Buck Owens and His Buckaroos played an historic Carnegie Hall show in 1966,
immortalized on a live album. GAB Archive/Redferns
(l. – r. Willie Cantu, Tom Brumley, Buck Owens, Don Rich, and Doyle Holly)
The sound systems were so lousy back then that the crowd couldn’t hear the music so the clothes had to be loud. — Buck Owens
Learn more about Nudie Cohn and his fabulous costumes here.
from Rolling Stone Magazine in 2015:
On March 26th, 1966, Buck Owens‘ tour bus rolled into Manhattan. This was foreign territory for Owens and his Buckaroos… They’d achieved stardom through performances and radio broadcasts all across the Southern states, from their home base in Bakersfield, California, out east to Nashville and beyond. But they hadn’t yet taken a bite out of the Big Apple.
In those days, a wall separated country and pop: The British Invasion and the first wave of hippie counter-culturalists massed on one side. And on the other stood the Nudie-suited champions of homespun values. Owens was one of the most prominent exponents of this tradition. But a community of country music enthusiasts was already rooted and expanding in Babylon. WJRZ, based in Hackensack, New Jersey, had agitated so aggressively for the band’s appearance that by the time they arrived, they’d already sold out their two shows.
According to wikipedia, Buck Owens and The Buckaroos were the second country band ever to perform at Carnegie Hall. The album was rated 5 stars (highest rating) by Allmusic.com. The live album was recorded in March released in July, 1966. There were 16 tracks that included a verbal introduction, a talk with the audience midway through, and Buck’s closing remarks, as well as 3 medleys. The lineup was Buck Owens on vocals and guitar; Don Rich on guitar and vocals; Doyle Holly on bass and vocals; Tom Brumley on steel pedal guitar; and Willie Cantu on Drums.
I’ve chosen 2 songs from the album because my favorite on it is sung by someone other than Buck. The first song is, “Together Again.” It was released on April 4, 1964 as a single form the eponymous album. Per wiki:
The song, best known as the “B” side to Owens’ No. 1 hit, “My Heart Skips a Beat”, interrupted that song’s run at Number One on the U.S. country charts. Steel guitarist Tom Brumley’s performance on “Together Again” is considered “one of the finest steel guitar solos in the history of country music” by the Country Music Television staff; it inspired Jerry Garcia to learn the instrument.
The other song is, “The Streets of Laredo.” When trying to find who wrote the song, I learned that it is credited as written by Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, and Traditional. As I listened to the YouTube tonight I realize we had this album growing up as I remember that little joke Buck makes while introducing the song. Have the kleenex ready for this one.
During my research I learned that sadly that all but one of the band members have passed away:
Buck (2006)
Don (1974) (gone too soon from a motorcycle accident)
Doyle (2007)
Tom (2009)
Willie Cantu is alive and still drumming from all sources that I came across. Yes!
Jim Adams is the host of Song Lyric Sunday. Jim says:
This week the theme is to find a song by a group that wore uniforms or dressed alike.
Tao Talk 
A nice song choice this week Li :-)
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Thank you!
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Wonderful post 🌹
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Thanks!
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Don’t they look fab in that photo!
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Mel, they sure do.
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These were both great and it’s nice to see Buck Owens being mentioned outside of Hee Haw. The Nudie suits are also fun. In 1973 the Grateful Dead were getting set to play in Texas and they had Nudie suits made to wear for a few shows.
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Glad you enjoyed the songs, and it sounds like Jerry jumped on board with more than the steel pedal guitar. Very cool bit of trivia, Michael.
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I had to go look and found this great photo of Garcia in his suit.. Too bad I can’t paste it, but here’s a link.
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Love it! I hope that jacket is in a museum somewhere now. If it isn’t, it needs to be. Thank you for the link.
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I’ve seen some pictures of Jerry with Phil and Bob before but I can’t find them now. (I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but another great picture of a musician in a Nudie suit is Gram Parsons)
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Been there done that :) IIRC Patsy Cline wore one also.
