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| Buck Owens and Don Rich during their mid 60's heyday |
In my recent post on country rock I did a lot of digging to
find out more about the roots of country rock.
I mentioned toward the end of that post that it was only when I was
older that I started to gain a greater appreciation for country music. When I was a kid I totally detested it,
particularly when my mother would torture me with songs like “Elvira” by the Statler Brothers, or anything by Kenny Rogers (seriously, is there a
dumber song than “Coward of the County”?
Even my well-established love of story songs hasn’t been enough to make
me like that song).
It has only been in the last decade or so that I’ve (a)
acquired enough age to appreciate country more—I seriously question the sanity,
intelligence, and taste of anyone who professes to like country music who is
under 30 years of age, country is something I feel you have to have been kicked
around by life a bit to appreciate; (b) been able to delve deeper into the
roots of country and really find what I like.
I can honestly say that I am now a fan of country music, though with
some huge caveats.
Caveat number one is that I still prefer country ROCK to
country almost any day. My first
exposure to “country” was highly indirect and initially occurred through an
appreciation of 80’s LA post-punk, in particular the so-called cowpunk of bands
like X and the Long Ryders. In the 90’s
I briefly got into alt country through my appreciation of bands like the Geraldine Fibbers; in the late 90’s
and early 2000’s I got further into alt country through my love of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt. In the late 90’s I also saw Iris Dement in concert for the first
time and was blown away by her sweet pure country voice. Also in the late 90’s I was finally able to
“sample” some songs by Gram Parsons,
about whom I’d hear much but of who’s music I’d heard very little. Parsons’ solo efforts, as well as his work
with the International Submarine Band
and the Flying Burrito Brothers, was
as hardcore country as I’d ever listened to, and in fact was probably a little
TOO country for me at first. For most of
my adult life, I’ve been very much an urban person, attracted to modern art and
punk rock and contemporary jazz and classical music; I feel way less
comfortable in redneck situations.
But I’ve definitely gained a greater appreciation for real,
raw country music, which led to my recent revelation that I don’t actually
dislike country, what I actually dislike is NASHVILLE country, i.e., the slick,
overproduced pap that is simply twangified pop music that has oozed out of
Nashville for the past 40 years. And so Caveat Number Two is that the only country that I really will listen to and enjoy is stuff nobody who is a regular country fan has ever heard of. It was
in the 60’s that Nashville producers started crafting a slicker, more polished
country sound to appeal to pop fans and cross over to the pop market; one of
the first such movements was called “countrypolitan” in an effort to emphasize
it’s accessibility to city folks as well as rednecks. This is not to say that artists like Patsy Cline (I love “Crazy” and “I Fall
to Pieces”; I also like "Angel of the Morning" by Merrilee Rush for its stately adulteress dignity) didn’t put out some good songs during this time, but in subsequent
decades this polish came at the price of grittiness and authenticity.
But country music isn’t just produced in Nashville, and what
I’ve finally come to understand is how much I love some of these other, often
less commercial strains of country music.
Specifically, I recently discovered that what I REALLY like is the
country music produced in the California farming and oil town of
Bakersfield. As I mentioned in my
previous post, part of my attraction to this sound may be because I actually
lived in Bakersfield in the early 70’s (specifically for part of 1973) and
remember enough of its hardscrabble charm to appreciate this music on a more
fundamental level. But more importantly,
I’ve come to appreciate this music for exactly what it is: a rawer, simpler, more rock and roll version
of country than what was being produced in Nashville at the time (or since).
Arguably the king of the Bakersfield sound is Buck Owens. I mostly remember Owens from his lengthy
stint as co-host of the cornball hillbilly comedy show Hee Haw in the 70’s (and into the 80’s though I obviously wasn’t
watching it by then), but during the 60’s Owens almost literally put
Bakersfield on the map in musical terms by the slew of hit singles he
produced. Owens’ sound was the
antithesis of the overproduced Nashville sound; raw, simple, clean country that
focused on Buck’s Texas drawl and acoustic guitar as well as electric guitar
and some light rhythm. Few if any
overdubs, no strings or horns, no choirs, just a few instruments played extremely
efficiently.
Buck Owens is rightly credited for bringing this clean and
simple country sound back to the charts, but an unsung hero, the real architect
of this sound, was his guitarist Don
Rich. Rich is revered by true
country fans for his rockabilly-influenced electric guitar playing and high
singing harmonies, both of which perfectly complemented Buck’s acoustic guitar
and lead vocals. Rich gave Buck Owens a
sound that was both rooted in country history as well as forward facing toward
the rock generation. Sadly, Rich died in
a motorcycle accident in the mid-70’s; Buck was supposedly never the same
afterward.
