Music Sound

The Bakersfield sound was a genre of country music developed in the mid- to late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California, at bars such as The Blackboard. The town, known mainly for agriculture and oil production, was the destination for many Dust Bowl migrants and others from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and other parts of the Southwest. The mass migration of "Okies" to California also meant that their music would follow and thrive, finding an audience in California's Central Valley. One of the first groups to make it big on the west coast was the Maddox Brothers and Rose, who were the first to wear outlandish costumes and make a "show" out of their performances.

Bakersfield country really hit its stride as a reaction against the slick, string-laden Nashville sound, which was becoming popular in the late 1950s Artists like Wynn Stewart used electric instrumentation and added a backbeat, as well as other stylistic elements borrowed from rock and roll. In the early 1960s, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, among others, brought the Bakersfield sound to mainstream audiences, and it soon became one of the most popular kinds of country music, also influencing later country stars such as Dwight Yoakam.

External links

• Echoes of Bakersfield, an informational archive site.
• Americana Music News, Reviews, Interviews and Podcast Shows