Richard Cabesa’s Music Blog

Growing up in a small town, albeit not so small anymore, it was always pretty cool to have somebody famous from your city.  In Sherman, Texas, we didn’t have many such people.  Our neighbors to the north, Denison, had President Dwight Eisenhower.  Bohnam had Sam Rayburn.  Tiny Tioga had Sam Rayburn’s funeral, as well as staking claim as the birthplace of Gene Autry.  But we had Buck Owens.  The Buckaroo.  Mr. Hee Haw. 

That’s right!  Every week we watched one of the most popular shows in the United States.  And the start of the show was from our hometown.  Sure, not many people knew that.  It was more accepted that he was from Bakersfield, California.  But we knew better.  Hwy 82 in Sherman is even named Buck Owens Highway.  The stars of the show came and went, but Buck was the star among stars.   Grandpa Jones.  Stringbean.  Minnie Pearl.  Junior Samples. 

Guest stars were common as Hee Haw was the place to be.  Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings.  You name ‘em.  They were there.  The list of legends goes on.  They all made appearances.  But it was Buck’s show.  There he was each week with his red, white, and blue guitar.  Even George Strait and Alan Jackson could be seen on Hee Haw.  But we still tuned in to see Buck.

The funny thing is that it wasn’t until much later that I realized he was a star singer.  We thought of him as a TV star, not a singer.  But Buck did have twenty number one hits on Billboard’s country music charts.  Several of his songs have been recorded by others, but never like Buck could do them.  I didn’t grow to appreciate Buck’s music until Dwight Yoakam arrived on the scene in the mid 1980’s.  Dwight quickly became one of my favorite country artists.  And when he re-recorded Buck’s hit “Streets of Bakersfield” in 1988 as a duet with Buck, it became Buck’s first #1 hit since the early 1970’s.  That’s really when I became a Buck Owens fan. 

I was in the front row at the Tarrant County Convention Center for a Dwight and Buck concert in 1989 and it was to this day, one of the best shows I have ever witnessed.  Buck was better than advertised.  It’s unfortunate that I didn’t fully understand his greatness until I was twenty years old.  However, it was fortunate that he lived another 17 years after that so that those of us who didn’t know, could understand.

Buck Owens influence on country music is timeless.  And his influence on Texas country music lives on.  I could go on and on about the songs that have Buck’s influence, but one in particular stands out.  Ed Burleson has a song with the lines “I wrote this song myself, and it’s all Buck’ed up.”  That symbolizes Buck’s influence.  Witty, quircky, yet poignant.

That’s Buck Owens, American icon.  Texas treasure.  Sherman’s own.  I was saddened Saturday to hear of his passing.  But I was thankful that it wasn’t 17 years earlier.  I was thankful that I didn’t miss out on the greatness of the Buckaroo. 

God Bless Buck Owens.