The Buckaroos were an American band led by

Buck Owens Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006), known professionally as Buck Owens, was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and band leader. He was the lead singer for the Buckaroos, Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, which had 21 ...

in the 1960s and early 1970s, who, along with

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled af ...

's The Strangers, were involved in the development and presentation of the " Bakersfield sound." Their peak of success was from 1965 to 1970. In 2005, CMT named the Buckaroos No. 2 on its list of the 20 Greatest Country Music Bands.

History

Don Rich Donald Eugene Ulrich (August 15, 1941 – July 17, 1974), best known by the stage name Don Rich, was an American country musician who helped develop the Bakersfield sound in the early 1960s. He was a noted guitarist and fiddler, and a ...

Doyle Holly Doyle Floyd Hendricks (June 30, 1936 – January 13, 2007), known by the stage name Doyle Holly, was an American musician best known as the bass guitar player of the country music band Buck Owens and the Buckaroos and for his solo hit songs "Qu ...

Tom Brumley Thomas Rexton Brumley (December 11, 1935 – February 3, 2009) was an American pedal steel guitarist and steel guitar manufacturer. In the 1960s, Brumley was a part of the sub-genre of country music known as the " Bakersfield sound". He performed ...

and Willie Cantu were the original members of the Buckaroos during the 1960s. The 1970s version included Don Rich, Jerry Wiggins,

Jerry Brightman Gerald Warner "Jerry" Brightman (September 1, 1953 – March 9, 2015) was an American pedal steel guitarist who played for Buck Owens and The Buckaroos and featured on television's ''Hee Haw'' along with performing on many top 10 records wit ...

, Doyle Curtsinger, and Jim Shaw. Various

sidemen A sideman is a musician who performs live with a band of which they are not a permanent member. Sideman or Sidemen may also refer to: * Sidemen, Bali, a district in the Karangasem Regency of Bali * Sideman (bishop), a 10th-century Bishop of Cred ...

throughout the years included

JayDee Maness JayDee Maness (born January 4, 1945) is an American pedal steel guitarist who is a veteran session musician in Los Angeles. He is known for his work with Gram Parsons, the Byrds, Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, Ray Stevens, Vince Gill, and the De ...

, Wayne "Moose" Stone, Jay McDonald, Ken Presley, and very early on,

. Haggard, who worked a short time with Owens in 1962, suggested the group's name. Fiddle player

Jana Jae Jana Jae (born August 30, 1943) is an American country and bluegrass fiddler. Early life and education She started playing when she was two and a half years old. Both of her parents were violin students at the Juilliard School in New York, and h ...

became the group's first female member after being invited onstage with Buck Owens to play " Orange Blossom Special". Vocalist Victoria Hallman (a.k.a. Jesse Rose McQueen) toured with the Buckaroos, sang with them on Hee Haw and recorded one Buck Owens record "Let Jesse Rob the Train" with the group. Drummer/singer Rick Taylor replaced Jerry Wiggins in 1978, when he left the band to manage his wife, Susan Raye. Rick performed his first appearance at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas "winging it" as there was no time for rehearsals before the sold-out performances. Rick had seen Buck and the original Buckaroos live in Omaha when he was 13 years old and dreamed of performing with Buck on Hee Haw. At age 19 he made his way to Nashville and 5 years later, he was performing in a rock cover group at a Nashville night club when Buck himself came to watch him at the urging of Hee Haw music director, Charlie McCoy, and Hee Haw staff band players, Leon Rhodes, and Tommy Williams. Buck hired Rick on the spot and invited him to the Hee Haw set the next day where his dream became a reality. Rick's first taping was the Hee Haw 10th Anniversary Show taped at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tn in October 1978. He was with the Buckaroos until leaving in 1981, following the band's nomination and win as "Touring Band of the Year" at the ACM Awards, to join the Epic Records vocal group Nightstreets, voted Billboard Magazine's Vocal Group of the Year 1981 for the single, "Love In The Meantime". Nightstreets featured female vocalist, Joyce Hawthorne, met Rick while recording as a background singer with the Buckaroos in the 1970s. Nightstreets toured with George Jones and Tammy Wynette from 1981 through 1982. Rick retired from the music industry in 1986. Known for their signature red, white and blue colored guitars and fiddles, the Buckaroos in 1966 became only the second country music band to appear at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The recording of this performance, released as '' Carnegie Hall Concert'', is considered one of the greatest live country music albums. They also recorded and released live albums from appearances in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. The Buckaroos also appeared on the Buck Owens Show. The Buckaroos recorded eight albums from 1967 to 1970, all of which were top sellers. They also earned numerous awards, including

