The Bakersfield Sound

Bakersfield, California in the 50s, 60s and early 70s was the scene of a vibrant and energetic musical community, featuring such artists as Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, Jean Shepherd, Rose Maddox, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, and a host of others.  This up-tempo, danceable country music was forged in the honky tonks and dance halls and took its roots from those who brought their music with them when they migrated to California from the Texas and Oklahoma dustbowl in the thirties and forties.  

 

Bakersfield's rougher edge was a distinct contrast to the smooth orchestrated easy-listening "Countrypolitan" music coming out of Nashville at the time and these artists had a tremendous impact and influence both on their contemporaries across the U.S. and on generations of rock and roll and country artists who followed them.

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We may take our name from this seminal country music scene, but we revel in and celebrate the rich evolution and cross-pollination it produced.  The Bakersfield sound profoundly influenced rock and roll bands like the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Bros, bringing entirely new audiences to Country Music.  It also helped shape the Texas Outlaw artists like Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, blurring even more the lines between musical styles and listening communities. And eventually it had a profound effect on Nashville itself, where artists like Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Rodney Crowell, Roseann Cash, and Emmy Lou Harris helped bring country rock sensibilities to mainstream country music.

We love all of it and we play it with the reverence and musicianship it deserves.

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