{"id":101495,"date":"2025-12-19T18:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T18:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/101495\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T18:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T18:34:11","slug":"five-artists-continuing-the-bakersfield-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/101495\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Artists Continuing the Bakersfield Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"

Garth Brooks\"bakersfieldgetty images<\/p>\n

The Oklahoma-born singer broadened country music\u2019s appeal with a heavy dose of anthemic rock \u2019n\u2019 roll swagger. However, Garth Brooks\u2019s No. 1 country smash \u201cFriends in Low Places,\u201d from 1990, harks back to Bakersfield in the \u201960s. The heartsick schlub at the center of Brooks\u2019s tragicomic saga, who wraps his despair in a cloak of clever wordplay and self-mockery, bears a distinct resemblance to the disconsolate schnook who sings his blues away in Buck Owens\u2019s 1963 chart-topper \u201cAct Naturally.\u201d Crowning himself \u201cthe biggest fool that\u2019s ever hit the big time,\u201d Owens\u2019s wretch imagines himself cast as the star of a movie about a morose and lonely loser, bent at the knee: \u201cI\u2019ll play the part \/ And I won\u2019t need rehearsin\u2019 \/ All I gotta do is \/ act naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Stapleton\"bakersfieldgetty images<\/p>\n

Eight days after Merle Haggard\u2019s death on April 6, 2016, 11-time Grammy winner Chris Stapleton paused his show in Mesa, Arizona, to recognize \u201cprobably the greatest singer and songwriter that ever lived.\u201d He then launched into a cover of \u201cToday I Started Loving You Again,\u201d Haggard\u2019s searing ballad about love and loss. Seven years later, Stapleton would release an original single called \u201cThink I\u2019m in Love with You,\u201d which would explore much of the same emotional territory: \u201cI think I\u2019m in love with you \/ I didn\u2019t know it at the time \/ I know what I wanna do \/ It\u2019s makin\u2019 me lose my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamey Johnson\"bakersfieldgetty images<\/p>\n

Alabama-born Jamey Johnson possesses a voice that can shift from gravel to silk and back again\u2014which makes it the perfect instrument to blend with Merle Haggard\u2019s tough-and-tender tenor. During his final touring years, Haggard repeatedly welcomed Johnson onstage to sing duets with him, their vocals braiding together on songs like \u201cThe Long Black Veil\u201d and \u201cHeaven Was a Drink of Wine.\u201d As a songwriter, Johnson explores territory familiar to fans of Haggard\u2019s catalog\u2014lives trampled underfoot, penitents aching for salvation.<\/p>\n

Dwight Yoakam\"bakersfieldgetty images<\/p>\n

In 1988, Los Angeles\u2013based singer-songwriter Dwight Yoakam released \u201cStreets of Bakersfield,\u201d his duet with Buck Owens. The song became Yoakam\u2019s first No. 1 country hit, and the last of Owens\u2019s career. Today, the SiriusXM music channel Dwight Yoakam and the Bakersfield Beat features songs by Owens and Haggard as well as Yoakam\u2019s own music, which has been heavily influenced by those two artists.<\/p>\n

Margo Price\"bakersfieldgetty images<\/p>\n

With Midwest Farmer\u2019s Daughter, her 2016 debut studio album, Margo Price established herself as one of the most gifted singer-songwriters in contemporary country music. Price\u2019s songs ooze tar and grit, while her backing band uplift her vocals with rim shot snare, aggressive guitar, and deep pedal-steel sighing\u2014the tonal landscape of the Bakersfield sound. \u201cHurtin\u2019 (on the Bottle),\u201d Price\u2019s ballad about hard alcohol\u2019s failure to cauterize a wounded heart, seems a direct descendant of Merle Haggard\u2019s \u201cThe Bottle Let Me Down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Ed Leibowitz wrote about how performance venues were surviving during the pandemic for Alta Journal 15.<\/p>\n

Advertisement – Continue Reading Below<\/p>\n

Advertisement – Continue Reading Below<\/p>\n

Advertisement – Continue Reading Below<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Garth Brooksgetty images The Oklahoma-born singer broadened country music\u2019s appeal with a heavy dose of anthemic rock \u2019n\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[55317,151,153,152,55307,55315,55318,55310,55324,55326,55320,55313,55316,55309,55311,55312,55314,55308,55319,55322,55321,55325,55323],"class_list":["post-101495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-authentic-country-music","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-bakersfield-sound-artists","tag-buck-owens-influence","tag-california-country-history","tag-chris-stapleton-roots","tag-contemporary-country-legends","tag-country-music-heritage","tag-country-music-traditions","tag-dwight-yoakam-bakersfield","tag-ed-leibowitz-listicle","tag-garth-brooks-influence","tag-jamey-johnson-outlaw-country","tag-margo-price-traditional-country","tag-merle-haggard-legacy","tag-modern-country-bakersfield","tag-modern-honky-tonk-artists","tag-nashville-vs-bakersfield","tag-outlaw-country-revival","tag-raw-country-sound","tag-roots-country-musicians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}