| Bakersfield sound | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Mid- to late 1950s,California, United States |
| Typical instruments | |
| Fusion genres | |
| Other topics | |
TheBakersfield sound is a sub-genre ofcountry music developed in the mid-to-late 1950s in and aroundBakersfield, California.[1] Bakersfield is defined by its influences ofrock and roll andhonky-tonk style country, and its heavy use of electric instrumentation andbackbeats.[2] It was also a reaction against the slickly produced, orchestra-ladenNashville sound, which was becoming popular in the late 1950s.[2] The Bakersfield sound became one of the most popular and influential country genres of the 1960s, initiating a revival of honky-tonk music and influencing latercountry rock andoutlaw country musicians,[2] as well asprogressive country.[3]
Wynn Stewart pioneered the Bakersfield sound,[2] while performing artistsBuck Owens andMerle Haggard became two of the most successful artists of the original Bakersfield era while performing withthe Buckaroos andthe Strangers respectively.[1]
The Bakersfield sound was developed athonky-tonk bars[4] such as The Blackboard, and on local television stations in Bakersfield and throughout California in the 1950s and 1960s. The town, known mainly for agriculture and oil production, was the destination for manyDust Bowl migrants and others from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and parts of the Midwest.[5] The mass migration of "Okies" to California also meant their music would follow and thrive, finding an audience in California'sCentral Valley.
Bakersfield country was a reaction to the slickly produced, string orchestra-laden Nashville sound, which was becoming popular in the late 1950s. One of the first groups to make it big on the West Coast was theMaddox Brothers and Rose, who were the first to wear outlandish costumes and make a "show" out of their performances. Artists such asWynn Stewart used electric instruments and added a backbeat, as well as other stylistic elements borrowed from rock and roll. Important influences wereDepression-era country music superstarJimmie Rodgers, early 1950s honky tonk singerLefty Frizzell, and 1940sWestern swing musicianBob Wills.[1]
In 1954, MGM recording artistBud Hobbs recorded "Louisiana Swing" with Buck Owens on lead guitar, Bill Woods on piano, and the dual fiddles of Oscar Whittington and Jelly Sanders. "Louisiana Swing" was the first song recorded in the style known today as the "Bakersfield sound". In the early 1960s, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, among others, brought the Bakersfield sound to mainstream audiences, and it soon became one of the most popular sounds in country music, helping spawncountry rock and influencing later country stars such asDwight Yoakam,Marty Stuart,the Mavericks andthe Derailers.Jean Shepard, one of country music's first significant female artists, began her recording career on the West Coast in the 1950s. ThroughCapitol Records, Shepard's "A Dear John Letter", was the first major country hit single to use entirely Bakersfield musicians. Many of her early recording sessions featured prominent members of the Bakersfield movement, including Lewis Talley andSpeedy West.[6]Susan Raye was also a major figure in the Bakersfield sound, particularly in the 1970s, with hits such as "L.A. International Airport". She was also a member of Buck Owens' road show and recorded several hit duets with him. Other women to emerge from the West Coast country movement includeBonnie Owens,Kay Adams, andRosie Flores.
The Bakersfield sound has such a large influence on the West Coast music scene that many small guitar companies set up shop in Bakersfield in the 1960s. TheMosrite guitar company was located in the Bakersfield area until the mid-1970s.
The Bakersfield music scene remained markedly separate from the NashvilleMusic Row industry at the time, as the major station in Nashville,WSM, did not reach California. No Bakersfield natives (nor any other Californians untilJon Pardi achieved the feat in 2023) were ever inducted into the cast of WSM's flagshipGrand Ole Opry.[7]
Buck Owens and the Buckaroos developed it further, incorporating different styles of music to fit Owens' musical tastes. The music style features a raw set of twinFender Telecasters with a picking style (as opposed to strumming), a big drum beat, and fiddle, with an occasional "in your face"pedal steel guitar. The Fender Telecaster was originally developed for country musicians to fit in with the Texas/Western swing style of music that was popular in the Western US followingWorld War II. The music, like Owens, was rebellious for its time and is dependent on a musician's individual talents, as opposed to the elaborate orchestral production common with Nashville-style "countrypolitan" music.
Buck Owens not only aided in the development of the Bakersfield sound, he also helped preserve its history. In 1996, Owens openedBuck Owens Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, which served as both a nightclub for country music performers and as a museum of the history and sound of country music, including the Bakersfield sound. Owens regularly performed at the Crystal Palace until his death in 2006.[8]
In an interview, Dwight Yoakam defined the term "Bakersfield sound":
"Bakersfield" really is not exclusively limited to the town itself but encompasses the larger California country sound of the '40s, '50s and on into the '60s, and even the '70s, with the music ofEmmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, the Burrito Brothers and the Eagles – they are all an extension of the "Bakersfield sound" and a byproduct of it. I've got a poster of Buck Owens performing at theFillmore West in 1968 in Haight-Ashbury! What went on there led to there being a musical incarnation called country rock. I don't know if there would have been aJohn Fogerty andCreedence Clearwater Revival had there not been the California country music that's come to be known as the "Bakersfield sound".[9]
The magazinesNo Depression andBlue Suede News regularly feature Bakersfield sound enthusiasts, while podcasts such as Radio Free Bakersfield carry the tradition online.
BesidesBuck Owens,Merle Haggard, aCountry Music Hall of Fame inductee, was the most well-known artist involved in the development of the Bakersfield Sound.[10] As a child, Haggard spent a lot of his time listening to the records his mother had given him, particularly those of theMaddox Brothers and Rose,Bob Wills, andLefty Frizell, who he described as his hero.[11] A son of twoOkie parents and a troublemaker from a young age, his music often touched on themes of outlaw living, the Okie experience in California's Central Valley, and working class pride.[12] His most famous song,Mama Tried, is based on his real life experiences of being a rebel child, going to prison, and his mother's refusal to give up on him despite his troublemaker behavior.[12] In songs likeMama's Hungry Eyes andWorking Man Blues, Haggard alludes to the social inferiority of Okies and the struggle of providing for one's family while working in rural California.[citation needed] Merle Haggard's music is considered to have kept the Central Valley, and the many Dust Bowl migrants who came there to work, alive through his songs.[13] Bakersfield author Gerald Haslam stated that "Merle is most a representative of The Other California when he writes with the voice of someone outside the state's paradigm of success . . . he offers glimpses into lives lived out of the mainstream, on an economic edge and often under a lingering racial or social stereotype. . . . Merle seems to be saying, among other things, 'Hey, we exist, too. Without us, there is no state.'"[14] His lyrical allusions to the ordinary life earned him the nickname of the Poet of the Common Man.[15]
