The Bakersfield Sound: Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and California Country

The stripped-down country sounds that Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and their California cohorts crafted in the 1950s and ’60s still reverberate in the twenty-first century. The edgy music created in the oil town of Bakersfield, and the great musicians identified with it, have long been a distinctive part of the fabric of country music.

Written by Bakersfield country experts Scott B. Bomar, Randy Poe, and Robert Price, this book was published as a companion to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s exhibition The Bakersfield Sound: Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and California Country. The book examines one of America’s most exciting and influential music scenes. In its pages, readers will find more than 140 rare photographs, including some of the rare treasures saved by Bakersfield veterans and their friends, family members, and business associates, which were on display in the exhibition. The book includes an introduction by country music star Dwight Yoakam.