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Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr., was born in Sherman, Texas on August 12, 1929, and at age three
or four nicknamed himself "Buck" after a mule on the family farm. The family
moved west in 1937, settling in Mesa, Arizona after their trailer hitch broke in Phoenix.
Dropping out of school at 13, he taught himself to play guitar, and by 1951 he had moved
to Bakersfield, California and its thriving country music scene, In the clubs of Bakersfield, Owens developed a trademark twisted-note style on his solidbody Fender Telecaster. Initially recording as lead guitarist for Tommy Collins in 1953 (on "You Better Not Do That") and then with the small Pep and Chesterfield labels, Owens landed on Capitol Records in 1957. When his first single for Capitol fizzled, Owens moved to Puyallup, Washington (a Tacoma suburb) to pursue a radio career. There he met Don Rich, whose harmony vocals would combine with Owens' singing and chugging 2/4 freight train rhythm to make Owens' recordings distinctive. In 1959, Owens hit with a recording of "Second Fiddle" in the Ray Price "shuffle" style. Later that year the success of "Under Your Spell Again" led Owens to return to Bakersfield and form a band, named the Buckaroos by onetime bass player Merle Haggard. In 1963 Owens' recording of "Act Naturally" stayed at #1 for four weeks and "Love's Gonna Live Here" spent sixteen week atop the charts. Owens' recordings regularly topped the country chart, including "Made In Japan," "My Heart Skips A Beat," "I Don't Care (Just As Long As You Love Me)," "I've Got A Tiger By The Tail," "Before You Go," "Waitin' In Your Welfare Line," "Think Of Me," "Open Up Your Heart" and "Where Does The Good Times Go." From 1969 to 1986, Owens received nationwide television exposure as a host of Hee Haw.
Following Don Rich's death in a 1974 motorcycle accident, Owens scaled back his career,
concentrating on other He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. Awards Music City News Country Vocal Collaboration of the Year 1989 Merle Haggard Official Web site If the question were asked, "who forged the genre that is known today as 'modern country music?," only a tiny group of country immortals could step forward to share the spotlight. One, out of that select handful, would be Merle Haggard. No, he wasn't in the delivery room on the morning country music was born; it just seems like he was. And you won't hear anybody refer to him as the father of country music. But many of its students will swear he's at least the godfather. In the ever-expanding array of country music stars, hitmakers, and idols, Haggard walks in no man's shadow. Instead he casts a far-reaching shadow of his own. One quickly recognizes that this is a consummate troubadour who could have carved his niche as either a songwriter, a musician or a singer. Haggard's life path has never been easy, nor has much of it been pretty as aired in his
1981 book, Sing Me Back Home. His childhood years were spent in Bakersfield, California.
The death of his father, when Merle was Just nine years old, became the catalyst that led
to a squandered youth. At the same time, his love for the wandering songs Unfocused, unruly and unsettled, Merle learned early to walk the mean streets. As a
teenager he took on every unskilled job that would have him, from oil field roustabout to
hay-pitcher to short order cook. That was the bright side. He also saw the insides of
various penal institutions for crimes ranging from burglary to auto theft and even to
escape. Before he had reached the age of 21, and not long after having married his first
wife, Leona, he was serving time in the notorious San Quentin Penitentiary, thanks to a
bungled attempt at burglarizing a tavern. But the three-year stretch within those gray and
desolate walls became the experience that totally altered his view of life. After a stint
in solitary By the time he regained his freedom, he and Leona had four children, but the marriage
had already disintegrated. Fortunately, better times awaited just around the corner. While
his post-prison life was a typical tale of scratching out a meager survival, it also saw
the initiation of his atypical music career. Although he had made his stage debut at 16, In one brief stretch his life took a major turnaround. He was signed by Tally Records, owned by close friend Lewis Tally, and began cutting singles in a garage behind Tally's house. His first single, "Singing My Heart Out," received some regional airplay on the West Coast. It was in 1963 that he eventually broke into the top twenty of Billboard's country charts with his first national hit, "Sing A Sad Song." Since then, the country charts have been his second home. His next few singles "(All My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers," "Swinging Doors," and "The Bottle Let Me Down" all landed within the Top 10. Meanwhile, at the height of this exciting period, he married Bonnie Owens, who also recorded. Now his career was ready to soar to rarefied heights. In a short time he entered the No. 1 spot for the first time with "I'm A Lonesome Fugitive." He also won his first Top Male Vocalist of the Year award from the Academy of Country Music. In 1968, the release of "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde," continued his string of No. 1 hits in all the trade charts. What was unexpected, however, was the audience response for the B side. The song, "(Today) I Started Loving You Again," although never an A side for Merle, has since become one of the most important and lucrative songs of his career. In 1969, with help from then band member Eddie Burris, he ventured into the arena of social commentary, voicing his patriotic feelings with "Okie From Muskogee," the song that was to have the most dramatic impact on his career. Released during the height of the Vietnam War, it would also be his most controversial, as well as another No. 1 record. In 1981, he signed with Epic Records, adding still more No. 1 plaques to his wall,
including "Yesterday's Wine," the title single culled from his powerful duet
album with George Jones. That same year he released another landmark album with longtime
friend, Willie Nelson. The title cut from that album, "Pancho and Lefty," also
climbed to the top of the As a singer, Merle openly admits to "borrowing" the stylings of his idols,
Lefty Frizzell and Bob Wills, and speaks of such beyond-the-genre influences upon his
music as Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Still, it's his own charismatic individuality,
along with those rich vocal textures that so well express the heart and soul of Haggard,
that have always come shining through. In addition to his vocal performance, he has also
spent a great deal of time perfecting his Ultimately over 40 of his singles have attained the Number One position in the major trade magazines. He has released over 65 albums. He has been nominated 42 times for CMA awards, more than any other male country entertainer. And he has been honored with countless other awards. In 1994, Merle Haggard was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Awards TNN/Music City News Living Legend 1990 Page last updated 07/30/00 |
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