Goodbye, Buck Owens

Buck Owens, Bakersfield's favorite son, passed on yesterday at the age of 76. The Bakersfield Californian has a lengthy obit, including:

Owens, born in near-poverty just south of the Texas-Oklahoma border and raised from the age of 8 in the Phoenix area, moved to Bakersfield at age 21, hoping to make it as a club musician. He died the multimillionaire king of a regional radio and media empire, renowned as one of country music’s most influential artists and undoubtedly Bakersfield’s most famous citizen.

Owens, who fronted the Buckaroos, recorded 25 No. 1 songs, including a string of 19 in a row between 1963 and 1967. Twenty-six of his other songs made the top 10 between 1963 and 1974, and he capped his career with one last chart-topper, a remake of “Streets of Bakersfield,” recorded as a duet with Dwight Yoakam in 1988.

The father of the Bakersfield Sound had performed just the night before [his death] at his Buck Owens Boulevard dinner club, the Crystal Palace, closing his 90-minute portion of the show with his 1969 hit “Big in Vegas.”

We're kicking ourselves for never making the drive out to the Crystal Palace to see Buck Owens in his element. Did you ever go to a Buck Owens show? Did you watch him on "Hee Haw"? How will you remember him?