The passing of a country legend, and may I add: HEE HAW!
One of the greatest of the greats, one of a handful of true originals. Buck Owen’s style was fresh and new and different, and became something of a primary color in CW music. You can hear his influence, very clearly and explicitly, in many of today’s CW artists. Dwight Yoakam most especially, and Robbie Fulks, one of my favorites. I’m gonna go listen to “The Buck Starts Here.”
I just read that too. My brother & I share a horrible childhood secret - we were forced to watch “Hee Haw”. AND LOVED IT!!!
To Buck Owens - SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-LUTE! 
VCNJ~
A dinosaur Victrola
Listenin’ to Buck Owens
Do-do-do, lookin’ out my back door!
I’m not a country music fan, and never cared much for him, but I remember my mother singing “I got the hongries for yore love, and I’m waitin’ in your welfare line.” She used to laugh every time she heard it, since she worked at the state employment agency.
Buck Owens was a genius, an amazing songwriter, a decent businessman, and a tad weird. Everything that makes a country singer a legend.
My box set will be playing nonstop. Today is a dark, dark day.
One of the greats! Together with Merle Haggard, he invented the “Bakersfield Sound.” “Together Again” is one of the best songs ever written. It’s a pity that most people only know him from “Hee Haw.” In addition to Dwight Yoakum, Gram Parsons also gave him credit as an influence. He was a true original, and I’ll miss him.
One of the cooler things Buck Owens did, IMHO, is that when he found out one of the Apollo astronauts was a big country fan (IIRC it’s Jim Lovell), he cut a special recording of Act Naturally and sent it along on the flight. (You can hear a portion of it on For All Mankind.)
Another cool thing about Buck Owens is that he has some really cool Guitars. He was one of the few owners of a lightshow rickenbacker 331LS “Lightshow”. I thought he wrote some pretty good songs.
:smack: preview…cut…CUT!..DOH!
The family has decided against a conventional funeral and burial or cremation. Instead they’re going to expose his body in a field as they’re anxious to see crows and buzzards…
wait for it…
you totally know where I’m goin’ with this, don’t ya?
…a pickin’ and a grinnin’.
Salllllute, Buck. At least Roy’s still with us.
My embarassing admission: recently, on a night when I had to go to work particularly early and was already later than usual going to bed, I started to turn off the bedroom TV but stopped when an infomercial for Hee-Haw DVDs came on. It’s not pathetic, perhaps, that I watched the entire infomercial, but it is pathetic that when it was over I switched channels, found the same infomercial coming on another channel, and watched it again.
Another embarassing confession- I didn’t have cable until I was in my early 20s, but when I did the first video I ever videotaped was Buck & Ringo’s video of Act Naturally.
So Buck, all I can say is
We loved the time we spent with you
to share a song and a laugh or two
I hope your blessings were many
your troubles were few
and we’ll see you in reruns on… HHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAWWW!!!