CD digipac with 52-page booklet. This CD collection (in two volumes) is devoted exclusively to Bakersfield rockabilly, boogie, hillbilly bop and teen rock! Hear pioneers of country music's Bakersfield Sound like Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Ferlin Husky, Red Simpson, Tommy Collins, Bill Woods, Billy Mize, Fuzzy Owen, and Herb Henson in their rockin' formative years. Highlights are independent Bakersfield labels, such as Tally, Fire, Grande, Bakersfield Records, Global, Pike, Mosrite, and others. Many of the tracks are released on CD here for the very first time. From established legends like Tommy Duncan and Johnny Bond to collector favorites like Custer Bottoms and Vancie Flowers, this is the story of the non-country influences that shaped the West Coast's country sound.By the late 1960s Bakersfield, California was a West Coast country music mecca that, thanks to the hits of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, challenged Nashville's dominance of the industry. The so-called Bakersfield Sound first emerged from the clubs of California's Central Valley where oil workers and day laborers went to dance. In stark contrast to the passive experience of sitting and listening to music at the Grand Ole Opry, Bakersfield bands incorporated elements of swing, rock and roll, blues, and pop, with the goal of keeping the patrons on the dance floor.
The population of Bakersfield - particularly in the honky-tonks - leaned heavily towards transplants from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Missouri, and other Plains States that were most impacted by drought and depression during the Grapes Of Wrath era. Even when Bakersfield musicians were rocking, they were most often doing it with a hard-edged twang that betrayed the confluence of cultures that found hillbilly music intertwining with California's unique melting pot of influences. In the mid-1950s Bakersfield enthusiastically embraced rockabilly, with a heavy emphasis on the 'billy.' As the decade progressed, the talented musicians - many of whom are today regarded as legends of the Bakersfield Sound - continued to demonstrate their ability to rock, bop, and croon outside the confines of a strictly country groove.
Over two volumes, we spotlight The Other Side Of Bakersfield, highlighting the city's artists and independent labels that dared to indulge their rocking impulses. From familiar names like Buck Owens and Red Simpson, to collector favorites like Bill Carter and Al Hendrix, this is the story of the rockin' side of the town that went on to forge its own musical subgenre. Many of the tracks are released on CD here for the first time. With detailed liner notes, including track-by-track commentary by Scott B. Bomar, biographical details about the artists, and a plethora of photos, these carefully compiled collections are a treasure trove of goodies for fans of the Bakersfield Sound, 1950s and 60s era hillbilly boppers, and red-hot rockabilly.
