Customer Reviews

Buck Owens: The Biography

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As a Buck Owens fan fairly familiar with his life story already, I was disappointed in how this book chose to depict Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr.

As an unauthorized biography, it strives to measure up in two ways.

First, it attempts to chronicle Buck's life in a detailed, factual way -- sharing crazy inside stories about the evolution to fame and the long and winding road to get there.

Second, it attempts to deliver never-before-heard, brow-raising claims that define why many people feel unauthorized biographies border on tabloid journalism and are presented for only one reason.

Do I dare say they're setting new lows in trying to turn a Buck on this one?

To begin with, the book has neither a heart nor a soul. It mostly felt like an ax grinding.

Buck's life story is as good as they come -- better than most.

He was known to be a hard-nosed businessman and demanding boss. But he was also a dreamer and it was his heart that relentlessly drove him forward. He knew what he wanted -- and what he didn't want. Buck left a great lesson about getting something in your heart.

Buck also had a tremendous work ethic and an intuitive sense of business that he learned along the way. He did the very best he could with what he had to work with. Another great lesson.

To me the book seemed choppy and helter-skelter. Buck's life story should be a wild roller coaster ride, a beginning to end loop filled with highs and lows, crazy turns and all the emotions that come with the ticket.

Instead, the flow of this story made me feel more like I was in a pinball machine --never quite sure where the story was bouncing next. It's when I started to hear that ax grinding. Tilt.

Although I enjoyed learning about key figures in Buck's life, the book drops so many names from the recording industry that they clutter-up the story and become disruptive to its flow and continuity. I had to go back time and again to make sure I had my "who's-who" correct. I did so because I felt confused.

In addition, the never-ending documentation of "songs and years that Buck released them" seemed like meaningless fill. Buck had lots of hits and lots of key songs and they all needed to be in the story. Many of the other songs, again, seemed like clutter.

The book offers a variety of tales of Buck's wild and controversial side as well. The behind-the-scenes offerings include stories of sex, drugs, women, strained relations, business ethics and secret deals. Many of the tales are so one-sided and whispy with backup that real Buck fans will have a hard time not feeling offended.

There's no doubt that Buck Owens had his highs, and assuredly had his lows.

But this book seems to have chosen his lows as its theme and pathway to the bank. From the outset the tone is set when readers are teased with the line that Buck was "a very bad man who made very good music."

Considering from where he came, and to where he took himself in life, Buck's story is as All-American as they get -- including his lows. It's one that many might be inspired by, or be able to learn from. The unauthorized biography has chosen to offer a darker vision of what Buck did with his life.

To me, Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. deserves better than this.

Sisk's book is a mostly a tabloid-style recounting of Buck's career, focusing primarily on his tawdry personal behaviors and his ruthless business practices. I'd already heard indirectly that Buck was an SOB while Don Rich was a decent and kind-hearted individual. This biography gives us all the gory details. It's valuable because it draws on first-hand interviews with key figures including Doyle Holly, Tom Brumley, Willie Cantu, other Buckaroos, wives, friends, and folks connected to Buck. Some of what is said is interesting and insightful. Other times it is just a run-on deluge of claims, tall tales, and axes being ground. The reader is left to sort it all out and draw his or her own conclusions.

What this volume really lacks is a solid analysis of the music. Record release dates are mentioned throughout the narrative and a decent discography is included, but there is no insight into what made the music of Buck and the Buckaroos so special. What did they do that influenced so many others, especially the country-rockers like John Fogerty, Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman, and Herb Pedersen? I got the sense that Sisk does not have a solid understanding of country music and its history. Anyone who refers to Charley Pride's singing of "Elijah" rather than "Kaw-Liga" just didn't pass Country Music 101. BTW - the "unknown fan" in one of the photographs is Rose Maddox.

This biography provides some insights, but overall it is a rather one-dimensional perspective. To get a more comprehensive and musical view, search out the bits and pieces that can be found in the Rich Kienzle writings for the Bear Family box sets, the articles in Guitar Player and Vintage Guitar magazines, the notes in the Sundazed releases, the CMF's Journal of Country Music, and books such as Nick Dawidoff's In the Country of Country.

Eileen Sisk attacks her subject with the ferocity of a truth-seeking investigative journalist. As a result, the Buck Owens she exposes is not pretty. It took years of exhaustive digging and countless hours of interviewing the dozens of satellites in Buck's universe. The man is summed up by a remark spoken on a Bakersfield club stage by a former Buckaroo: "Sorry I'm late, but I was out looking for someone who liked Buck Owens. I couldn't find anybody."

