Comments on Ol' Buck

Whoa. Until now I don't think I've ever heard the adjective, ripping, used to describe steel guitar playing.

Whoa, yeah! I love Buck Owens, but DON RICH -- oh, my fucking God. He was the best harmony singer ever. Not even the Everly Brothers or the Louvin Brothers or even Joyce Brothers could touch Buck and Don -- their voices just cut across each other like glass. And Don would just stand there between turns, chewing gum, with a big ol' shit-eating grin. AND he could play killer guitar, better than any of his rock coevals. Don Rich, I love you.

I'm going to guess, or suggest, "rippling" as a substitute for "ripping".

Please: fifty more posts like this!

Yes, Buck is king. Of course, I don't know if I can say that wholeheartedly; the only Buck album I have, one I loved as a child, is Buck's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" LP, from the au go go 60s, with his renditions of Simon & Garfunkel, Dylan, and Donovan songs. (No, he doesn't do "I Love My Shirt" or "Barabajagle".) There are days when I prefer his versions to the originals.

Fnarf @ 2: I know! My boyfriend and I have been obsessing over Don Rich, and when we're singing along to Buck in the car or in the kitchen, we both end up doing Don Rich's part. He's amazing.

I spent the first few years of my life pretending to be Buck Owens, Hee Haw Buck as I called him, for my folk's movie camera. I loved him. There are hours of me wailing along with Mr. Owens, on my kids guitar, as his LPs played on the turntable....thank god it was silent film!

and I suspect Buck and Don's harmonies, along with the Everly's are why, as a kid, I considered the Beatles a "nice try"...

Thank you, Kim! A nice essay and some great clips about this underappreciated giant.

Nipper @5. I agree about the Beatles' "nice try." But, doesn't it say something that when they covered Act Naturally in 1965, the Beatles were the world's most popular band and quickly moving away from doing covers, but they just couldn't resist putting out a cover of one of Buck's great tunes (I'm sure George Martin didn't get it). Those English kids should have been spray painting "Buck is God" all over Britain. I never got the whole "Clapton is God" thing.