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

s. They were nominated as "Band Of The Year" by the

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris Christensen. They wanted to promote country music ...

in eight consecutive years, winning the award four times, 1965–1968. The Buckaroos were also nominated as "Instrumental Group of the Year" in the Country Music Awards for five consecutive years, 1967–1971, winning the honor in 1967 and 1968. In 1970,

received "Bass Player of the Year" award from the

as a member of the Buckaroos. He left the group the next year to pursue a solo career, in which he released two Top 20 hit albums. He is honored in the

Rockabilly Hall of Fame The Rockabilly Hall of Fame is an organization and website launched on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relating to the artists and personalities involved in rockabilly. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennesse ...

and received a block in the walkway of stars at the

Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...

in 1980. Holly died in 2007.

left the Buckaroos in 1969 to join

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...

's band, where he was a member for over a decade. His performance on "Together Again" has been considered "one of the finest steel guitar solos in the history of country music." His unique steel guitar sound was known as "The Brumley Touch", and he was recognized by the

as the top steel guitarist. He was inducted into both the Texas Steel Guitar Hall of Fame and the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. Brumley died in 2009.Mclellan, Dennis
"Tom Brumley dies at 73; steel guitarist for Buck Owens and Rick Nelson"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', February 6, 2009. Accessed February 5, 2009.

died in a motorcycle accident in 1974. At the time Rich was the only original member still with the Buckaroos and the band was struggling to find their way back at the top of the Country Music Charts. His death marked the end of the Buckaroos reign as the top Country Music band.

left in 1975 and migrated into the business side with his involvement with

WWVA Jamboree The ''Wheeling Jamboree'' is the second oldest country music radio broadcast in the United States after the ''Grand Ole Opry''. The Jamboree originated in 1933 in Wheeling, West Virginia on WWVA (AM), WWVA, the first radio station in West Virginia ...

and

Jamboree in the Hills Jamboree in the Hills was an annual festival of country music in Morristown, Ohio (about 1½ hours west of Pittsburgh, and 20 minutes west of Wheeling, West Virginia) in Belmont County, Ohio until Live Nation officially canceled it on November 7 ...

Members

(pedal steel) *

(pedal steel) * Willie Cantu (drums)(1964–67) *

(bass) *Toby Minter (drums) *Doyle Holly (bass) *

(fiddle) *Mel King (drums) *Jay McDonald (pedal steel) *

(pedal steel) *Kenny Pierce *Ken Presley (drums) *

(guitar, fiddle, vocals) *Jim Shaw (keyboards, vocals) *Ronnie Jackson (guitar, banjo) *Doyle Curtsinger (bass, vocals) *Wayne "Moose" Stone (drums) *Jerry Wiggins (drums) *Rick Taylor (drums, vocals) *Wayne Wilson (bass) *Terry Christoffersen (pedal steel, guitar, banjo, dobro vocals) *Connie Bonar (fiddle) *Don Lee (guitar, vocals) *David Wulfekuehler (drums) *Buck Dupree *Fred Gates *Bob Morris (songwriter/guitar) *James Harold Brown (guitar) *Bob Baty (guitar) *Victoria Hallman (vocals)

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

The Buckaroos
on Myspace
Doyle Holly Official website

Country Music Hall of Fame - Buck Owens

Country Music Hall of Fame - Merle Haggard

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckaroos Country music groups from California Bakersfield sound Capitol Records artists Musicians from Bakersfield, California People from Ceres, California