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The Buckaroos | |
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Origin | Bakersfield, California, United States |
Genres | Bakersfield sound, country, rockabilly |
Years active | 1963–2005 |
Labels | Capitol Records |
Past members | Buck Owens Don Rich Doyle Holly Tom Brumley Willie Cantu Merle Haggard Wayne Wilson Jana Jae Victoria Hallman Connie Bonar Jesse Rose McQueen Jerry Wiggins Jerry Brightman Doyle Curtsinger Ronnie Jackson Jim Shaw JayDee Maness Wayne "Moose" Stone Jay McDonald Ken Presley Terry Christoffersen Jim McCarty James Harold Brown David Wulfekuehler Brian Coll Kim Maccabee Chuck Seaton Drew Harness |
The Buckaroos were an American band led by Buck Owens in the 1960s and early 1970s, who, along with Merle Haggard's The Strangers, were involved in the development and presentation of the "Bakersfield sound." Their peak of success was from 1965 to 1970. In 2005, CMT named the Buckaroos No. 2 on its list of the 20 Greatest Country Music Bands. [1]
Don Rich, Doyle Holly, Tom Brumley and Willie Cantu were the original members of the Buckaroos during the 1960s. The 1970s version included Don Rich, Jerry Wiggins, Jerry Brightman, Doyle Curtsinger, and Jim Shaw. Various sidemen throughout the years included JayDee Maness, Wayne "Moose" Stone, Jay McDonald, Ken Presley, and very early on, Merle Haggard. Haggard, who worked a short time with Owens in 1962, suggested the group's name. [2] Fiddle player Jana Jae became the group's first female member after being invited onstage with Buck Owens to play "Orange Blossom Special". Vocalist Victoria Hallman (a.k.a. Jesse Rose McQueen) toured with the Buckaroos, sang with them on Hee Haw and recorded one Buck Owens record "Let Jesse Rob the Train" with the group.[ citation needed ] Drummer/singer Rick Taylor replaced Jerry Wiggins in 1978, when he left the band to manage his wife, Susan Raye. Rick performed his first appearance at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas "winging it" as there was no time for rehearsals before the sold-out performances. Rick had seen Buck and the original Buckaroos live in Omaha when he was 13 years old and dreamed of performing with Buck on Hee Haw. At age 19 he made his way to Nashville and 5 years later, he was performing in a rock cover group at a Nashville night club when Buck himself came to watch him at the urging of Hee Haw music director, Charlie McCoy, and Hee Haw staff band players, Leon Rhodes, and Tommy Williams. Buck hired Rick on the spot and invited him to the Hee Haw set the next day where his dream became a reality. Rick's first taping was the Hee Haw 10th Anniversary Show taped at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tn in October 1978. He was with the Buckaroos until leaving in 1981, following the band's nomination and win as "Touring Band of the Year" at the ACM Awards, to join the Epic Records vocal group Nightstreets, voted Billboard Magazine's Vocal Group of the Year 1981 for the single, "Love In The Meantime". Nightstreets featured female vocalist, Joyce Hawthorne, met Rick while recording as a background singer with the Buckaroos in the 1970s. Nightstreets toured with George Jones and Tammy Wynette from 1981 through 1982. Rick retired from the music industry in 1986.
