Bucking Nashville country music conventions, the Bakersfield-based Buck Owens helped put his town on the musical map with his spare, twangy, rock-influenced sound that shunned the background singing and orchestral fluff that dominated country music in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Along with Bakersfield native Merle Haggard, Owens helped to popularize a more "authentic" version of country music, known as the Bakersfield Sound, that better reflected how country sounded in the bars and honky-tonks throughout the United States. Despite Owens's great musical influence—he made a big impression on artists such as Gram Parsons, and his "Act Naturally" was covered by the Beatles—he later became known more as a television personality with his work on the country comedy variety show Hee-Haw, on which he appeared from 1969 to 1986.

Buck Owens

Owens was born in Sherman, Texas, and his family moved to Mesa, Arizona...