Origins Legacy
The locale of Bakersfield, CA. was a main ingredient the Many contemporary music artists integrated The success of the Bakersfield Sound. Mass migrations in Bakersfield Sound as an inspiration. Dwight Yoakum, Brad the 1930s from migrant farmers fleeing the Dust Bowl Paisley, Emmylou Harris, The Beatles, Linda Ronstadt, and and again in the 1940s with workers coming in droves the Eagles were artists whose careers were shaped and to fuel the California Shipyards made Bakersfield a influenced by it. The Bakersfield Sound’s crucial ‘melting pot” of people trying to create a new life. They contributions continue to mold country music and are also brought with them music from the Midwest, another strong link in the chain of country music history. Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Missouri. Chief among these musical styles was western swing. Success Evolution As a rebellious response to the Nashville Sound’s incorporating pop style techniques into country music Western swing encompassed many different styles including with lush background vocals and string sections, Dixieland, Polka, Blues, and Waltz. Bob Wills and his Texas Bakersfield Sound musicians incorporated rock and roll Playboys spread this style up and down the west coast in large and other influences to great acclaim. During the 1960s, dance halls. As economics and technology changed through the Buck Owens released nineteen consecutive number one advent of honky tonks and the invention of the Fender songs on the country charts. Merle Haggard recorded Telecaster, smaller groups emerged with a country music style thirty-eight number one songs and another thirty-three defined by treble infused electric guitars, hard driving rhythms, that reached the top ten. Their music spread to millions of and themes of poverty, alienation, pride, and redemption people, changing the course of country music and helped influence new artists and genres. The Father Bibliography Known as the “father of the Bakersfield Sound,” Bill Woods was a local musician and radio personality, he hired and worked with nearly all of the musicians who contributed to the birth of the Ajay, Kalra. “Bakersfield Sound.” Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, 31/1/2014. style. Bill Woods would be responsible for helping to start the Bacon, Tony. The Ultimate Guitar Book. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991. Drew, Jesse. "Country Music's California Heart." Boom:A Journal of California 1, no. 1 (2011) 50–61. career of the Bakersfield Sounds’ most iconic artists, Buck Owens Duncan, Dayton, and Ken Burns. Country Music: An Illustrated History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, and Merle Haggard, hiring them to play at the Blackboard with 2019. Gregory, James N. "Dust Bowl Legacies: The Okie Impact on California, 1939-1989." his band and train them in the art of entertainment. California History 68, no. 3 (1989): 74–85. Haggard, Merle and Tom Carter. My House of Memories: An Autobiography. New York: Dey St., 2010. Haslam, Gerald W. Workin’ Man Blues: Country Music in California. Berkeley: University of Nashville California Press, 2005 Jennings, Waylon and Kaye, Lenny. Waylon: An Autobiography. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2012. As rock and roll began taking over the airwaves in the 1950s Lawton, Jules. The Birth of the Bakersfield Sound: A Honky Tonk Attitude. Tulsa: Yorkshire Publishing, 2018. country music sales nearly evaporated overnight. As a response the Owens, Buck and Poe, Randy. Buck’ Em: The Autobiography of Buck Owens. Milwaukee: country music industry hub in Nashville developed its own sound in Backbeat, 2016. Price, Robert E. The Bakersfield Sound: How a Generation of Displaced Okies Revolutionized the hopes of saving country music by appealing to wider audiences. American Music. Berkeley: Heyday, 2018.