47. Buck Owens — I’ve Got A Tiger By The Tail (1965)

1. Buck Owens — what a Country Name. Buck was a Bakersfield boy who cut his teeth in honky tonk bars, and that honky tonk sound really comes through here. This is a country music with just a bit more rock and roll influence. This is rockabilly.
2. Just a bit though — I’ll confess, it’s still very Country to me. Sometimes in this list I wish I were more of a contemporary Country music fan so I could hear influences in these older acts. The 1001 book writes that the Bakersfield Sound died out in the late 60s, but was revived in the 80 by Dwight Yoakam. I can’t claim to know much in the way of Dwight Yoakam, but I hope I keep this in mind when the 80s roll around in this book (in, like, three years…)
3. I do like a number of the guitar licks here. “Let The Sad Times Roll On” opens with a lovely slide guitar solo; “Memphis” hints at a much more rock-forward sound that Owens played around with, and I really dig it. The title track — one of his biggest in his career — rollicks along nicely with a great little guitar solo in the middle. Nonetheless, to misquote Billy Joel — it’s still country music to me.
4. Note: just discovered that “Memphis” is a cover of a Chuck Berry tune. That tracks!

One Essential Song:

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