Country Archives, 1966: Buck Owens Brings the Biggest Hit of His Career to a National TV Audience

Buck Owens helped to popularize the Bakersfield Sound in the 1960s and ’70s. Songs like “Act Naturally” and “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail” made him a household name. They were also part of a four-year run of 14 consecutive No. 1 singles that stretched from 1963 to 1967. The second hit in that impressive run, “Love’s Gonna Live Here,” was also the most successful release of his long and legendary career.

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Owens wrote “Love’s Gonna Live Here” and released it as the second single from The Best of Buck Owens in 1963. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart on October 19, less than a month after debuting on the tally. It spent 16 weeks at the top, setting a record that would stand for 50 years. Watch him and the Buckaroos perform the song on his hit TV series The Buck Owens Ranch Show, below.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1965, Buck Owens Topped the Country Chart with His Second Multi-Week No. 1 of the Year]

The nationally syndicated Buck Owens Ranch Show ran from 1966 to 1972. Owens and his band would travel to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a few times a year and record at WKY-TV studios, according to The Movie Database. They would do around a dozen episodes every trip.

Buck Owens Made Music He Wanted to Hear

Buck Owens knew how to make his music stand out from the crowd. First and foremost, the Bakersfield Sound was an answer to the Nashville Sound. While Music City was pumping out singles with string sections and pop-leaning production, artists on the West Coast were playing a blend of honky tonk and Western swing that evolved from rowdy barrooms and dancehalls. Owens took things a step further, though.

Many singers in Nashville recorded with session musicians. Owens and other Bakersfield artists chose to bring their bands into the studio.

“My favorite type of music that Haggard does, that Wynn Steward did, Hank Thompson, Dwight Yoakam, and I, we all take a band and we go to the studio and we make records,” he said. “I think it shows. I think you can tell. Maybe it’s not hardly as smooth or as sweet or as slick, but it sure enough is human,” he added.

Featured Image by PoPsie Randolph/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images