I recently purchased the album Buck Owens: 21 #1 Hits off
iTunes, and I am enjoying it immensely.
Often collections that focus on #1 hits only can give a skewed view of
an artist’s output; after all, not all of an artist’s best songs always hit #1,
and plenty of songs that aren’t so great become #1 songs. But this collection really provides an
excellent overview of Buck’s most successful (both commercially and musically)
period, from around 1963 through the mid-70’s (the collection also includes a
re-recorded version of “Streets of Bakersfield” from the 80's featuring Dwight Yoakam). Buck’s
first #1, 1963’s “Act Naturally”, is one of his best songs, featuring Rich’s
clean, twangy rock-infused picking and high harmony with Buck; this song was
actually covered by the Beatles on Help! (it was released as the B-side of
“Yesterday” in the States). His second #1, “Love’s Gonna Live Here” is
another jaunty slice of Bakersfield country; Rich’s picking here is funkier,
less reverbed than on “Act Naturally” and is a perfect accompaniment to Buck’s
simple acoustic strumming. “I Don’t
Care (As Long As You Love)” is similarly fantastic and owes a debt to the early
country of Roy Acuff and Jimmie Rodgers.
In 1965, Owens had a staggering four #1 singles “I’ve Got a
Tiger by the Tail”, “Before You Go” (with its incredible, ringing guitar intro
by Rich), the phenomenal instrumental “Buckaroo” (named for his backing band the Buckeroos and sounding like Richie Valens’ “La Bamba” filtered
through “Day Tripper” by the Beatles;
this is still the only instrumental song ever to top the country charts), and
the slow ballad “Only You (Can Break My Heart)”. In 1966 Owens barely slowed down, producing
three more #1 hits, “I’m Waiting in Your Welfare Line” (with its terrific
chorus “I’ve got the hungries for your love, and I’m waitin’ in your welfare
line), “Think of Me” (with its Spanish
rhythm and Rich’s high, ringing guitar), and the funky “Open Up Your Heart”
(with its tejano beat). 1967 brought
three more #1’s, the oddly named lament “Where Does the Good Times Go”, the
slow, soulful “Your Tender Loving Care”, and the high-tempo rom “Sam’s Place”.
The next year, Buck’s incredible streak showed signs of
tapering off. His singles branched out
from his typical formula, and while several charted, he had only one #1, “How
Long Will My Baby Be Gone”. 1969 brought “Tall Dark Stranger”, with its cowboy
choruses and greater emphasis on acoustic and Spanish guitar, and the oddly
suggestive “Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass”, with Rich playing his electric guitar
through a fuzzbox for a weird, pseudo-psychedelic roar that sounds more like “Sneaky” Pete Klenow’s work with the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Buck continued to have chart success but his staggering run
of #1 singles was nearly at an end; his final #1 was 1972’s faintly
embarrassing “Made In Japan”, with its hokey chop-socky guitar and corny
lyrics. This is one of the few musical
missteps on this amazing album. From
1963-1969 Owens had something like 19 #1 songs, an amazing feat. But more importantly, he did so on his terms
and against the prevailing grain of the Nashville sound. For this reason Owens can truly be considered
an original country punk, making music that was rawer and simpler and achieving
success on his own terms. Another thing
I love about Buck’s music is how much it pulls on, and would influence, Spanish
country or tejano music. Many of the
rhythms and guitar textures Buck used in his songs come from that
Spanish/Tex-Mex influence, and his music in turn was a huge influence on the
burgeoning tejano music scene. Tejano typically uses more accordion and a
firm 2/2 beat—which can be heard on Buck’s re-recording of “Streets of
Bakersfield” with Dwight Yoakam—but
many of the flourishes Buck put into his songs came from a Hispanic influence
that as a long-time (former) Californian I appreciate and respect. Buck was making music for ALL of the honky
tonk folks of the California Central Valley.
His music pulls more on the Western music aspects than on the Country
music aspects of country western music, and as a lifelong Westerner I
appreciate that immensely.
Buck wasn’t the only superstar to emerge from the
Bakersfield scene; the other was Merle
Haggard. Haggard’s influence on
country, country rock, and alt country was massive, gargantuan. Haggard played briefly in Buck Owens’ band and through Buck he
absorbed some of the simplicity of the Bakersfield sound, but Haggard had one
of the most captivating lyrical muses in the history of country music, fed no
doubt by a colorful life spent in and out of jail and working the oil fields
around Bakersfield. I particularly love
some of his key early hits with his group the
Strangers, like “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive”, “The Bottle Let Me Down”, “Swinging
Doors”, and “(My Friends are Gonna Be)
Strangers”. Merle was also a pioneer in
what eventually came to be called “outlaw country”, with artists like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings jumping on board in the 70’s.
