Watch the movie about the Wrecking Crew for an education. That sax on the Marketts "Balboa Blue" and "Surfer Stomp" was jazzman Plas Johnson backed by the Wrecking Crew.

Happy Sunsets!

I remember reading a Buck Owens interview where he admitted that he and Don played Jaguars for a bit. Buck also had a good relationship with Leo.

Matt "tha Kat" Lentz
Skippy and the Skipjacks: 2018-
Skippyandtheskipjacks.net
https://www.facebook.com/skippyandtheskipjacks
Otto and the Ottomans: 2014-2015
The Coconauts surf band: 2009-2014
www.theamazingcoconauts.com
Group Captain and the Mandrakes 2013
http://www.gcmband.com/
The Surfside IV: 2002-2005, 2008-2009
the Del-Vamps: 1992-1999, 2006-2007
http://www.dblcrown.com/delvamps.html

I recently had occasion to read up a little on Don Rich. Buck did have an endorsement deal with Fender who supplied the band with Twin Reverbs and Don with several bound sparkle Teles over the years. I thought it was funny that the agreement was to trade in the old instruments for the new, but they wouldn't give the old guitars back. This resulted in losing their deal with Fender and signing up with Gibson for a while. They eventually went back to the red, white, and blue Fenders custom painted by Gene Moles.

I think the sound was part of the So Cal "stew" going on at the time. Fender guitars and lots of treble. They purposely boosted the treble to cut through on the car radio speakers of the time. It would surprise me if they were listening to or influenced by surf music, but it's a neat thought.

They say Buck was never the same after Don was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident at age 32. Of course at the time, they were trying to get back to the earlier success they had enjoyed. When I saw Buck about 25 years ago (touring behind a bump in popularity thanks to Dwight Yoakam), he was playing one of the silver sparkle teles.

Enjoying this thread as Buck, Don and HeeHaw were probably one of my earliest exposures to the Fender electric guitar sound and imprinted profoundly. Echoes of LA-Bakersfield twang were bouncing around 35 years ago when I was a teenager who wanted to get into a guitar band in LA myself. Anyone remember the Long Ryders? To this day, Dallas and Travis Good of the Sadies bear some of that influence into the musical present. I think Nashville can continue to go its own way along with REO Speedwagon and Bon Jovi... but real country music lives between the desert and the beach in SoCal. Also Marin Co.

Squink Out!

If you are ever in Bakersfield or passing through, stop at the Crystal Palace. This was Buck's restaurant and concert venue. It's still going strong, with great food and a stage and sound system second to none. Lots of Buck's outfits and Fender Guitars on display!
Reverbmike

Be careful Mel. Your point 3 is fine with me,but will not set well with a lot of folks here.

Happy Sunsets!

Thanks, uncle Mel. Can you tell us about Gene Moles? Huh? can ya, can ya huh? Pleease?

Squink Out!

Tahitijack, I'm sure folks here believe The Ventures had no influence on the early surf acts. There are also people who believe the world is flat. But how important is that argument anyway? Hooray for everyone, says I!

sonichris, thank you.

JObeast, if you want some good stuff on a Gene Moles, send a friend request on FB to his son Eugene Moles. He posts pics and info on his dad fairly regularly. Fascinating stuff. And good call me n the Long Ryders and The Sadies. I have everything the Sadies have ever recorded. Wonderful band and highly recommended.

You know, a Bakersfield is the first place outta LA where you know you are not in LA anymore. Was, is and will forever be a place wholly unto it's own. I, for one, love the town. All of Kern County, for that matter.

Last edited: Apr 12, 2017 16:47:37

My limited understanding of this would be that the "Bakersfield Sound" is contrasted to Nashville going with a less treble "softer" type sound.
Fender's proximity had to influence all of it, as Bakersfield is a lot closer to the LA surf scene than Nashville is! The gear, the engineer's radio dial, the "Scene" all had to be mixed in and co-influential. A lot of LA at that time was agricultural, so the ag and surf communities were very close to each other (more so than now).
"The music style features a raw set of twin Fender Telecasters with a picking style (as opposed to strumming)"
This quote from wikipedia "Bakersfield Sound" is interesting, as it talks about a "picking style" opposed to strumming, which also blends in with the surf picking style.

I would think sessions guys like the Wrecking Crew, Glen Campbell, Bob Bain, Tommy Tedesco, etc. etc. would all be mixed in here somehow as well.

I REALLY don't know much about this.. but thought I'd just chime in anyways.

Last edited: Apr 24, 2017 18:07:28

Just today on my bike ride, I listened to the "walkin' the Floor" podcast- the Merle Haggard interview. I'm paraphrasing, but at one point the interviewer asks Merle Haggard about the difference between the Bakersfield Sound and what was coming out of Nashville at the same time. Merle Haggard says something to the effect of that in Nashville their music came out of church and bluegrass while in Bakersfield it came out of the oil fields and the beer joints. He then talked about how barely any of the Nashville stuff had a drummer on it and how they didn't allow the drummer onstage at the Opry when Bob Wills played there, the drummer had to be behind a curtain and that drums weren't really accepted as part of the Nashville country sound until much later. MH also said that along with the drums, The Bakersfield Sound was basically the same instrumentation as rock n' roll band with a pedal steel player added on and that they even sometimes had a saxophone. Nowadays, that sounds like a lot of Nashville too, but back in the 60s, Nashville had string arrangements, choruses of background singers, pianos and stand up bass. Very slick and sophisticated.
He then went on to say that the Telecaster was built by Leo Fender for Junior Barnard, one of the guitarists for Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, who obviously were not from Bakersfield, but played there all the time and influenced the Bakersfield Sound. They also brought the Tele to country music, so everyone in Bakersfield had to have one to be like their hero. He said that more than the other Bob Wills guitarists, that Junior Barnard was basically playing rock n' roll. I found this quote in a Vintage Guitar article-
___Heavily influenced by blues guitarists and Chicago jazz great George Barnes, Lester “Junior” Barnard (b. 1920) had none of Shamblin’s subtlety or Wyble’s finesse. In fact, Herb Remington, who played steel guitar alongside Barnard in the Playboys from 1946 to ’48, recalled, “When he went to play a chorus on the bandstand, he just looked like he was gonna rip the neck off the body of the guitar.”

Nonetheless, six decades later, his style – characterized by a thick, distorted tone, string bending, and swooping, slurred runs – remains unique and unforgettable.___

http://www.satanspilgrims.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Satans-Pilgrims/8210228553
https://satanspilgrims.bandcamp.com/
http://www.surfyindustries.com

Last edited: Apr 24, 2017 16:39:39