Buck Owens & the Bucharoos - Crystal Chandelier Video

8/12/1929 -- 3/25/2006 Buck Owens was born in Sherman, Texas, on Aug. 12, 1929. In 1937, his sharecropper family of ten moved to Mesa, Arizona in an attempt to escape the Dust Bowl. At age sixteen, he was performing in clubs and on radio. In 1951, Buck moved to Bakersfield, California, a hot bed for country music. Bob Wills worked there and both The Maddox Brothers & Rose and Ferlin Husky called it home. Buck worked nights at the Blackboard Club, his home base from 1951 to 1958. He also commuted to the Capitol Record studios in Los Angeles where he worked as a backup musician for Tennessee Ernie Ford, Sonny James, Wanda Jackson, Faron Young and Tommy Collins. Buck first recorded as Corky Jones for the small Pep and Chesterfield labels (1955). Owens signed a contract with Capitol Records in 1957 and his initial sessions under the command of AR executive Ken Nelson flopped, so Owens moved to Washington to pursue a radio career. In 1958, Buck returned to the Capitol studios and recorded four original songs, including "Second Fiddle." In 1959 he began hosting his own live TV show over KTNT (Tacoma). Among the featured talents was Loretta Lynn. There he met a fiddler by the name of Don Rich. Don would become a staple in the Buckaroos band and on Buck's best recordings. After joining Capitol, Owens formed his own band. The group had no name until one of Buck's early bass players, a talented Bakersfield musician named Merle Haggard, dubbed them "The Buckaroos." The success of ...