I respect Haggard but I am also less comfortable with his
reactionary redneck side, which is highlighted on songs like “Okie from
Muskogee” and “The Fighting Side of Me”; Haggard has claimed at various times
that these songs, which glorify a narrow-minded, jingoistic take on American
values, were written tongue-in-cheek, but I think they ring a little too true
to be parody. In contrast, Buck Owens embraced, and was embraced
by, the counter-culture during the 60’s; as mentioned above, his “Act
Naturally” was covered by the Beatles (Buck was supposedly a big fan of the Beatles, unusual among country artists at the time),
and Buck famously played a series of shows at the Fillmore West to an audience
of appreciative hippies. And while I think I prefer
Haggard’s voice over Owens’, Buck had a much better band (specifically
guitarist Don Rich). But Haggard was also arguably a better
lyricist, and his songs have found new life in some of my favorite country rock covers, including “Big City” by Iris Dement, “Silver Wings” and “I
Can’t Hold Myself in Line” by John Doe, “White Line Fever” by the Flying Burrito Brothers,
and “Kern River” by Dave Alvin.
Buck and Merle put Bakersfield on the map, but there were
musicians playing in Bakersfield before them.
Tommy Collins was arguably
the first Bakersfield artist to gain recognition by the country music
establishment in the 50’s. I only have
two songs by Collins, “Whatcha Gonna Do Now” and “You Better Not Do That” off
the album Country Music’s Greatest Hits of the 50’s; both are kind of tinny and
twangy and owe more to the Appalachian country sound than Owens’ more
western-influenced sound but you can hear glimmers of the stripped-down
Bakersfield sound here.
Wynn Stewart was
a stepping stone between Tommy Collins and Buck and Merle. I am just starting my Stewart collection but
right now my favorite song by him is “Wishful Thinking”, even though its sound
is busier and more polished than Buck or Merle’s. I also like “Big Big Love” and “I’ve Waited a
Lifetime”, the latter of which comes the closest to the high lonesome
simplicity of Buck Owens’ work.
The Bakersfield sound has remained incredibly durable over
the decades since its mid-50’s to late-60’s heyday. As mentioned, a wide array of pioneering
country rock artists idolized Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, including Gram Parsons, as well as members of The Speckled Bird, Poco, and the Byrds. In the 80’s, Dwight Yoakam was a standard-bearer for the Bakersfield sound and
even released an entire album of Buck Owens covers. In the 90’s and 2000’s the main musical
progeny of the Buckaroos are probably Texas’ Derailers,
who almost perfectly capture the clean lines and facile elegance of mid 60’s Buckaroo sounds (and who, like Yoakam, have released an entire album of Buck Owens covers called Under the Influence of Buck). I am just getting into these guys but pretty
much everything off their 1996 album Jackpot
but specifically “My Heart’s Ready” (Don
Rich is smiling somewhere at the funky guitar twang here), the honky tonk
stomp of “This Big City”, “I’m Your Man” the quickstep of “Where Ya Been”, and
the marvelous title track. “Whatever
Made You Change Your Mind”, “Someone Else’s Problem”, their gender-reversed
cover of the Crystal’s “Then She
Kissed Me”, and “The Right Place” off 1999’s Dave Alvin-produced Full Western Dress are some other
terrific old school Bakersfield western songs.
I also like “The Get-Go” and “The Sun Is Shining on Me” off their 2008
album Guaranteed to Satisfy, though
these move away from the crisp sparseness of Buck’s best work and more toward
the work of those who interpreted Buck in a rock setting, specifically the Byrds. The big, chiming rock guitars and soaring
harmonies that start “The Get-Go” are straight from the Byrds playbook (with a
dash of “Drive My Car” or “Ticket To Ride” by the Beatles) and even though it departs from the country simplicity
of the Bakersfield sound I still like this work a lot. They started migrating away as early as 2003’s
Genuine, specifically on the Beatlesque song “Scratch My Itch”, and
on 2006’s Soldiers of Love they
channel Jerry Lee Lewis and “Day
Tripper” on “Get ‘er Done” and Chuck Berry and the Killer on “Hey, Valerie!”
It’s great to see a band evolve, and while I lament their migration away
from their Buck influenced origins I can’t fault them too much for trying to move toward
something new.