Known for their signature red, white and blue colored guitars and fiddles, the Buckaroos in 1966 became only the second country music band to appear at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The recording of this performance, released as Carnegie Hall Concert , is considered one of the greatest live country music albums. They also recorded and released live albums from appearances in London, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, and Las Vegas. The Buckaroos also appeared on the Buck Owens Show. [3]
The Buckaroos recorded eight albums from 1967 to 1970, all of which were top sellers. They also earned numerous awards, including Grammys. They were nominated as "Band Of The Year" by the Academy of Country Music in eight consecutive years, winning the award four times, 1965–1968. The Buckaroos were also nominated as "Instrumental Group of the Year" in the Country Music Awards for five consecutive years, 1967–1971, winning the honor in 1967 and 1968. [4]
In 1970, Doyle Holly received "Bass Player of the Year" award from the Academy of Country Music as a member of the Buckaroos. He left the group the next year to pursue a solo career, in which he released two Top 20 hit albums. He is honored in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and received a block in the walkway of stars at the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980. Holly died in 2007. [5]
Tom Brumley left the Buckaroos in 1969 to join Ricky Nelson's band, where he was a member for over a decade. His performance on "Together Again" has been considered "one of the finest steel guitar solos in the history of country music." [6] His unique steel guitar sound was known as "The Brumley Touch", and he was recognized by the Academy of Country Music as the top steel guitarist. He was inducted into both the Texas Steel Guitar Hall of Fame and the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. Brumley died in 2009. [7]
Don Rich died in a motorcycle accident in 1974. At the time Rich was the only original member still with the Buckaroos and the band was struggling to find their way back at the top of the Country Music Charts. His death marked the end of the Buckaroos reign as the top Country Music band. [8]
Jerry Brightman left in 1975 and migrated into the business side with his involvement with WWVA Jamboree and Jamboree in the Hills.
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Year | Album | US Country | Label |
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1966 | The Buck Owens Song Book | 10 | Capitol |
1967 | America's Most Wanted Band | 12 | |
The Buck Owens' Buckaroos Strike Again! | 11 | ||
1968 | A Night on the Town with Buck Owens' Buckaroos | 32 | |
Meanwhile Back at the Ranch | 34 | ||
1969 | Anywhere U.S.A. | 35 | |
Roll Your Own with Buck Owens' Buckaroos | 45 | ||
1970 | Rompin' and Stompin' | — | |
Boot Hill | — | ||
1971 | That Fiddlin' Man | — | |
The Buckaroos Play the Hits | — | ||
Songs of Merle Haggard Played by the Buckaroos | — | ||
2000 | Country Pickin': The Don Rich Anthology | — | Sundazed |
2007 | The Best of the Buckaroos | — | Sundazed |
Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | |
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US Country | CAN Country | |||
1967 | "Chicken Pickin'" | 69 | — | The Buck Owens' Buckaroos Strike Again! |
1968 | "I'm Coming Back Home to Stay" | 38 | 11 | A Night on the Town with Buck Owens' Buckaroos |
"I'm Goin' Back Home Where I Belong" | 50 | — | Meanwhile Back at the Ranch | |
1969 | "Anywhere U.S.A." | 63 | — | Anywhere U.S.A. |
"Nobody but You" | 43 | — | Roll Your Own with Buck Owens' Buckaroos | |
"Natural Born Loser" | — | — | ||
1970 | "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" | 71 | — | Rompin' and Stompin' |
"Cinderella" | — | — | ||
"Country Pickin'" | — | — | ||
"Up on Cripple Creek" | — | — | Boot Hill |
Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with the fictional rural "Kornfield Kounty" as the backdrop. It aired from 1969 to 1993, and on TNN from 1996 to 1997. Reruns of the series were broadcast on RFD-TV from September 2008 to April 2020, and aired on Circle.
Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens Jr. was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and band leader. He was the lead singer for Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, which had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music chart. He pioneered what came to be called the Bakersfield sound, named in honor of Bakersfield, California, Owens's adopted home and the city from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call "American music".
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1974.
Roy Ernest Nichols was an American country music guitarist best known as the lead guitarist for Merle Haggard's band The Strangers for more than two decades. He was known for his guitar technique, a mix of fingerpicking and pedal steel-like bends, usually played on a Fender Telecaster electric guitar. Nichols is considered one of the founders of the country music subgenre the “Bakersfield Sound”, which includes such notable country artists as Haggard, Buck Owens, and Don Rich.
Gerald Warner "Jerry" Brightman was an American pedal steel guitarist who played for Buck Owens and The Buckaroos and featured on television's Hee Haw along with performing on many top 10 records with Buck, Susan Raye, Tony Booth, and others.
