Tonight In Honky-Tonk Heaven, Part II

Buck Owens was one of the "Mount Rushmore" Gods of country music -- one of the small handful of country artists that were true icons, with their influence reaching way beyond their generation and musical genre. The other country Rushmore-ians (just my opinion of course) are Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, and Willie Nelson. There are others just as deserving musically, like Bob Wills or Ray Price or Lefty Frizell or even Dwight Yoakum, but the "Rushmore" guys had lives and careers that affected American culture, and even had cultural influence all over the world. Buck Owens was one of those guys.

Musically speaking, he invented the "Buck beat", which is an uptempo country song in 2/4 time, with the drummer playing double-time backbeats on the high-hat. Buck was one of the first guys to take that uptempo hillbilly beat and put drums, Telecaster, brilliant two-part harmonies (thanks to his right arm, guitarist Don Rich), and some countripolitan shine on it. This type of take on country music came to be known as the "Bakersfield sound", which gave rise to the careers of acts like Wynn Stewart and Merle Haggard. He also perfected the country shuffle, and nobody could sing a "weeper waltz" like Buck Owens. He also had a traveling road show in the '60's, which spawned and accelerated the careers of many other artists, including Bonnie Owens, Kay Adams, and Freddie Hart. He had the perfect makings of a true country star -- great talent, a buoyant personality, the very definition of a big ol' grin, a boyish face, and his eternal and infamous down-home golly-shucks attitude.

It was that personality that landed him what I consider the blessing and curse of Buck Owens -- Hee Haw. In one respect, it made Buck a household name in the '70's, and brought him and his music to millions of people that would have never heard of him otherwise. It also gave a national forum to many country stars, and allowed them to reach the biggest audience in the history of the genre. On the other hand, in the minds of your average non-or-only-semi-country fans, Hee Haw turned Buck into a novelty act. Hee Haw, being the cornball show that it was, made him into a TV comic that played a red-white-and-blue-guitar and sang silly songs on TV. I think Hee-Haw, while a serious boost to his career, was also a serious blow to Buck Owens as an artist.

Buck Owens was not just the guy you saw on Hee-Haw. He was an innovator, an incredible singer and song-stylist, a great songwriter, and one of the greatest things to happen to American music. His musical influence reached over continents and decades, with acts from The Beatles to CCR to Dwight Yoakum listing Buck Owens as a primary inspiration for their music.

In fact, I got to experience one of the greatest testaments to Buck and his music this past Saturday night, doing an opening set for The Derailers at The Oaks here in Austin. I'd heard the news about Buck that morning, and of course my first thought was to do a bunch of Buck Owens songs (and Cindy Walker songs) in my set. Then I thought, 'Wait... I'm opening for The Derailers!' What better tribute to Buck than that in itself? The Derailers started out in Austin around 1994, and were firmly rooted in the Buck Owens mold: 5-piece band, tight two-part harmonies, uptempo Buck-beats and shuffles, topped off with some kick-ass suits and sparkly guitars. They did lots of Buck's songs of course, as well as other great country covers and plenty of fantastic original stuff. Their popularity grew quickly and deservedly, and they got signed to a major label in the late '90's. In the process, they became friends with Buck himself, and he even sang the gorgeous and haunting "Play Me The Waltz Of The Angels" on one of their last records. As of late, although their lead singer Tony Villanueva retired from the music biz altogether, and they endured a few band member changes, Brian Holfeldt and the boys are still playing great music. Their musical direction has stayed basically country, but has veered a little into the pop/pub-rock of the '60's -- but even that is a testament to Buck Owens still. His music was innovative and versatile, and that open attitude has allowed country acts like myself, Dwight Yoakum, and especially The Derailers to meld other musical influences besides country into what we do, while still allowing us to "stay country". The fact that The Derailers even exist, much less are still going strong 50 years from the start of his career, is a true testament to the power and influence of Buck Owens' music.

He will be missed.

Roger