it's hard to listen to one of his rollicking hits without joining in."

Nashville also had few country musicians with the business savvy to own their master recordings, as Owens did, wresting them from Capitol Records in the 1970s after a legal battle. The victory gave him, rather than the record company, control over how his recordings would be released in the future. In the 1990s, when Garth Brooks was famously involved in a contractual battle with Capitol, he sought Owens' counsel. The elder musician told him to retain ownership of his own masters at all costs, advice that Brooks heeded.

Owens plowed his royalties from licensing his songs for movies, television and commercials into investments in a string of radio and TV stations. At one time, he had an estimated net worth of more than $100 million. A 1992 Worth magazine survey of the richest people in the top 100 U.S. metropolitan areas put Owens at No. 1 in Bakersfield.

"He was a great influence to many people, from the Beatles to myself," said Merle Haggard, Bakersfield's other major contribution to country music who played bass in Owens' band before finding fame on his own.

"Over the years we'd been in a lot of battles together," Haggard said Saturday through a spokeswoman, "but we were always on the same side."

Owens' stream of hits through the '60s opened the door for him to star, with fellow singer-guitarist Roy Clark, in their own network TV variety show. "Hee Haw" premiered June 15, 1969, on CBS and ran for three seasons, then continued in first-run syndication until 1993, although Owens left in 1986.

The series' corny humor and stereotyped images of rural life and people ran counter to the creative freshness of Owens' recordings and contributed strongly to Owens' fall from the charts in the '70s.

"When you come into someone's home every week," he said in 1995, "it destroys the mystique."

But he rarely sounded apologetic, saying he earned more money for a few weeks of "Hee Haw" tapings than he and his band made in a year of touring and recording.

"Buck Owens won't be remembered as one of the great artists of country music," Hilburn said Saturday, "because his music lacked the soulful insight and character of some of the field's true giants. But he will be remembered because his music was so superbly crafted that they still make your emotions soar."

This son of a Texas sharecropper was willing to sacrifice some credibility, having once vowed to do anything rather than pick cotton again. But Owens bristled at what he felt was a lack of respect from the music industry and his own community that was more focused on "Hee Haw" than his musical legacy.

Alvis Edgar Owens was born Aug. 12, 1929, barely two months ahead of the stock market crash, in Sherman, Texas, a town of 1,500.

Along with millions of others from the Cotton Belt, his family — mother Maicie, father Alvis, two sisters, a brother, an aunt, an uncle, a grandmother and a cousin — headed west when Buck was 8, looking for a better life as agricultural workers.

They moved from one town in Arizona to another, and spent several years in Mesa. When he was 10, he walked out of a movie theater showing "The Grapes of Wrath.'

"I wasn't going to watch that movie," he told The Times in 1995. "I'd lived the damn thing."

Owens had started playing music in Arizona bars as a teenager, attracted by the prospect of collecting a few dollars in tips each night. It was in Mesa that he met singer Bonnie Campbell, whom he married in 1948.

With two young sons in tow, they moved in 1951 to Bakersfield, where many who had fled the Dust Bowl were creating a fertile country music scene, much of it centered at the Blackboard, a celebrated honky-tonk bar. Owens joined Bill Woods & the Orange Blossom Playboys, the house band.

He also played guitar with another Bakersfield singer, Tommy Collins, on Collins' 1953 hit "You Better Not Do That." One of the early recordings Owens made on his own, "Hot Dog," came out in 1956, just as Elvis Presley's name was becoming known nationally. Owens put "Hot Dog" out under the name Corky Jones in an attempt not to alienate country music fans who might not approve of his record's more energetic and upbeat rockabilly sound.

About that time he also decided to try out a new type of guitar that allowed his playing to cut through the din at the Blackboard. It was a radically different sounding and looking instrument created in Fullerton by guitar innovator Leo Fender.

Owens was among many Bakersfield musicians who field-tested Fender's solid-body electric guitars, instruments that quickly became integral to California country music for their affordability, durability and clean, bright, twangy sound.

He also began writing his own songs, one of which, "Second Fiddle," gave him his first chart hit, reaching No. 24 in 1959. Four years later, at the end of a collection of demo recordings being played for him and Rich by lyricist Voni Morrison and composer John Russell, came "Act Naturally."

