The Life and Times of Buck Owens

43 minute documentary about Honky Tonk rebel, Bakersfield Sound pioneer, and country music icon, Buck Owens. Owens emerged from Bakersfield, California, nestled in the agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley, where a stripped down, tough new style of country music emerged, based on the sing-what-you-feel and ‘mean what you sing’ ethos. Owens and guitarist/vocalist Don Rich, helped pioneer that ‘Bakersfield Sound’, a twangy, Fender Telecaster-driven, rock-influenced interpretation of hardcore honky tonk, that emerged in the ’60s. Owens was the first breakout country star from Bakersfield, scoring a total of 15 consecutive number one hits between 1963 and 1967. Buck Owens and The Buckaroos provided an alternative to the Nashville-produced, string-laden country-pop of the time. Even the Beatles were fans and allegedly received advance copies of every new Buck Owens and the Buckaroos album, shipped directly from Capitol Records Hollywood, to London EMI. In fact, the Beatles were such big fans, they covered the Buckaroos’ s ‘Act Naturally’. This documentary has interviews with songwriter Harlan Howard, Dwight Yoakam, Marty Stuart, and Rodney Crowell, to name a few.