Farewell, Buck Owens

I am very sad to report that country music legend Buck Owens has died.  Owens passed away at his home in Bakersfield, California Saturday morning.  The 76 year-old Owens died from heart failure.  Owens had undergone surgery for throat cancer in 1993, and after recovering he went right back to performing.

During the peak of his career, Buck Owens had a string of more than 20 number one hit records, most released from the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's.  They were recorded with a honky-tonk twang that came to be known as the "Bakersfield Sound," named for the town 100 miles north of Los Angeles that Owens called home.  Among his hits were "Act Naturally", a song recorded by The Beatles, "Love's Gonna Live Here" and "I've Got A Tiger By The Tail." One of his biggest hits, and one of my favorite country songs of all time, was "Together Again," a song Owens wrote.  Emmylou Harris' version also went to number one. 

In addition to his songwriting and recording, Buck Owens is probably most well known for his stint as co-host of "Hee Haw."  Owens co-hosted from the show's start in 1969 to 1986. He helped make "Hee Haw" the longest running syndicated television show in the history of television.  He attributed the show's popularity to the fact that it was an "honest show."  He said "There's no social message - it's fun and simple."  I thought the coolest part of the show was when Buck would sing and play his red, white and blue guitar. 

The first record album that I remember ever playing was one of Dad's Buck Owens records.  Dad had three and I think I wore them all out, playing them over and over on my green and white plastic portable record player.  When we got a cool 8-track recorder, we made copies of those three albums so we would have a back-up in case I did wear them out.  I remember playing the record and singing along to "Love's Gonna Live Hear" while trying to have a twang in my voice like Buck.  It never quite happened, but I got a kick out of singing along with the record. 

When he was inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1996, Buck Owens said "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." That you did, Buck; that you did.