I've been on a Buck Owens bender lately, and once more, you tube is both my friend and my enabler. Growing up, we didn't really listen to a lot of country, but it seemed to be there, somewhere in the background. There is a chance though that I'm remembering things differently from how they were. I do know that I was subjected to a metric shit ton of gospel bluegrass which somehow didn't negatively impact my ability to eventually listen to and enjoy the genre sans the message.
Today we get Buck Owens. His life is a great story, hard childhood, the depression and dust bowl. He was destined for better things, destined to wear a frightfully busy yellow suit, but that's not the point. Coupled with Don Rich on the electric guitar, Buck nearly fixed country music in the mid to late sixties.
The song is Before You Go, and I decided on one that doesn't see Buck sporting the yellow suit, though poor ol' Don and the rest of the Buckaroos are stuck in pink. I picked it because it touches on so many of the facets that made Buck and Don such a powerful force for good in what had become a very unpleasant and treacly place, country music. Don't get me started on the crap that's called country today . . . seriously.
