On October 15, 1988, “Streets of Bakersfield” by Dwight Yoakam and Buck Owens sat at No. 1 on the Billboard country chart. It was Dwight Yoakam’s first No. 1. For Buck Owens, it was the first since “Made in Japan” in 1972, and it would be the last chart-topper of his career. But the road to that record did not start in a studio. It started on a Wednesday afternoon in Bakersfield, with a young singer dropping by an old radio station.
A legend who had stepped away
By 1987, Buck Owens had been off the concert stage since 1980. For years his only regular performances had been on Hee Haw, and he had given up his co-hosting job there in 1986. He spent his days running his business interests from Bakersfield, including radio station KUZZ.
Meanwhile, a new generation was rediscovering his music. Dwight Yoakam, a Kentucky-born singer who had broken through in California, built his sound on the Bakersfield shuffle Buck Owens made famous in the 1960s. On his second album, Hillbilly Deluxe, the opening track “Little Ways” was an open tribute to Buck’s style, and the liner notes thanked Buck Owens for the records that still inspired the California honky-tonk sound.
The visit at KUZZ
On September 23, 1987, Dwight Yoakam was in Bakersfield to play the Kern County Fair. His record label had arranged for him to stop by and say hello if time allowed. Buck Owens liked to tell people Dwight simply walked in unannounced. Dwight later explained that Buck knew he might come by, just not when.
When he arrived at the station, a secretary went to Buck’s office to tell him a man out front said he was Dwight Yoakam. Buck asked if he looked like Dwight Yoakam. She said yes. As Dwight told The Bakersfield Californian, Buck’s answer was simple:
“Well, let him in.”
The two talked for a couple of hours about Dwight’s music, his short career so far, and how Buck had been watching him. Before he left, Dwight made an offer. His band had two or three of Buck’s songs ready to go, if Buck had any interest in singing them that night.
That night at the Kern County Fair
Buck Owens came to the fair, and to the surprise of almost everyone there, he walked onstage with Dwight Yoakam.
Only later did Dwight understand how rare that was. Since his career had really taken off, Buck Owens had never performed with anybody else in Bakersfield. Dwight put it this way:
“So he honored me with his presence on stage.”
That night was the start of a friendship that lasted the rest of Buck’s life.
A TV special and a forgotten song
Four months later, in January 1988, the CMA’s 30th anniversary special on CBS planned a salute to Bakersfield. Merle Haggard was supposed to sing with Buck Owens, but he couldn’t make it. When Buck was asked who he wanted instead, he picked Dwight Yoakam.
Buck also picked the song. “Streets of Bakersfield” was written by Homer Joy, an Arkansas songwriter who had come to Buck’s Bakersfield studio in 1972 hoping to record his own material and wrote the song out of pure frustration with his situation. Buck recorded it in 1972, and it appeared on his 1973 album Ain’t It Amazing, Gracie, but it went almost nowhere.
On national television, with Dwight beside him, the old song finally landed. Country DJs had recorded the performance, and stations around the country started calling to ask permission to play the audio. That told Buck they had a hit, and the two went into the studio to cut it properly.
Back at the top
The duet came out on June 17, 1988, as the lead single from Dwight Yoakam’s album Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room. The music video was shot on the streets of Bakersfield and nearby Delano. Watching it years later, Dwight said he felt like a kid horsing around with his grandfather.
By October 15, the song was No. 1. Eight days later, the two performed it together on Austin City Limits. Buck Owens went out on tour as Dwight’s special guest and was welcomed by young crowds who had only known him as a legend. He made new records, his old catalog found new listeners, and in 1996 he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
“We’ll just always be linked”
The friendship that began at KUZZ never faded. Buck would call Dwight and announce himself as “your old buddy Buck.” Dwight spoke with him by phone shortly before Buck died in Bakersfield on March 25, 2006. In one of those last calls, Buck joked about fans who acted as if the two of them had dinner together every night. Then he said something Dwight never forgot:
“Well, we’ll just always be linked.”
It all goes back to one afternoon in 1987, when a young singer stopped by to say hello and asked his hero if he felt like singing that night.