Donald Eugene Ulrich, best known by the stage name Don Rich, was an American country musician who helped develop the Bakersfield sound in the early 1960s. He was a noted guitarist and fiddler, and a member of The Buckaroos, the backing band of Don's best friend, country singer Buck Owens. Rich was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1974 at the age of 32.
The Bakersfield sound is a sub-genre of country music developed in the mid-to-late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. Bakersfield is defined by its influences of rock and roll and honky-tonk style country, and its heavy use of electric instrumentation and backbeats. It was also a reaction against the slickly produced, orchestra-laden Nashville sound, which was becoming popular in the late 1950s. The Bakersfield sound became one of the most popular and influential country genres of the 1960s, initiating a revival of honky-tonk music and influencing later country rock and outlaw country musicians, as well as progressive country.
Doyle Floyd Hendricks, known by the stage name Doyle Holly, was an American musician best known as the bass guitar player of the country music band Buck Owens and the Buckaroos and for his solo hit songs "Queen Of The Silver Dollar" and "Lila". Holly's contributions on bass guitar and rhythm guitar were a key component of the Bakersfield sound. The Buckaroos had more than 30 Top 40 singles on the country music charts in the 1960s and early 1970s, with 21 number one hits such as "I've Got a Tiger By the Tail," "Love's Gonna Live Here,"and "Act Naturally." Their sound influenced later artists such as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jackson Browne, The Eagles, The Derailers and the Desert Rose Band.
Carnegie Hall Concert is a 1966 album by the Country band Buck Owens and his Buckaroos. The album was recorded live at Carnegie Hall, as Buck Owens and his Buckaroos became the second country band ever to perform there.
Dwight Sings Buck is country music artist Dwight Yoakam's 17th studio album, and a tribute album to Buck Owens. The album was released on October 23, 2007, by New West Records.
Together Again/My Heart Skips a Beat, or simply Together Again, is an album by Buck Owens and his Buckaroos, released in 1964. The double-sided single "Together Again"/"My Heart Skips a Beat" reached number one on the Billboard country chart.
I Don't Care is an album by Buck Owens and his Buckaroos, released in 1964. It reached Number one on the Billboard Country charts and Number 135 on the Pop Albums charts. The single "I Don't Care" spent six weeks at number one.
I've Got a Tiger by the Tail is an album by Buck Owens and his Buckaroos, released in 1965. It reached Number one on the Billboard Country charts and Number 43 on the Pop Albums charts.
Before You Go is an album by Buck Owens and his Buckaroos, released in 1965. It is no longer in print.
Roll Out the Red Carpet for Buck Owens and his Buckaroos is an album by Buck Owens and his Buckaroos, released in 1966. It reached Number one on the Billboard Country charts and Number 106 on the Pop Albums charts.
Dust on Mother's Bible is an album by Buck Owens and his Buckaroos, released in 1966. It reached Number one on the Billboard Country charts.
21 #1 Hits: The Ultimate Collection is an album by Buck Owens and his Buckaroos, released in 2006. Released shortly after his death, it is a single-disc compilation containing all of Owens' number one chart hits.
Thomas Rexton Brumley was an American pedal steel guitarist and steel guitar manufacturer. In the 1960s, Brumley was a part of the sub-genre of country music known as the "Bakersfield sound". He performed with Buck Owens and the Buckaroos on hits such as "Cryin' Time" and "Together Again". His solo on "Together Again" received particular acclaim by critics. Brumley later spent a decade with Ricky Nelson and performed on "Garden Party" and the In Concert at the Troubadour, 1969 album.
Country Pickin': The Don Rich Anthology is a compilation album featuring Don Rich, American guitarist, fiddler, and long-time sideman of Buck Owens, released in 2000.
Ralph Eugene Mooney was an American steel guitar player and songwriter, he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1983. He was the original steel guitarist in Merle Haggard's band, The Strangers and Waylon Jennings's band, The Waylors.