"He put it on and there's Johnny Russell singing, 'They're gonna put me in the movies,' " Owens said in the liner notes for the 1992 CD box set "The Buck Owens Collection. "And I loved that song. I wanted it right then."

It became his first No. 1 hit, catching the attention of four rock musicians from Liverpool: the Beatles, who later recorded the song. In 1965, another Owens song, "Crying Time," became a huge hit for Ray Charles, making it into the Top 10 on the charts.

In recent years, Owens had rarely performed outside Bakersfield, and only if it struck him as something he'd enjoy.

"When anybody asks to do something now," he told The Times in 1998, "the first thing I look for is where the fun is. If it's there, then we can talk about the deal."

Owens is survived by three sons, Buddy Alan, who had a minor career of his own as a country singer, and Michael, both from his short first marriage to Bonnie, and Johnny, from his second marriage to Phyllis, whom he divorced. His marriage to his third wife, Jennifer, also ended in divorce.

Shaw said plans for a funeral or memorial services were pending.

http://www.calendarlive.com/music/cl-me-owens26mar26,0,1740473.story?coll=cl-music-features

[Paula]

I caught the last half hour of the Master Series show today. His son Buddy is the spitting image of Buck.

GAC's MASTER SERIES
In Memory of Buck Owens
Sunday, March 26th
4pm, 7pm, and 11pm Eastern

Catch a special one hour edition of MASTER SERIES hosted by Bill Cody. This special tribute to Buck Owens, shot on location at the Country Music Hall of Fame, will take a look back at his storied career. The show will feature some special highlights from Hee-Haw and an interview with show producer Sam Lovullo. Plus catch Buck's video for "Streets Of Bakersfield" with Dwight Yoakam!

Additional Airtimes:
Monday, March 27th - 10am, 3pm, and 6pm Eastern

Country Music Across America
Buck Owens: The Final Conversation
Monday, March 27th
7:30pm, 10pm, and 1am Eastern

Catch a special exclusive episode of Country Music Across America as host Storme Warren features his recent interview with Buck Owens. The show will also feature exclusive interviews with Kenny Chesney and Dierks Bentley as they reflect on the impact Buck had on country music and their careers!

Additional Airtimes:
Tuesday, March 28th at 9am, and 5:30pm Eastern
Thursday, March 30th at 9pm, and 1am Eastern
Friday, March 31st at 11am Eastern
Saturday, April 1st at 4pm Eastern

Paula

[Garth_BradFan]

Thanks for the info Paula.

[Garth_BradFan]

Brad Paisley's Tribute to Buck from www.bradpaisley.com:

In Memory of Buck Owens
My friend Buck Owens was one of a kind. A larger than life music legend who reinvented country music, epitomized musicianship, and was the inspiration for countless artists including the Beatles. He loved to become friends with other musicians and loved to pass advice on to young guys like me. He was very giving of his talents and wisdom.

If any good can come from his passing, I hope that it's a renewed interest in his achievements, and more importantly, his incredible "Bakersfield" sound. He deserves to be remembered as one of the most important artists in all of music history.

Thank you Buck for everything. I will miss you terribly.

-Brad

[Garth_BradFan]

. . . and here's Dwight Yoakam's comments, who met with Buck a few days before his death:

"Even though he seemed in a somewhat fragile physical state, he was emotionally exuberant and still living life in a forward motion, discussing a variety of plans for his future," Yoakam said in a statement. "I will cherish, forever, the musical moments he graciously shared with me during his life. I will be eternally grateful for his fatherly chastisements, encouragement and, ultimately, his friendship and love."
- Dwight Yoakam

[dee12682]

Garth is supossed to be at the funeral service....

[Garth_BradFan]

More artists comments:

Trace Adkins
"Early on in my career when I was doing my first radio tours, Buck took me under his wings and seemed to go out of his way to be nice to me. He would take me in his office, close the door and we'd talk about the business for what seemed like hours. One thing I will always remember him saying was, 'Son, you're only 3 minutes away from being a superstar'. Those memories will always remain special to me and I'm really gonna miss him."