A penny-pinching philanderer, who used women, musicians, family members, and business partners, Owens rose to became one of the most successful and influential country music stars of all time. He clung ferociously to his signature Bakersfield Sound for decades before he finally succumbed to the Nashville studio machine. He claimed the legacy of a child of sharecroppers, a dirt farmer who clawed his way out of poverty to become rich and famous. Sisk's history, however, tells a very different story: of a boy who supported himself with his enormous musical gifts from his early teens in Arizona, and later in California's San Joachin Valley.

Sisk portrays Owens' key players with sympathy. The great Don Rich, who lived an equally debauched and much abbreviated life, gets a great deal of ink, as do several other contributors to Buck's musical legacy. The many put-upon women Owens swept into his vortex give their conflicting accounts, each one believing somehow that she was the one great love of Buck's life. He played them like the strings on his telecaster, somehow giving each of them a share of his sweet, passionate music. And, with all his fame and fortune and his harem of beautiful lovers, he passed on, still adored by some and resented by many, but completely unfulfilled.

Sisk's biography is jam packed with facts, much of which would only be of interest to the die-hard discophile. Titles, b-sides, release dates, session players, and peak chart positions are all tirelessly detailed. And, even with her unadorned, journalistic writing style, Sisk's language sometimes even rises to the level of classic literature. My favorite passage: "The allure of California's Central Valley to Dust Bowlers was undeniable. With its blue skies, temperate climate, fertile valleys, and vast petroleum reserves, the region beckoned like a beautiful, fecund woman, ripe with the promise that life could--and would--go on."

As a fellow writer, I tip my hat to Eileen Sisk for her enormous achievement. She left no stone unturned in her quest to re-introduce Buck Owens to the world, warts and all, and was unrestrained in her revelation of the truth about an American music icon.

Rand Bishop, author of Makin' Stuff Up, Grand Pop, and The Absolute Essentials of Songwriting Success.

There's no doubt that Buck Owens was both devil and angel, sometimes at the same time. Despite Buck's best efforts, there is ample proof of this.

I knew and worked with many of the people interviewed for this book. I heard many of the stories told here directly from their own mouths. Eileen Sisk gives voice to these stories as I remember them being told. I hear the voices as the words are being read. I can't vouch for the truth, but I can say that the stories I was told are accurately portrayed here. And I have no reason to doubt the tellers of these tales.

As a musician and a lover of music history, I was glad to find the sessionography and discography at the closing. I love being able to match the players and dates with the records. I wish more authors were allowed to publish as thorough a job. My only complaint is that, as colorful a character as Buck was, this book is too short by half.

Ms. Sisk, my hat's off to you. Thank you.

I have just finished reading this book and wish to give my total thoughts on the subject of the book as well as the author. To begin with, I admire the author Eileen Sisk's revelations of things the vast majority of people had no clue about concerning Buck Owens. To say Buck was a complicated person would be a gross understatement. He had the opportunities to help others, and he did albeit with a price or other terms that would ensure Buck benefitted from the hard work and efforts of others. Buck appears to be a pathological liar, sadist and a selfish womanizer. In Buck's world everything had a price including, but not limited to the price of friendship. Buck's treatment of women was disgusting to say the least. I'm not sure Buck was ever capable of loving anyone other than himself.

Buck Owens was a ruthless person who would do whatever it took to humiliate or demean others. It seems that he delighted in causing misery to others. This book lays all of that information out for the reader in a plain and easy to understand way. We would all like to hold our heroes in the highest esteem, however Buck was so cruel to others he came in contact with there is no way humanly possible to hold someone such as Buck in high esteem. It causes one to wonder why he wasn't constanly in court due to the shady and selfish deeds he committed against others. In Bakersfield, he was placed on a pedestal due to the constant influx of money he poured into the city due to his vast holdings.

In life we all have some who think we are unfair, but in Buck's case that number is far from being small. It seems as no one was immune from his narcissistic ways. Ms. Sisk has done a lot of footwork to uncover the true Buck Owens in this biography. She has dared to tread where others would have most likely retreated. When she would not play ball by his rules and be dominated in the way he had so many others, he then decided he did not want her to do his story. Thankfully, she proceeded to write this story. Is this book a hatchet job by a scorned woman? I do not believe for a nano second it is a hatchet job. It is the truth as she found it to be after doing countless interviews with parties who were privy to the inside world of Buck Owens.

In my opinion it most definately is not a hatchet job at all, but the honest writings about an ego maniac whose desire it was to control everyone he came in contact with from co-workers, wives, industry moguls, and even total strangers. I admire Ms. Sisk because she wanted to get the truth and refused to write anything less than that which was true. She stood true to her beliefs and followed every lead she encountered to learn this truth.

