Monday, October 11, 2010

Country Music Month - The Texas Connection: Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr.

As a small child, I spent many a Saturday night at my Grandparents' house. After one of Grandma's home cooked meals like only a Grandma could make, the evening's entertainment consisted of crowding around the black and white TV, tuned to Channel 11 in Fort Worth. Saturday night's TV fare in the Shoemaker household was all about Country Music. We watched Porter Waggoner and Dolly Parton, The Wilborn Brothers, Live shows from Panther Hall in Fort Worth, where Willie Nelson was a regular guest, and a show from the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas. Another regularly featured singer of the day was Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr, Buck to his fans. I saw Buck Owens on TV a thousand times before Hee Haw was ever thought of. I knew all the words to almost every one of Buck's hit songs like Tiger By the Tail, Love's Gonna Live Here, My Heart Skips a Beat and Together Again before I was even in school.

In my opinion, the harmony between Buck Owens and his guitarist, Don Rich, is unmatched by anyone before or since. Their connection to the music and the story of the song should be the standard by which any musical performance is measured. If you want to spend about an hour listening to honest-to-goodness country music and the emotions that go with it, go to this link to a Buck Owens YouTube page. The man from Sherman, Texas and his Buckaroos won't disappoint you. Guaranteed.

Wikipedia has a pretty good bio on Buck Owens if you'd like to check it out. As for me, I am gonna get a pocket full of imaginary quarters and drop them into an imaginary jukebox and fall under the musical spell of Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. and the Buckaroos.

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