The Steel Guitar Forum

I have been listening to Buck Owens Carnegie Hall Concert for the last day or so. I really love the West coast bounce of Brumley on this CD. I also have been listening to a newer CD "Hotdog" which is primarily Mooney. What do you guys feel is the definitive Buck Owens Album? Who is playing steel?

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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas

I would get the box set of all his greatest tunes. Plenty of Mooney, Brumley and Jay Dee Maness and even some others. I love it. DZ

One of my favourite topics. My number one choice is "Together Again/My Heart Skips a Beat". Mostly Tom Brumley, some Mooney. This record is Buck and the Buckaroos at their zenith, with many fine tunes that weren't hits like "A-11", "Hello Trouble", "Truck Drivin' Man".
My number two choice would be the first Buck album called "Buck Owens". Lots of Mooney, and lots of great tunes. Both available on the Sundazed label....Jerry

I agree with J's number one pick, "Together Again/My Heart Skips a Beat".

It's got one of my alltime favorite steel intros on "Close Up the Honky Tonks".<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by P Gleespen on 10 December 2001 at 09:48 AM.]</p></FONT>

Dave,
Is there a box set? I've been looking on the internet and can't find one. Any ideas?
I'm going to order the remastered CD Together Again on Sundazed label.

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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas

Don´t know if it´s the one Dave is referring to, but there is a box set well as most of Buck´s records on CD available from Germany´s own Bear Family Records. They have lots and lots of interesting stuff for us steel players. Check out their website www.bear-family.de (also in English).

i've still got about four old record albums of the buckaroos.......each has a couple steel instrumentals..all brumley except one album is jaydee.

Steve, there is a box set but I don't have it. I think I borrowed it a friend tears ago and can't recall the label. Rhino perhaps? I don't even really remember if it was CD or cassette. I am sure that it does, or did exsist. Good luck. Dave

After some web searching, I've found two boxed sets. One is "The Buck Owens Collection" on Rhino and has four cds. The other is a three cd set released last year called "Act Naturally". I'm going to order the four cd collection from Rhino.

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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas

Steve, here is the link to the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, CA. http://www.buckowens.com/countrystore.html They list a CD box set on the country store link. Last time I called there to make reservations, Buck's steel player Terry answered the phone. He manages the place. Maybe he can tell you which tunes are on the CDs. DZ

Steve,

I am not sure there is a “definitive” sound, as far as a steel guitar goes for Buck Owens. I first became familiar with Buck in my early days in the radio business, around 1962 or so. That was playing his “older” records, say 1958 – 1962 (I’m guessing there because I am not really sure when some of those were cut on the old Liberty label), and it was all Ralph Mooney. I loved it, and I instantly became a big Mooney fan!

I think it might be a bit more important to look at the Buck Owens evolution. As musicians came and went through his band, including steel players, and recording technology got better, the sound changed. Never very drastically because there was always the basic Buck Owens sound. I think he, and Wynn Stewart, probably set the stage for the “West Coast” sound. Both used Mooney on steel by the way in the early days.

Frankly, no matter who was playing steel for Buck, they each added their own touch and helped to make the sound unique. Buck was one of the few country artists that I never actually met, but I always heard he was a tough taskmaster, in that he could be hard to work for, from the standpoint that he knew what he wanted to hear…and if he didn’t “hear” it…he could get a bit cranky! In reality, he always managed to get great steel players to work for him, and allowed them the freedom to create great music in their own style, as long as it fit with what he wanted to hear.

Is that good, or bad? I don’t know…you tell me! All I know is that I never really heard a BAD Buck Owens record, and the steel guitar on any of them was as good as it gets.

