When Buck Owens topped the country charts with “Think of Me” in 1966, country fans didn’t yet understand the lasting impact the California-based guitarist would have on the genre.
Written by Don Rich and Estrella Olson, “Think of Me” was a six-week chart-topper that sat at No. 1 on July 18, 1966. “Think of Me” was one of Owens‘ 21 country radio hits, spending 20 weeks on the country radio charts. It also peaked at No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The concept of “Think of Me” is simple – it’s a man encouraging a woman to think of him when she’s down. He’s thinking of her, too.
Lyrics include: Think of me when you’re lonely| Think of me when you’re blue| Think of me when you’re far away| Oh, I’ll be thinking of you
Owens performed “Think of Me” with his Buckaroos and included it on their Open Up Your Heart album in 1966.
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Buck Owens and Merle Haggard Were Bakersfield Sound Pioneers
Owens and Merle Haggard were pioneers of the Bakersfield sound, a rock-influenced interpretation of honky tonk music with an electric twang.
“The Bakersfield Sound, I think, is a, it’s a mix of Bob Wells and the Texas Playboys and Little Richard,” Owens told NPR in 1989. “I liked music with a big beat, and I liked the driving sounds of the drums and the guitars.”
Like “Think of Me,” the Bakersfield Sound also emerged in the ’60s as an alternative to the string-heavy pop-leaning productions that were hitting the airwaves.
With time and the help of Hee Haw, Owens became a familiar face on television and also found additional success with songs including “Act Naturally,” “I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail,” and “My Heart Skips a Beat.”
It was a long way from his Depression-era Dust Bowl beginnings in North Texas. His family was a sharecropping family that moved west to Arizona in 1937. They struggled through poverty, and Owens started playing in Arizona honky tonks to earn enough money to escape farm labor.
From the Dust Bowl to the West Coast
He listened to everything from cowboy music and string bands to radio station on the Mexican border. In 1948, he married Bonnie Campbell.
The couple moved to Bakersfield in 1951, and he became a part of the music scene. He used the town’s proximity to Los Angeles to his advantage, began playing sessions, and started establishing himself as a session guitarist. He signed a record deal with Capitol Records in 1957 and was on country radio charts two years later with “Second Fiddle.” “Act Naturally” was his first No. 1 hit in 1963, followed by “Together Again” in 1964, “I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail” in 1965, “Think of Me” in 1966, and “Sam’s Place” in 1967.
While most artists of that time recorded albums with studio musicians instead of their touring band, Owens never made the switch. The choice gave him more control over his sound – a key factor in what made him unique.
Dwight Yoakam Brought Buck Owens Back
By the 1970s, his recording career had slowed down, but Hee Haw and other business interests helped keep him busy. Dwight Yoakam convinced Owens to come out of retirement in 1988 to join him on the song “Streets of Bakersfield,” reigniting public interest in the Crystal Palace King.
“When all these new people came along, when Dwight Yoakam came along, Rodney Crowell, and Randy Travis, and Ricky Van Shelton, saying, you know, ‘Give it to me straight. I don’t want my music made by machine, I just want to hear good, plain country music,” Owens told NPR. “The nice part about it, it was all the young people that were saying that.”
Owens died March 25, 2006. He was 76 years old.
(Photo by David Redfern/Redferns)
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