Rare is the artist that actually pioneers a musical sound and movement, but Buck Owens (along with Merle Haggard) created a unique blend of honky tonk and twangy rock that was a slap in the face to the staid Nashville sound and a portend of country rock that was later taken up by Gram Parsons/The Flying Burrito Brothers and Dwight Yoakam. Labeled “The Bakersfield Sound” because the Texas-born Owens was a regular performer in cockroach kicking local joints like The Blackboard, it had a mix of assertion and good old fun that had the star even end up as a TV host on the hootenanny show Hee Haw. This two disc set of 77 songs is overflowing with good times and great hits, including singles as well as the complete selection of his first two albums that sparkle like the diamonds on his shirts.
The material includes his first hits from his 1959 album, “Second Fiddle” and “Under Your Spell Again” with “Above and Beyond” and “Excuse Me (I’ve Think Iv’e Got A Heartache)”hitting the top of the charts. A duet with Rose Maddox featured the popular “Mental Cruelty” and from his classic Harlan Howard release in 1961 comes VFW ditties like “ Foolin’ Around” and “Heartaches By The Number” with his next album featuring the driving “You’re For Me” and “Kickin’ Our Hearts Around”. During these early years, his anchor and co-hort was fiddle man Don Rich, who’s featured on just about everything here, and adds the Moose Lodge flavor the the rollicking beat supplied by drummers Moose Stone or Pee Wee Adams. The combination clicked and changed not only country, but rock and roll, giving an alternate and American path for the British invasion. And above all, Owens and the Buckaroos with these two albums made country music fun for dancers again. This guy is the gap toothed cousin of the likes of Louis Jordan and Big Joe Turner.