Twisted Musings

Kornfield Kounty Part III

 

The Buckaroos.

 

Were an award winning band prior to their Hee Haw days.

They were the shows house band with Don Rich as the music director. They

are still the Buck Owens band before and after the shows end. They were heavily

involved in the development of the “Bakersfield Sound” CMT named the Buckaroos

number two on the list of best twenty top country bands. Over the years they have

had as many as sixteen different band members. In the early sixties Merle Haggard

even performed with them.

 

The regular members on Hee Haw were Don Rich, Doyle

Holly, Jerry Wiggins, Jay Dee Maness. Doyle Curtsinger. Jerry Brightman

Don Rich died in a motorcycle accident in 1974 and at that time was the only original member of the Buckaroos. Buck Owens never recovered emotionally from Don’s passing, Don was like a son to Buck not only a singing partner, They had an irreplaceable sound that died with  Don’s passing.

 

 

Buck Owens

 

Long before Buck became the co- host of Hee Haw, He and his band the

Buckaroos were known for their signature Bakersfield sound. Artists such as Merle

Haggard, Dwight Yoakam and Brad Paisley emulated this sound. The “Sound” was done by using two Fender Telecaster guitars played simultaneously by Buck and Don Rich. Following the death of Don, Bucks guitar was a Red, White and Blue acoustic instrument.

 

Buck Owens co-hosted the show with Roy Clark from 1969 until he left the cast in 1986.

He was convinced that the shows exposure had obscured his musical talents from its

viewers because of the shows comedic flavor.

 

Buck Owens and the Buckaroos had twenty one number one hit singles with forty seven

others hitting the top one hundred charts. They had a total of ninety seven singles, and

sixty four albums recorded. Buck died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on March

25th 2006 at the age of 76.

 

Roy Clark

 

Roy hosted the Hee Haw show from show number one, through show number

585. First air date was June 15th 1969 and the last was May 30th 1992 a span of Twenty

Three Years. He and Buck co-hosted until Buck left the show in 1986 when Roy would

host the show with one of the guest artists as co-host this continued for several shows

until the producers decided that Roy had earned the right to host the show himself. And

he did until the end. During the 70s Roy frequently guest hosted for Johnny Carson on

the Tonight Show and also pulled in a 30-million viewership for Hee Haw.

 

As a guitarist Roy is skilled in classical guitar, he can also play several other instruments. In 1983 Roy Clark opened the first Celebrity Theater in Branson , Missouri beginning a trend which led to Branson becoming an entertainment center as it is known today. On August the 22nd 1987 Clark was made a member of the Grand Ole Opry. On May the 17th Roy was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame along with Barbara Mandrell and Charlie McCoy. Roy’s CMA awards total seven with two ACM awards and a Grammy in 1982 for Best Country Instrumental Performance.