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Git along home, little doggies!
A spot on choice today, Lisa.
Buck and the Buckaroos. Excellent!
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Happy you enjoyed them. I love(d) these guys.
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I did and I’m really glad you thought to go with them!
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Great choices, Lisa. I love the uniforms and the music. I had no idea that Tom Brumley influenced Jerry Garcia. The first instrument Jerry Garcia performed on was the banjo and that made him want to try a steel guitar. In April of ‘69, Jerry saw this functioning pedal steel guitar in a store, and he bought it and started fooling with that, but he wasn’t able to play it. Then he went to a music store in Denver, and there was a completely strung-up, tuned-up, nicely put together, set-up and everything, pedal steel and that helped him to understand how the instrument worked.
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Glad you like the choices, Jim. I appreciate learning the additional info on Jerry’s connection with the pedal steel guitar. I was pretty sure when Jerry was mentioned in the post you’d have additional info :)
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I really loved these choices of yours and it is really just not my type of music but I enjoyed it
What a handsome looking bunch and great colours 💜💜
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Willow, I appreciate you giving them a listen when it’s not your type of music. Yes, they are x 2. Happy Song Lyric Sunday <3
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Thank you it was great fun 💜💜💜
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One of the greats for sure.
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YES. I grew up with this music and have a particular fondness for it.
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Aha, I was introduced to it through my parents and others, but it took a while for me to appreciate it :)
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<3 It's about as real as real can get. We make fun of country songs because of all of the heartache, etc. in them, but real life is like that, and that's what I love about it.
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Pedal steel guitar and Hammond B3 organ are the ways to my heart…though not necessarily together. While I don’t have a house big enough for an organ, I used to stop in front of the guitar shop down the street and look at the old steel guitar in the window.
That wall you mention fell pretty quickly. We went to see Merle Haggard when Fightin’ Side of Me” was a hit. I don’t think we were the target demographic. I think the late 60s-early 70s saw the fewest walls in music, with folks listening to anything that caught their ear.
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I hear you on both of those instruments.
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“The sound systems were so lousy back then that the crowd couldn’t hear the music so the clothes had to be loud.” – that’s a great quote, Lisa!
I only know of Buck Owens but haven’t listened to any of his albums. Do you feel this live album would be a good entry point to explore his music?
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I have The Essential Buck Owens album. Can’t go wrong there.
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I found the quote at the same site as the Nudie link. It’s on the home page of it; how could I resist :) One thing I noticed about the album is that it’s only 29 minutes long. I wonder if they set a time limit at Carnegie, or if they played more songs and they lifted just the best ones? This album is like a greatest hits at that point, so yes a good place to start. Question: when you were growing up, what kind of music did you and your family listen to?
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Thanks, Lisa!😀
I started listening to mainstream/pop radio in the mid-‘70s. Abba, Smokey and Boney M. were some of the popular acts. I was also very much into ‘50s and ‘60s music. A Sunday evening oldies show was instrumental in this context. This is where I discovered Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, The Beatles, the Stones, The Who and The Kinks, to name some.
My 6-year older sister (unknowingly while listening in her room) introduced me to Carole King (Tapestry), Simon & Garfunkel, classic (early) Santana, CSNY and Pink Floyd (Wish You Were Here) – music I love to this day! I think her boyfriend who looked a bit like Gregg Allman and played guitar in a band had something to do with it. He was the coolest dude in my book!😀 Not so much my parents!😆
My dad for the most part was listening to pop radio as well. He also liked jazz.
My mom was into German-singing crooners, especially Udo Jürgens. My sister liked some of that German music as well and frequently watched the German TV music programs “Hitparade” and “Disco” – yep, it was called that way, even though they didn’t only play disco!😀
Last but not least my grandpa – I couldn’t leave him out. As a piano teacher and high school music teacher, he was into classical music.
When he heard I wanted to learn how to play guitar and take lessons, he was so happy that one of his grandchildren wanted to learn an instrument that he financed my first guitar – and subsequently various others.