B. Bailey Brown

I think it was the Rhino collection. It had Bucks first hit and covered all the years up to the duet with Dwight Yoakum and maybe the Hot Dog album. DZ

The box sets may have lots of the hits and material recorded after 1966, but to me ,the best Buck Owens is the stuff recorded from 59 to 66.
You don't need the songs recorded with Ringo, Dwight or EmmyLou, or the stuff recorded after Brumley left the band.
The best and definitive work stops at 1966.
I personally would pass on the box sets, and buy the rereleases of the original LP's on Sundazed.
A few more that are good are "On the Bandstand", and "Buck Owens Sings Tommy Collins".
The trouble with box sets or "best of" is that somebody decides what tunes get chosen, and which get left behind, and often my favourite tunes get left off....Jerry

It would be hard to beat Mooney on "Above And Beyond" and 'Under Your Spell Again". Jody.

I ordered the boxed set which has recordings from 1959-1970.

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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas

The 1966 Carnegie Hall record sounds better to me technically than the studio albums, oddly enough.

Also, why did Buck sing harmony with himself so often on the studio records? Listen to how spectacular the vocals are with Don Rich hot in the mix as he is on Carnegie '66.

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Jeff
<font size=1>"...a composition should sound improvised and an improvisation should sound composed." --John Kavanagh's Dad

Buck's best material, well that's possibly too much of a perosnal thing for me to recommend.

As far as reissues go, Buck has the rights to all his Capitol masters, releases and titles, so he did a deal with Sundazed (a great East Coast reissue label); to actually reissue his albums in their original form, packaging and titles, plus an extra track here and there, reissue notes, studio pics and session details.
The bulk of his 1961-1968 albums have been reissued, although the Buckaroos albums have not.

Whether or not the post Brumley releases are as good is debatable, the Buckaroos album with Jay Dee is great as are the two live albums he did with Buck and the group in 1969.
In a way Buck put more into the Tony Booth albums while his own releases were more middle of the road orientated in the early 1970s.
Don Rich also had some releases, well worth tracking down, although Capitol has a collection of his 1960s 'showpiece numbers with Buck and the Buckaroos.

The Rhino collection, also authorised by Buck, is the "Buck Owens Collection" (1959-1990) and is a great three Cd overview of Buck's career.
Tom Brumley also has a collection of his showpiece tunes on one CD, originally put out by Tom Bradshaw,I'm not sure who has it now, but it has gone to CD.

Personally I love the 'Roll Out The Red Carpet' album from 1966, but it's hard to choose.

Steve,
While you're at it, you may want to check out "The Don Rich Anthology" on Sundazed. It's a collecion of 24 of Don's best vocals/instrumentals...the classic Buckaroo sound with lots of Brumley. Also some cool pictures of the Buckaroos in the insert.
Mike

Who played steel on "Heartaches for a Dime?" One of my all time favorite steel solos, etc. . .<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Sunny Callen on 10 December 2001 at 09:50 PM.]</p></FONT>

Let's not forget Jay MacDonald from the earlier days!

Trivia: Who came up with the name "Buckaroos" ?

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Reading this has jogged my memory of a cassette tape I wore out.It was Buck and the boys live at the Whitehouse and it was fantastic.

Sunny...Mooney played H/A for a dime w/Wynn S. in 1960. Gordon Terry played fiddle on same..I don't know whose recording you were asking about ..I thiiiinnkk it might have been on Buck sings H. Howard..I'm not positive tonite..I'll check that out tomorrow..if so...Mooney. If I'm wrong on that someone speak up. Regards fred

I like the B.O. 3CD collection..all of his early stuff with Mooney. Mooney plays such happy steel..no sad notes and usually the unexpected. But then he knocked me out on Sing A Sad Song..I knew Tom B. in Ca in 1960-1962 and I heard a lot of Mooney in Toms early playing..he couldn't help but be influenced being on the West Coast at that time.Moon told me that Buck always let him do whatever he wanted but NO 7ths. He did not want any 7'ths in his music.Moon really enjoyed the music he did with Buck.I hear it every day! At home and on radio. regards, fred

Another steeler who played and recorded with Buck was Jerry Brightman. I don't see him mentioned much but he recorded several albums with Buck including the live Japanese album.

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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas

Unless I'm mistaken, wasn't Tom B. on the live Japanese album? I seemed to remember him being on the album cover and doing songs like "Steel Guitar Polka".