There is no doubt Buck Owens and His Buckaroos were one of the biggest acts in the world from 1964–1974. Not only were they topping the music charts, they were filling concert halls worldwide. They were such a popular concert draw that many performances were recorded and released only in the corresponding foreign market. Unfortunately, much of that material never saw the light of day outside the country in which it was released. Until now.

Adios, Farwell, Goodbye, Good Luck, So Long: On Stage 1964–1974 is the first comprehensive look at this revolutionary time in music. Featuring 78 tracks on 3-CDs/Digital, the collection sports 75 tracks making their CD debut including the recently discovered The Exciting Sounds Of Buck Owens And His Buckaroos Live From Richmond, Virginia, 1964, plus tracks from the international releases Buck Owens’ Show In Japan, Live In New Zealand, and Buck Owens’ Show “Live” At The Sydney Opera House, as well as the US Top 10 albums The Buck Owens Show–Big In Vegas and Live At The Nugget.

For me, their Carnegie Hall Live album was, and is still up there with the best country live albums ever made. Although not included here, Buck Owens and The Buckaroos were so huge in the early 60’s, that even The Beatles were influenced by them. Ringo Starr singing “Act Naturally” back in the day was a great tribute to Buck, along with other tributes done down the years, of course.

Indeed, I have been a huge Buck Owens fan for as long as I can recall as I grew up watching Hee-Haw and clearly remember as a child thinking Tiger By The Tail was the greatest song ever! Still love the song and the whole Bakersfield sound today. Oh, and who didn’t love watching the band play together wearing those smart Bolero jackets. Absolutely killer!

A Bakersfield legend, I often wonder how country would have been different if Buck had been more successful at shifting the industry’s center of gravity out west. That said, he did what he could with what he had and my oh my, this brand new 3CD set of live recording from different stages of his career showcase a star shining bright, that’s for darn-tootin’ sure.

Taking it back for a sweet moment and the Owens family was musical before Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. was born in Sherman, Texas, in 1929. He was later self-nicknamed “Buck” in honor of the family mule! His mother, Maicie, played piano, his dad played harmonica, and two uncles picked guitar. The family left Texas in 1937 to escape the crop-wrecking drought that created the Dust Bowl.

Their new home was Mesa, Arizona, just outside Phoenix. In addition to working day jobs, Buck was playing mandolin with singer-guitarist Theryl Ray Britten in the duo Buck and Britt, where he got his first performing and radio experience. Learning guitar, steel guitar, and even saxophone, he graduated to a larger band, playing an eight-string Rickenbacker steel with Mac’s Skillet Lickers when he wasn’t driving a truck. That’s where he met future wife Bonnie Campbell, the band’s vocalist, who he married in 1948.

Buck first dabbled with a new style on his 1961 hit “You’re For Me” and as 1963 approached, he refined the style, later dubbed the “freight train” sound. “I always loved music that had lots of beat and always wanted to sound like a locomotive comin’ right through the front room,” he has since said. “I saw Bob Wills so many times, he was really accessible here in California. I think my influences were the early rock with the driving beat and Bob Wills for the dance beat and the music.”

The compact combo known as the Buckaroos was a streamlined country music juggernaut that accompanied Owens on countless records, tours and TV shows. Anchored by Telecaster-wielding lead guitarist Don Rich, the Buckaroos also included steel player Tom Brumley, drummer Willie Cantu and bassist Doyle Holly.

They had a fiercely stripped-down sound, a bouncy, melody-oriented, rock-friendly style that flew in the face of the ornate orchestrations of Nashville and helped define the so-called "Bakersfield Sound" or West Coast country of the late 1950s and early 60’s. On a side note, the aforementioned Don Rich had truly come into his own as a guitarist by 1963, when he played lead on “Act Naturally,” the hit that established Buck and the freight-train style. A perfect performance vocally and instrumentally, it launched Buck’s seven-year string of 20 #1 singles. More importantly, while it showcased Buck’s vocal, Don’s simple, twangy breaks were the perfect foil, demonstrating how well “The Chief” had taught him. When the Beatles recorded their 1965 cover version, George Harrison simply copied Don.

The aggressively twang-heavy, string-bending Buckaroo sound was unlike anything coming out of Nashville. Incorporating the most elemental aspects rock and western swing, it was a minimalist, cutting-edge contrast with the slick “Nashville Sound” designed to attract adult pop music fans to country. When all that twanging started to play havoc with everyone’s strings, Buck devised a simple solution, one that gave the new sound a robust texture.

Ergo, all the live music captured here on Adios, Farewell, Goodbye, Good Luck, So Long: On Stage 1964-1974 is of the highest quality, both with regard Buck and the band and the audio recordings themselves. A most glorious time capsule of the highest order, their freight-train rhythm had driven Buck’s hits for five years as 1968 rolled around, and he was chafing to broaden his style, which he did with such un-Buck-like hits as the Ray Charles-inspired ballad “I’ve Got You On My Mind Again” and “Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass,” the latter featuring Rich fuzztone guitar (although neither are included here sadly).

In closing, what makes this chorological journey through Buck and his Buckaroos on stage even more essential is the addition of 20 performances available for the first time anywhere: sets from Macys 7th Avenue store from 1967, the 1973 Buck Owens Golf Tournament Dinner, and a 1973 Toys For Tots benefit at the Bakersfield Civic Auditorium.

