OWENS, BUCK

Homebase: 10922 Briar Road, Tacoma 99, WA. / Bakersfield, CA.
Stats: 1958-1960
Misc Notes: Buck Owens moved from California to the Tacoma area in 1958 in order to accept a job working as a DJ at KAYE radio in Puyallup. Then he began hosting his own Bar K Jamboree show on KTNT-TV. Among the guest artists he showcased there were Loretta Lynn (then living in Lyndon, WA), Willie Nelson (then living in SW Washington), and Ferlin Husky. By September he and Rollie Webber, Ty Willard, Dusty Rhodes, and a few other players were performing together nightly at the Britannia Cabaret. Between then and 1960 when Owens returned to California - where his phenomenal career as a country music star blossomed - he formed a band, discovered and hired Tumwater, Washington's wunderkind fiddler Don "Don Rich" Ulrich, and recorded a number of great honky-tonk songs for various local labels. One of note is credited to his band-mate Webber on their Country Records. That label's slogan was: "If It's Country, It's Good." Owens later "discovered" Portland's country singer Susan Raye, and helped nurture her career.
SEE ALSO:
1.) OWENS & SUSAN RAYE, BUCK