It is my opinion that anyone who wants an inside look at the complex world of Buck Owens would be well served to purchase this book. There are some great photos of Buck and the Buckeroo's, and others in the book as well. There is an entire chapter devoted to the death of Don Rich, who was probably the best known member of that elite group of musicians. The death of Don Rich certainly cries out for more explanation, however the author has gathered whatever she could to learn about the circumstances concerning his death.

There is another book on the market about Buck written by the late Kathryn Burke, however it is the sugar coated version and has no photos at all for the reader to enjoy. It is my sincere hope that all lovers of the Bakersfield sound will invest in this wonderful book from the pen of Ms. Sisk.

Through the authors investigative work we can see what Buck was really like. I commend the author on a job well done and will not hesitate to recommend this book to everyone I have the opportunity to discuss it with. If I could rate this book a ten, I most certainly would do just that. Thank you Ms. Sisk for all your endeavors to bring this literary work to the bookshelves of the free world.

I used to work for the Buck Owens organization, and I knew nearly everyone Eileen Sisk writes about and quotes in this book. It is all true. Buck was, in fact, a selfish, greedy miser, who never did anything for anybody including his own family. Everyone was disposable. He was a terrible boss, and not much of a person. His success was because of Don Rich. After Don so sadly died, Buck never had another hit song, and couldn't fill a venue for a concert. He wasn't the Bakersfield Sound, Don was.

Unfortunately, it appears that people think that "it wasn't presented nicely." What should Sisk have done? Lied so his fans and family would be happy? Not only is every word she wrote the truth (I know, I was there) but she could have told much more, and I hope she does.

She writes as a journalist, not an avenger, or tabloid reporter. She presented the facts, and they may, in fact, make people choke. They are nonetheless, the facts. She carefully and accurately researched and interviewed the people who were in the know.

This is a very good, well written and researched book about a very bad man, who had a talent, and in the end, died virtually alone.

After Great Painstaking Research And Countless Interviews The Author Eileen Sisk Has Written One Of, If Not, The Best Biography Of A Country Music Artist Ever. Her Book Makes All The Others Read Like A Kids Book! It Also Gives Great Insight Of How The Industry Works, And In Many Cases Manipulates. I Think Buck Himself Would Appreciate This Book.

Congratulations Eileen On A Job Well Done.

Bobby Lawson - Member Of The Rockabilly Hall Of Fame

Excellent book. Couldn't put it down. It certainly does make you question his character though -- eg. regarding certain dealings he had with people and how he treated them. And must admit a little more info than needed regarding his "love" life as well!! Impressed with the kindnesses of Don Rich -- not his womanizing though. Otherwise, I think there's a lot of interesting history for the avid fan of "traditional" country music. I did find it a bit confusing sometimes as it would go ahead in time then go back it seemed to me.

Excellent read, very interesting. On page 203 re: the first episode of Hee Haw and referring to Charley Pride. He did indeed sing "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You", but he did not sing "Elijah", he sang "Kawliga"-BIG difference.

I have been a life long Buck Owens fan, so imagine my excitement when I heard the news that a biography would be released. Going into the read I knew that the author may not portray Buck Owens sympathetically, so I made it a point to keep an open mind.

The Good: The book is extremely well researched. Sisk paints her picture of Buck through interviews and testimony from the people who were there, worked with, and actually knew the man. She uses 360 degrees to examine Buck fairly, yet critically. The writing itself is very descript, engaging and phrased eloquently. Many anecdotes (many of them so humorous I found myself laughing out loud) are inserted tastefully with in the text, and break up when would otherwise be sheer monotony of facts.

The Bad: The narrative of the book can either jump greatly, or plod along at times, simply because the book is organized chronologically as opposed to themes. This however is a minor short coming. It didn't not hinder the speed at which I read the book, nor did it sap any enjoyability out of it. Another minor shortcoming is that although Sisk interviews a truckload of people from within Buck's empire, she misses a few testimonies, such as Dwight Yoakam and the modern day Buckaroos and managers. However, if anything is to be learned of Buck's business practices from the book, I would be more than willing to bet that Sisk contacted every single person affiliated with Buck, and some simply did not want to be interviewed out of fear of reprisal.

Overall: Sisk, working with sometimes limited sources, and working uphill, wrote one hell of a critical look at the man who brought the Bakersfield Sound to the forefront of American Music. All things considered, what Sisk managed to do is nothing short of incredible and a credit to sound journalism.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of West Coast Country, or Country Music in general, and is willing to keep an open mind and take a critical at one of the industry's greatest powerhouses.