With mastering and restoration from multiple Grammy-winning engineer Michael Graves, the packaging contains a full-color, 56-page annotated book with an extensive essay from Grammy-nominated writer and set co-producer Scott B. Bomar. Adios, Farwell, Goodbye, Good Luck, So Long: On Stage 1964–1974 is the definitive look at a catalog and career that remains untouched, unrivaled, and unbelievably important to popular music and culture.

Disc One:
Live at the Bellevue Theater in Richmond, Virginia, 1964
Intro; Act Naturally; Love’s Gonna Live Here; Together Again; My Heart Skips A Beat; Band Intros; Orange Blossom Special; The Streets Of Laredo (The Young Cowboy); I Don’t Care (Just As Long As You Love Me); Close Up The Honky Tonks; Mexican Polka/Buck’s Polka; Truck Drivin’ Man; A-11; Release Me; Hello Trouble; I Don’t Hear You; Dang Me; Hello Walls No. 2; Long Tall Texan; Twist And Shout

Live at Macy’s 7th Avenue Store in New York, 1967
Intro; Act Naturally; Buck Talks To The Audience; Together Again; Sam’s Place; Buck’s Welcome & Band Intros; Orange Blossom Special; Leave Me Something To Remember You By; Round Hole Guitar; Tokyo Polka; Steel Guitar Polka; Medley: Crying Time / Don’t Let Her Know; Waitin’ In Your Welfare Line; Medley: My Heart Skips A Beat / I Don’t Care (Just As Long As You Love Me) / Love’s Gonna Live Here; Medley: Think Of Me / Where Does The Good Times Go; Medley: Tiger By The Tail / Open Up Your Heart; Medley: Under Your Spell Again / Above And Beyond / Excuse Me (I Think I’ve Got A Heartache) / Foolin’ Around / Hello Trouble / Truck Drivin’ Man

Disc Two:
Live at The Bonanza Hotel, Las Vegas, 1969
Intro; Big In Vegas; Las Vegas Lament; Together Again; I’m A Natural Loser; Catfish Capers; Rovin’ Gambler; Along Came Jones; We’re Gonna Let The Good Times Roll

Live at John Asuaga’s Nugget Hotel Casino Resort, Reno, 1971
Intro; Good Ole Mountain Dew; Nugget Lament; Rollin’ In My Sweet Baby’s Arms; Buck Talks To The Audience; Ruby (Are You Mad); We’re Gonna Get Together; I’ll Still Be Waiting For You; Johnny B. Goode

Live at the Buck Owens Golf Tournament Dinner, Bakersfield, 1973
Buckaroo; Buck Owens Intro; Rollin’ In My Sweet Baby’s Arms; Buck Talks To The Audience; Big Game Hunter

Live at Toys For Tots Benefit Show, Bakersfield, 1973
Y’all Come; Tall Dark Stranger; Together Again; Rollin’ In My Sweet Baby’s Arms; Big Game Hunter; Johnny B. Goode

Disc Three:
The 1974 International Tour Highlights
Y’all Come (Live at Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, 1974); Your Daddy Was A Preacher (And Your Mama Was A Dancing Girl) (Live at Christchurch Town Hall, New Zealand, 1974); Big In Vegas (Live at Christchurch Town Hall, New Zealand, 1974); Roll Over Beethoven (Live at Sydney Opera House, Australia, 1974); Talk & Jokes (Live at Sydney Opera House, Australia, 1974); Rollin’ In My Sweet Baby’s Arms (Live at Sydney Opera House, Australia, 1974); Medley: Act Naturally / Together Again / Love’s Gonna Live Here / Waitin’ In Your Welfare Line / Sam’s Place / Cryin’ Time / I’ve Got A Tiger By The Tail (Live at Christchurch Town Hall, New Zealand, 1974); Green Onions (Live at Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, 1974); Duelin’ Banjos (Live at Christchurch Town Hall, New Zealand, 1974); Orange Blossom Special (Live at Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, 1974); Cajun Fiddle (Live at Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, 1974); Medley: Diggy Liggy Lo / Louisiana Man (Live at Christchurch Town Hall, New Zealand, 1974); On The Cover Of The Music City News (Live at Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, 1974) Made In Japan (Live at Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, 1974); Georgia Pineywoods (Live at Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, 1974); Dust On Mother’s Bible (Live at Sydney Opera House, Australia, 1974); Jackson (Live at Sydney Opera House, Australia, 1974); Somewhere Between You And Me (Live at Christchurch Town Hall, New Zealand, 1974); Looking Back To See (Live at Christchurch Town Hall, New Zealand, 1974); You’re Gonna Love Yourself In The Morning (Live at Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, 19874); Johnny B. Goode (Live at Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, 1974); Good Ole Mountain Dew (Live at Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, 1974); Ruby (Are You Mad) (Live at Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, 1974)

Disc 1, Tracks 1–20 previously issued on vinyl only, March 2025
Disc 1, Tracks 21–37; Disc 2, Tracks 19–23, 26–28 previously unissued
Disc 2, Tracks 1–20 and all tracks on Disc 3, first time available on CD / Digital

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