He and his wife who was a piano teacher as well had tried to get their son (my dad) to learn an instrument, trying everything: violin, flute, piano. But nothing worked. It just wasn’t his thing. Finally, they made the right decision and stopped. You can encourage a child but you can’t force them!
Sorry, that was probably more than what you wanted to know!😀
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No, not TMI, I asked! No wonder you are such a music lover, your childhood was immersed in music. I remember you saying your grandpa supported your passion to play guitar and I’m sure he’s smiling from heaven to this very day about your love for music.
My grandparents sang on the radio and my kids both play instruments but mostly a family of music appreciators.
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😀
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Where did they get those jackets? :) How low can you go (with that voice!)
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From Nuta Kotlyarenko, (AKA Nudie Cohn) a Ukrainian-American tailor, in Hollywood.
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Glyn, there is a link near the top that tells you more about Nudie (and other cowboy tailors!) Thanks for his full name, Steve.
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Nudie gussied them up right nice :)
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Wonderful songs Lisa…Don Rich was a hell of a guitar player…I’ve read where Buck never got over that and it affected him until his death. He was his best friend as well.
These songs are great…Buck Owens played a huge part in the rise of country-rock… Gram Parsons would take the nudie suit and run with it. When the Beatles covered Act Naturally…they started to get more teens at their concerts.
I always loved Buck Owens…he was a pioneer in the Bakersville sound…The Streets of Laredo is a fantastic song!
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Great comment, Max, with so much good info. I remember being heartbroken when I heard Don passed. So Buck & Crew had Nudies before Gram. I think Ringo sings Act Naturally pretty well and is a natural for it. Yes The Streets of Laredo is one hell of a song. Listening through this live version, I wish the rest of the band hadn’t “messed it up” with their antics. I need to find a pure recording of it. I still remember visualizing this in my head as I listened as a little kid.
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Yea they were playing to the crowd on the record…I’m sure there is one somewhere.
I remember seeing that album…we didn’t own it but probably at a relatives house. He was always different from his peers.
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Been a Buck fan for a very long time Lisa but somehow this album has escaped my notice so that you very much for this post! The Streets of Laredo as you mentioned has a history to it and a song I have researched before. I’ll spare you my running off on it today!
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Randy, do you have a link to what you found on The Streets of Laredo? I would love to read what you learned. Happy to hear you’re a Buck fan and to lead you to an album you didn’t know about.
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Thanks for asking about it Lisa. While I did not blog on the song separately I do have some mention of it in my research notes and a link to Marty Robbins version appears in my blog on Cowboy Music. http://mostlymusiccovers.com/2020/03/06/western-cowboy-music/
And it’s source melody appears on my Most Covered Folk Songs of All Time post.
Perhaps this link from Second Hand Songs will provide you a look at the base origins.
https://secondhandsongs.com/work/100371
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Randy, I feel like I hit the jackpot with your links. Thank you *very*much* for sharing the info.
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You’re too kind
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Sorry Lisa I did send a reply but not sure it went through?
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Yes I got it, just finished reading/scanning/visiting links, and responding. Thanks again!
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Those suits and their happy faces made me smile.
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Me too, Gia!
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I love those suits! And such great harmonies. Both of these songs are in the country canon, and have many versions, and not just by country artists. Great choice. (K)
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<3 So glad you approve, K!
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Thanks Li.. this was news to me too.
““The Streets of Laredo.” When trying to find who wrote the song, I learned that it is credited as written by Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, and Traditional. “👏❣️
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You’re welcome :)
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Good choices! I like some of his songs and these are good ones. I know I’ve heard Street of Laredo before but by someone else (can’t think who right now). Of course Together Again is classic. Well I learned something … those suits name – Nudie! I had no idea they had a name. I went to read more about them, and it’s such an interesting history. :)
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Thanks, Barbara. You might have heard Marty Robbins sing it. He was another one who loved his cowboy ballads. Glad to introduce you to Nudie :)
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Cool!
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