THE BARON OF BAKERSFIELD | PAGE 1, 2, 3
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Owens' time in the Northwest was significant for two reasons: Working as a disc jockey, he learned about the sound qualities of AM radio -- knowledge he would soon use in the recording studio -- and performing in the area he met a talented 16-year-old fiddler named Don Rich, who would become his guitar player, harmony vocalist, bandleader, co-writer, arranger and best friend. "It didn't take him long before he superseded what I could do," Owens said. "He took that style and improved it immensely."

He continued to record in Hollywood during this time, often writing songs with his friend Harlan Howard, and one of his singles, "Second Fiddle," hit No. 24 on the Billboard country chart in the spring of 1959. A few months later, "Under Your Spell Again" hit No. 4. In February 1960, "Above and Beyond" hit No. 3. It was clear Buck's career as a DJ was over. He left the radio station and a live TV show he hosted in Tacoma -- which featured such local talent as Loretta Lynn -- and returned to Bakersfield. Rich dropped out of college and joined him. They began touring around in an old Ford, using local house bands to back them.

Now a confident, successful professional, Owens took charge in the recording studio. Nelson was the nominal producer of his sessions, but unlike autocratic Nashville producers like Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley, he let Owens run the sessions and took the role of interested observer, pointing out muffed notes or out-of-tune strings. In the '50s and early '60s, country had gone uptown. The hillbilly sound had been replaced by a smooth, string-laden, pop-influenced style typified by Eddy Arnold and Patsy Cline. Owens' records went against that grain, taking the unsophisticated honky-tonk feel of the hillbilly music and polkas he had grown up listening to on border radio stations and updating it with rock-band instrumentation. Forgoing string sections, he minimized pedal steel and fiddle and brought the drums and his and Rich's Telecasters to the fore.

Rather than using the stolid session musicians most country singers relied on, Owens put together a solid road band and brought it into the studio. (The band was eventually named the Buckaroos by a brooding ex-con who played bass for three weeks: Merle Haggard.) He did it because he wanted the live show to sound like the records, but the result, happily, was the opposite: The records sounded like a live band. Using what he'd learned about AM radio sound in Washington, Owens mixed his records using tiny speakers so he'd know what they'd sound like in the real world. The guitars fairly shimmered. The vocal harmonies cut like diamonds. If you were listening to the radio, you knew a Buck Owens song in an instant. It jumped right out of the speaker.

Owens was named the most promising country and western singer of 1960 by Billboard, and his top-10 duets with Rose Maddox in 1961 earned them a nod as vocal team of the year in DJ polls. But it was in 1963, after updating his sound again, that Owens' career went ballistic. He moved away from the traditional country shuffle to a more upbeat, driving style with the single "You're For Me" in late 1962. A few months later, "Act Naturally" became his first No. 1 hit. It was rock 'n' roll with a country feel. The Beatles later covered it without changing much of anything. It crossed over to the pop charts, and it began an astonishing run: For the next four years, every Buck Owens single went to No. 1. Fifteen in a row. At one point, he had a B-side, "My Heart Skips a Beat," alternating in the top spot with its A-side, "Together Again." "Love's Gonna Live Here," the follow-up to "Act Naturally," was No. 1 for 16 weeks. He even sent an instrumental -- the signature "Buckaroo" -- to No. 1. The streak finally ended in October 1967 when his tribute to his fans, "It Takes People Like You (To Make People Like Me)," underachieved, stopping at No. 2. The next single, "How Long Will My Baby Be Gone," went to No. 1, as did three more songs in 1969.

He played sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall and the London Palladium. In 1968 he played at the White House by special invitation of President Johnson, and he blew away the hippest room in America, the Fillmore West. Creedence Clearwater Revival, the biggest American rock band of the period, listed "listenin' to Buck Owens" as one of life's pleasures in "Lookin' Out My Back Door." Beginning in 1966 he hosted a syndicated TV show, "Buck Owens' Ranch," for six years. He hit on a trademark when he painted his guitar red, white and blue. And he was smart with his money: He ran his own music publishing company and, with his manager, Jack McFadden, a booking agency. He bought radio stations and opened a recording studio in Bakersfield, which country music writers now called "Buckersfield."

He was no poet. His lyrics were simple and direct, relying more on clever wordplay than deep insight. Merle Haggard had since stepped out of his shadow to become the bard of the working man. (Not to mention marrying Bonnie Owens, who had a few minor hits of her own.) George Jones was a far better singer, and even his own boy Don Rich was a better guitarist. But Buck Owens owned country in the '60s.

N E X T_ P A G E .|. "Hee Haw"