Bakersfield Sound

In the 1950s in Bakersfield, California, a small city a little more than a hundred miles north northwest of Los Angeles, honky tonk musicians like BUCK OWENS and LEFTY FRIZZELL joined one-time West Coaster Bob Wills in developing “The Bakersfield Sound,” which fused honky tonk with Western swing. Bakersfield Sound bands embraced amplification and electric instruments, giving the music an energetic, driving edge.

[Buck Owens explains why and shows us how he helped create the Bakersfield Sound | Watch Lefty Frizzell perform “Gone  Gone Gone”