In a similar way, North Carolina’s Two Dollar Pistols channel Merle
Haggard and the Strangers. Lead singer John Howie Jr.’s voice reminds me a lot of John Doe’s of X, which I
have always been a fan of (Doe recorded two of the best Haggard covers ever so that's not a bad person to emulate). I’m just
getting into this band but I love their series of duets with alt country
chanteuse Tift Merritt from 1999
that evokes the best of Gram Parsons
and Emmylou Harris, most notably on
“Just Someone I Used To Know”, “(I’m So) Afraid of Losing You Again”, and “We Had It All”. I also like “You Ruined Everything” off their
2002 album of the same name and “Too Bad You’re Gone” off 2004’s Hands Up!
Wayne Hancock plays
a hardcore honky tonk music closer to Hank
Williams than Buck Owens and
with an incredible mix of western swing, rockabilly, big band swing, jump blues and even 50’s crooner pop. I am really becoming a huge fan of his; right now he along with the Derailers is at the top of my current favorite artist list. I really enjoy the spare, simple arrangements
of much of his work, most notably songs like “Thunderstorms and Neon Lights”
off his 1995 album of the same name; this song is just infused with the spirit
of Hank Williams through and
through. Another of my favorite songs of
his is the title track off 1997’s That’s
What Daddy Wants—I love how his Hank
Williams vocals meld with the swinging guitar twang, which has elements of Tal Farlow and even Django Reinhardt in it, and the braying
sax and rumbling tympani give this a jump blues feel similar to the music of
the Brian Setzer Orchestra (his song
“Juke Joint Jumping” off his debut also has this same honky tonk plus jump
blues feel, with rockabilly guitar flourishes tossed in for good measure). I also enjoy the rockabilly/swing/honky tonk
feel of “Lose Your Mind” and “Big City Good Time Gal” from his 2003 live album Swing Time. The title track from 2006’s Tulsa swings and bops, and the shout-out
chorus spelling of “Tulsa” owes a big debt to jive numbers like “Pennsylvania
6-5000”, and his yodeling vocals on “Goin’ Home Blues” evoke Jimmie
Rodgers as much as the immortal Hank.
Finally, “Jump the Blues” off his latest album, 2009’s Viper of Melody, continues his streak of
great swing songs. I’m no two stepper
but this music makes even me want to get up and get in the line!
Sean Reefer and the
Resin Valley Boys also play some old tyme yodeling Hank Williams style
country in a 40’s/50’s style, with plenty of amazing fiddle work combined with
clean electric picking. There’s only one
album by him on iTunes, 2003’s Texas Hill
Country, but I like pretty much everything off it. Particular favorites are the sweet, twangy
picking and fiddling of “The Other Side”
and Reefer’s yodeling “Whiskey Bottle”.
Georgia’s Joey Allcorn, also heavily influenced
by Hank Williams, isn’t quite as
yodeling or twangy as Reefer or Hancock; his voice is more nasally and sounds
more alt country than hardcore neotraditionalist, but his overall sound is
nevertheless rooted in classic country and western sounds. His song “50 Years Too Late” off his 2006
album of this name is a lament about how he missed out on the heyday of
country; in this way it reminds me of Saint
Vitus’ similarly themed “Born Too Late”, which laments their missing out on
metal’s 70’s era. I also like the sweet
Hawaiian steel guitar on “Honky Tonk Ramblin’ Man” off All Alone Again.
The retro outlaw sounds of J.B. Beverley & the Wayward Drifters from Virginia are also
something I’m really enjoying now. “Dark
Bar and a Jukebox” from his 2006 album with the same name really summarizes my
feelings about country music—‘You won’t find no country on country radio’. Amen.
Beverley played in a punk band called Bad Habits before forming his
western swing infused outfit in the late 90’s. I also like his yodeling
delivery on “Lonesome, Loaded and Cold” from this same album. And I love the finger snapping ditty “Walked
Across Texas” off his 2009 album Watch
America Roll By.
Moot Davis, from
New Jersey of all places, is another retro stylist mining a less commercial
country vein. His vocals fall just to
the right side of country for me but are much closer to traditional Nashville
sounds. In some ways he comes off like a
country version of Chris Isaak (whom
I’m definitely a fan of)—kind of alt country lite. Again, I’m still just exploring his work but
so far I enjoy “Thick of It Now” off 2004’s Moot
Davis, “Talkin’ About Lonely” off 2007’s Already Moved On and his duet with Elizabeth Cook “Crazy In Love With You” off 2012’s Man About Town.
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