Joe Nichols
"I was saddened to hear about the passing of country legend Buck Owens. I had the pleasure of knowing Buck a little and he truly was one of the nicest, friendliest people I've ever met in this business. I thought one unique thing about Buck was his interest in new artists. I personally have a couple of handwritten notes from him offering encouragement, and a trademark red, white, and blue guitar with an inscription on the pickgaurd that reads "To the best damn country singer to come down the pike since Merle Haggard". Whether or not that statement is true, I still was very touched that someone of his stature would take the time to do someting like that. He was a very sharp businessman and was very successful outside the music part of the business. We'll all sure miss him."


Kenny Chesney
"Obviously, we all remember his music. He was an icon in the music business and means a lot to a lot of people through his music."

Owens was particularly optimistic about Chesney's future -- even when the young singer-songwriter wasn't quite sure about his own career.

"After a couple of years on being on the road, I had a couple of albums under my belt," Chesney said. "Not really a whole lot was happening [in Chesney's career]. I was sitting in my chair, almost feeling out of place at the CMA Awards one year. He walked over and said, 'I just want you to know, Kenny, that I really believe in you. I think you're a really good singer and a really good performer.'"

Owens told Chesney he only needed three minutes -- the length of a hit song -- for his career to ignite.

"You're three minutes away from being a really big star," Owens told him. "If you find a great song, you're three minutes away from really getting on the right road and being successful."

Chesney said their paths crossed again two years ago at the Academy of Country Music Awards show in Las Vegas.

"He walked up to me and said, 'You got your three minutes, didn't you? And you got six ... and you got nine ... and you got 12 ... and you got 15. You've got a bunch of minutes. You've got a bunch of hit songs.' He gave me a big hug and said, 'I told you.'

"I will always remember his music and the kind of style and sound he had that was very identifiable, but I'll remember those conversations that he had with me and the belief he had in me a lot more ... forever."

[Garth_BradFan]

Dierks Bentley's comments from his online journal:
"It’s closing in on 4 a.m. and we are headed to Michigan after playing our third show with Kenny Chesney. I’ve been in the back of the bus ever since we walked off stage, listening to Buck and drinking domestic light and colds. I didn’t get to know Buck as well as Brad Paisley or Dwight Yoakam...wish I had. But, I feel VERY fortunate, VERY blessed to have had the opportunity to hang out with him a few times and to have a few private moments with him. I’m also honored to have played his Crystal Palace in Bakersfield four of five times. Buck was an outlaw before the term outlaw became fashionable...he always did it his way. He was proud of his kind of country music and proud of California’s, specifically Bakersfield's place and role in country music history and the future. I will miss him greatly.”

[Green_Kirby]

I'd like to give a shout-out to the Owens and Yoakam family...
I'm coming to know in my young eyes that Buck Owens was a really nice guy, and I look forward to listening to his works in the future. I thank Dwight Yoakam for introducing me (and probably alot of other people) to him in "Streets of Bakersfield". The concept of the song just went with me although I am on the east coast. Alot of people don't know me, but boy once they hear certain things about me, they don't like me. They don't, however, know the roads that have lead me to where I'm at today, and I hope to travel down many more of thsoe roads to get somewhere else tomorrow. Later in my life I would like to travel to California to visit Lodi, and then go on to walk the Streets of Bakersfield and get to know the places. Mr. Yoakam just happens to be one of my favorite artists; I listen to him actually more than Garth and almost more than John Fogerty/CCR. Ever since I heard John mention Buck Owens in his song "Lookin' Out My Back Door" and getting to hear Buck in "Bakersfield", I took alot of interest in him. I've only heard about 4 or 5 songs... but regardless if I like his music or not (I find it catchy. ^_^), I will always love his good timing, happy personality. It's almost as if I already know so much about him. Buck Owens will probably end up being one of my favorites in my "Honorable Mention" category..
He will be greatly missed, but as seen here today he will be greatly remembered.

[sandis]

Vince Gill did a nice Buck Owens "tribute" at the Opry show at the Kennedy Center this past Friday. He opened the show with an instrumental that Buck wrote, and when he came out to sing during his portion of the show played two of Buck's songs, as well as two of his own. :)

[fuzzwuzz]

Garth was at the funeral today.

[garthbrooksfans]

I miss Buck Owens. Even though i hardly knew him.