Saturday, March 25, 2006

Buck Owens dies at 76


From the NY Times:
LOS ANGELES, March 25 (AP) — Buck Owens, the rhinestone cowboy who shaped the sound of country music with hits like "Act Naturally" and later brought it to television on the long-running show "Hee Haw," died Saturday. He was 76.

Mr. Owens died at his home, said a family spokesman, Jim Shaw. The cause of death was not immediately known. Mr. Owens had surgery for throat cancer in 1993 and was hospitalized with pneumonia in 1997.

His career was one of the most phenomenal in country music, with a string of more than 20 No. 1 records, most released from the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's.

They were recorded with a honky-tonk twang that came to be known throughout California as the Bakersfield sound, named for the town 100 miles north of Los Angeles where Mr. Owens first found success.

"I think the reason he was so well known and respected by a younger generation of country musicians was because he was an innovator and rebel," said Mr. Shaw, who played keyboards in Mr. Owens's band, the Buckaroos. "He did it out of the Nashville establishment. He had a raw edge."