Founder/Father of The Bakersfield Sound Fuzzy Owen Has Died
Call him the Founder, call him the Father, but whatever you call him, make sure you recognize that without Fuzzy Owen, there may have never been a “Bakersfield Sound” in country music, and country may have never taken such a foothold on the West Coast to eventually influence generations of country and rock performers. When you made one of the first recordings for Buck Owens, signed Merle Haggard to his first record deal and managed him for decades, you deserve that level of distinction.
Charles “Fuzzy” Owen passed away on Monday, May 12th at the age of 91. Born in 1922 in Conway, Arkansas, his mom gave him his famous nickname after once finding him under his bed covers with his hair all fuzzed out. Fuzzy migrated to Bakersfield, California at the age of 17 to pick cotton by day, and play steel guitar at The Blackboard honky tonk for the blue collar workers by night. He joined the band with his cousin Lewis Talley after moving to California to take advantage of the state’s burgeoning country scene. This partnership would be one of the seeds that the Bakersfield Sound would sprout from.
Fuzzy and Lewis Talley found their first brush with fame via the song “A Dear John Letter.” Initially recorded by Fuzzy with Bonnie Owens (no relation), they tried to launch the single from their own fledgling label in 1952 to no avail. The song was eventually recorded by Ferlin Husky and Jean Shepard in 1953, with Fuzzy, Lewis Talley, and fellow Bakersfield legends Bill Woods and Tommy Collins all playing on the track. It became a #1 hit for Capitol Records, and the first hit of the Bakersfield Sound. Soon, a second epicenter for country music far away from Nashville would emerge.
Fuzzy Owen and Lewis Talley founded Tally Records in 1955, and made one of the very first recordings for a Capitol Records session player named Buck Owens called “Hot Dog” under the pseudonym Corky Jones. Of course, Buck would move on to record directly for Capitol in the coming years, while Tally Records continued to scout for talent, eventually signing artists such as Harland Howard, Bonnie Owens, Cliff Crofford, and Cousin Herb Henson.
The whole time, Fuzzy Owen remained a fixture behind the steel guitar in the local Bakersfield clubs, as well as on the popular TV Show Trading Post. He also wrote the song “The Same Old Me” that became a #1 hit for Ray Price in 1959. It was while playing in Bakersfield’s The Lucky Spot in 1961 when Fuzzy Owen discovered Merle Haggard fresh out of San Quentin Prison, looking for a band to play guitar in. Owen hired him, and then signed him to Tally Records.
Soon, Merle would be the boss, and both Fuzzy Owen and his cousin Lewis Talley would gladly be the employees along for the ride. They also helped Merle sign to Capitol Records, and eventually sold their Haggard catalog on Talley Records to the label. Also an early member of Merle’s backing band The Strangers, eventually Fuzzy Owen would transition into the position of road manager, while Lewis Talley became Merle’s long-time bus driver. Fuzzy Owen continued to work for Haggard as a road manager and right hand man all the way until Merle died in 2016.
“Today Fuzzy Owens passed away,” Haggard’s wife and widow Theresa Haggard posted Monday evening. “A dear friend to us and Merle’s road manager all of his career. He also was the one to record Merle the first time. We will miss him dearly.”
May 12, 2020 @ 6:46 pm
And that, is that.
What a legacy. Merle said Fuzzy was always the one he could go to for complete honesty.
That’s what country music is all about.
May 12, 2020 @ 7:09 pm
Sad to hear. One of the bestest.
May 12, 2020 @ 8:16 pm
It is amazing how all of the Bakersfield Sound Pioneers came from such humble backgrounds. My generation has been so spoiled! We have no idea what hardship is.
May 13, 2020 @ 4:29 am
Oh the stories that man could tell. I’d like to hope there are decent interviews out there with him. What a guy!
That whole California Country scene was really something. Even before the Bakersfield gang got going, you had The Town Hall Party and Ranch Party shows being filmed in Compton. Folks like The Collins Kids and Joe and Rose Lee Maphis were doing amazing music. Tex Ritter, Spade Cooley and others came out of that scene as well. And we can’t forget Maddox Brothers and Rose.
May 13, 2020 @ 5:01 am
I hate to see this. I know they can’t live forever but I still hate to see them go.
May 13, 2020 @ 7:47 am
Thanks Trigger for this excellent pocket history of the start of the Bakersfield sound.
May 13, 2020 @ 11:52 am
I recall a story I heard one time about George Jones, who, in one of his drunken moments, had an argument in a motel room with Fuzzy Owens. Fuzzy was sitting on a roll-a-way bed when Ol’ George suddenly grabbed the bed, folded it up as much as he could around Fuzzy, rolled it out of the motel room and pushed it into the street with Fuzzy still trapped in it, with George screaming, “Buck Owens, and Fuzzy, too!”
May 13, 2020 @ 2:58 pm
Feel so lucky to have met him a couple times, in later years at Merle’s show.
I think Fuzzy, was a WWII vet.
May 13, 2020 @ 5:28 pm
RIP. I wore out a copy of a “Tiger by the Tail” b/w “Sam’s Place” 45 as a kid back in the mid-sixties…
August 23, 2020 @ 2:42 pm
I wanted to say this Thank God For Lewis Talley and Fuzzy Owens to give Merle his first chance although we all know Merle could have did it himself ,but these guys Lewis and Fuzzy got Merle first start after Merle was released from prison and the rest is history,
Merle got opinions from Lewis and they were all correct what ever his (Lewis) opinions were and How can anyone beat that….Now My opinion some 50 plus years later it is my opinion that Merle Haggard was the best country singer in the world and most likely the only greatest traditional counter singer that ever lived. God Bless them all and may they all rest in peace. They will Never be another Merle Haggard my friends.