Buck Owens – Tall Dark Stranger: The Buck Owens & The Buckaroos Recordings 1969-1975
by Chuck Dauphin
In retrospect, 1969 might have been one of the biggest years of Buck Owens’ career. He topped the chart three times that year, and also began a seventeen-year run as host of “Hee Haw.” The effect that stint had on his career can be argued, but if you look at truth in numbers, his sales and chart success dipped dramatically once he took up residence in Kornfield Kounty.In the third release of Owens’ Capitol years from German-based Bear Family, we take a look at his recorded output from 1969-1975. Eight CD’s of material here chronicle a man who recorded some of his weakest material during this time – but also managed to stretch as a recording artist and cut some compelling music that stands with his all-time best.1969 saw Owens hit the top with the title cut from this collection, which I always liked. It was his starting to get away from his “Freight Train” sound of the mid 1960s. While those will always be the classic years for Buck, by that point, some of his hits began to sound very similar to each other. Also included are the recordings that his band, The Buckaroos, made. These are worth noting in several instances – particularly “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “Up On Cripple Creek,” performed to perfection by Don Rich.By this point, Owens was doing plenty of duets with Susan Raye. These were a hodgepodge of sounds, and though I always liked Raye’s solo records – produced by Buck, the duets never really made a huge impact with me. It could have been song selection, as many of the tracks they cut had been recorded by Buck before – including a entire Christmas album.Well worth your time, however, is his collaboration with R&B singer Bettye Swann on Merle Haggard’s “Today I Started Loving You Again.” It’s one of the best cuts here, and just like with his duets with Ray Charles on “Hee Haw,” recording with the best usually brought out the best in Owens.
1970 was notable for the recording of “Down In New Orleans” and “Reno Lament,” which are two of his lesser-known gems that deserve a listen. The next year would see Buck achieve some of his greatest work. His Bridge Over Troubled Water album – while not hailed by purists, contained a powerful version of the Simon & Garfunkel classic (with soaring harmony from Rich), and a song that I think might have been the best he ever cut – “The Devil Made Me Do That.” The album, combined with his Bluegrass follow up Ruby, showed that even as he was becoming more known for Hee Haw, the artist was still creating. The latter album is notable for his and Rich’s take on “I Know Your Married (But I Love You Still),” made famous by Reno & Smiley, and Don’s fiddle work on “Uncle Pen,” which is one of the best fiddle solos I have ever heard.
After these albums, Owens became hit or miss. “Made In Japan” was a classic from 1972, but his tendency to re-record songs from the past could be a little frustrating. Of course, Capitol was releasing so much of his material (nine albums in 1971 alone) that he had to something to keep up. The remakes weren’t bad recordings – in fact, “There Goes My Love” was actually superior to the original, but the decline in his career could very much be attributed to that decision.
Things turned around in 1973-1974, with “Big Game Hunter,” “On The Cover Of The Music City News,” and the Halloween standard “It’s A Monster’s Holiday.” Each song – though a novelty song was a top ten hit. He followed those recordings with the understated classic “Great Expectations,” which receives release on CD for the first time here. Sadly, that would be the final top ten hit for Owens on Capitol. It would also be the final hit to feature Rich, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in July 1974.
While Owens admits to going through the motions after that, he still turned in a few good performances. “Drifting Away” was one that really impressed me, as well as “California Okie,” which he later re-recorded (!) during his Warner Brothers years.
Kudos go to Bear Family for finishing up the final years of Owens’ 1957-1975 deal with Capitol. I think fans will be surprised in some spots here. While he was drifting as a recording artist during this time, the best of what is here stands with his all-time best. For the sake of collectors, I would love to see Bear Family document his Warner Brothers years, as well as his return to Capitol in 1988, but if not, making all of these recordings available to the public is one of their best moves of all time
