R.I.P. BUCK

Buck Owens is dead.


from Reuters:
Country-music innovator Buck Owens, who sold more than 16 million albums and popularized country entertainment on television as host of "Hee Haw," died on Saturday at age 76.

Owens died of heart failure at his home near Bakersfield, a California city he helped put on the country-music map, his keyboard player Jim Shaw said. Owens performed the night before at his club, "Buck Owens' Crystal Palace" for about 90 minutes, Shaw said.

"He was one of the true innovators; he did it his own way, an outside gunslinger type who used his own band and made music in Hollywood rather than Nashville. That free spirit made him important to a lot of people," Shaw said.

My brother just sent me "The Buck Owens Pledge, which appeared as a paid ad in Music City News back in March, 1965:

I Shall Sing No Song That Is Not A Country Song.

I Shall Make No Record That Is Not A Country Record.

I Refuse To be Known As Anything But A Country Singer.

I Am Proud To be Associated With Country Music.

Country Music And Country Music Fans Made Me What I Am Today.

And I Shall Not Forget It.

Buck will get a proper tribute from me next Friday on the Santa Fe Opry.

God, I loved his music!

Here's my review last year of The Buck Owens Ranch Show DVDs

UPDATE: (Sunday morning) This piece by Peter Cooper of The Tennessean is a much better tribute to Buck. I'm glad I'm not the only one who was pissed off by all the headlines that emphasized Buck's role in Hee Haw.

ONE MORE UPDATE: (Later Sunday Morning) Here's a good radio tribute to Buck on NPR's Sunday Weekend Edition. I like how Buck describes "The Bakersfield Sound" as "A mix of Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys and Little Richard."

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, March 24, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Banana Pudding by Southern Culture on the Skids
There Stands the Glass by Van Morrison
There is Evil by The Waco Brothers
Dollar Dress by Jon Langford
What Goes On by The Meat Purveyors
Better Than Broken by The Bottle Rockets
Feb 14 by The Drive-By Truckers
Just Squeeze Me by Janis Martin

Don't Go by Hundred Year Flood
En Este Momento by Cordero
Through an Open Door by Smutfish
Tabitha by Ed Pettersen
Flat Chested Girl From Maynardville by Bobby Bare Jr.
A Man of God by Trilobite
Liver by Desdemona Finch

When I Stop Dreaming by Johnny Cash
California Cottonfields by Merle Haggard
The Comedians by Roy Orbison
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues by The Bubbadinos
Horses, Hitches & Rocky Trails by Andy Hersey
Rainin' in Port Arthur by The Gourds
No Way Out But Down by Graham Lindsey

Bluebird Wine by Rodney Crowell
Alabama Highway by Steve Young
Snow by Curt Kirkwood
I Like My Wine by Michael Hurley
Are You Sincere by Bobby Bare
Trip Around the Sun by Big Al Anderson
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

WHERE'S THE TUNE-UP? YOU'VE ALREADY READ IT!

This week's Terrell's Tune-up is a distillation (yeah, that's the ticket!) of the blogging I did from South by Southwest in Austin last week. No need to reprint it here.

If you missed it, however, or if you have this bizarre urge to read those posts again, you can follow these handy links:

SWSW DAY ONE

SWSW DAY TWO

SWSW DAY THREE

SWSW DAY FOUR

SWSW DAY MOP-UP

And if you really want to read the version as presented in Friday's Pasatiempo, CLICK HERE

NUMBER ONE WHEN I WAS BORN

One of my friends on the No Depression Yahoo board just posted this link to a site that will tell you what the number one song in the country was on any given day, going back to the 1890s.

Sorry identity thieves, but I won't post my date of birth. However, the week I was born, the number one song was "Vaya con Dios (May God Be with You)" by Les Paul & Mary Ford

THE INVISIBLE PRIMARY

ABC News' political unit has devised what they call "The Invisible Primary," a system that considers 19 different categories to rank 2008 presidential candidates.

"The ratings reflect a sense of who has "juice" — a demonstrated ability to elicit favorable attention from critical sectors of the political world, including activists, major fundraisers, and member of the news media who are paying minute daily attention to what has become the earliest and most intense presidential campaign ever at this stage."

So far the leaders are Sen. Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side and Sen. John McCain for the Republicans.

No big surprise.

Gov. Bill Richardson ranks a modest 7th in the Democratic Invisible Primary so far.

According to ABC News, he does best in the "Hang Test" category, where he ranks second behind former Sen. John Edwards.

The Hang Test is:

"How does the candidate do in dealing with people in person in formal speeches before large audiences, smaller venues, spontaneous situations, pig roasts, sledding, flapjack-flipping, and town meetings? Coat on or off? Tie loosened or tight? Dress or pantsuit? Can the candidate turn on a room? Perhaps most importantly, can he or she `hang?'"

Richardson also tied for second in the "Fire in the Belly" category. He's with Clinton and Edwards here behind former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner.

He has high ratings in television campaign skills and party constituencies.

However Richardson falls down in the category of ability to win the New Hampshire primary where, in spite of his recent visit there, he ranks 10th. And he ranks even worse (11th) in his chance of winning the Iowa caucuses.

And he ranks troward the bottom in the areas of "Biography and Spouse," and perceived electibilty.