{"id":478273,"date":"2026-09-28T14:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T14:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478273\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T14:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T14:04:08","slug":"born-96-years-ago-today-in-oklahoma-the-bakersfield-sound-pioneer-who-wrote-songs-for-buck-owens-and-merle-haggard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478273\/","title":{"rendered":"Born 96 Years Ago Today in Oklahoma, the Bakersfield Sound Pioneer Who Wrote Songs for Buck Owens and Merle Haggard"},"content":{"rendered":"

On this day (September 28) in 1930, acclaimed Nashville songwriter Tommy Collins was born Leonard Raymond Sipes in Bethany, Oklahoma. Helping craft the \u201cBakersfield\u201d sound that rose to prominence on the country charts of the late 1950s, Collins\u2019 more than 800 compositions included the number-one hits \u201cCarolyn\u201d and \u201cThe Roots of My Raising\u201d by Merle Haggard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although intense personal battles prevented him from achieving the same level of fame as his peers in Bakersfield, California, Collins left a lasting mark on the genre nonetheless. Buck Owens, Wynn Stewart, Jean Shepard, Wanda Jackson, Ferlin Husky, Dick Curless, Rose Maddox and Freddie Hart are just a few artists who have recorded his work.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tVideos by American Songwriter\t\t<\/p>\n

On March 14, 2000, Collins died from complications of emphysema at his home in Ashland City, Tennessee. Today, we\u2019re taking a trip through his life and career on what would have been his 96th birthday.<\/p>\n

About Tommy Collins<\/p>\n

Growing up just outside of Oklahoma City, Leonard Sipes began singing and writing songs<\/a> as a child, eventually appearing on local radio shows.<\/p>\n

After graduating from high school in 1948, he recorded\u00a0a handful of singles for the California-based record label Morgan.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

Following a brief military stint in the early 1950s, Sipes moved to Bakersfield, California, with his friend Wanda Jackson and her family.<\/p>\n

However, the Jackson family soon moved back to Oklahoma, leaving Sipes alone in the Golden State. He began making connections in the city, eventually meeting friend and future roommate Ferlin Husky.<\/p>\n

After recording several of Sipes\u2019 songs, The \u201cWings of a Dove\u201d singer helped him land a contract with his own label, Capitol Records, in June 1953.<\/p>\n

Sipes then began going by the stage name Tommy Collins, which he thought sounded more commercial than his birth name.<\/p>\n

Solo Success and a Religious Conversion<\/p>\n

Assembling a backup band that included a then-unknown Buck Owens on guitar, Tommy Collins scored a number-two solo hit with \u201cYou Better Not Do That\u201d.<\/p>\n

Three top 10 hits followed during the fall of 1954 and the spring of 1955 \u2014 \u201cWhatcha Gonna Do Now,\u201d \u201cUntied,\u201d and \u201cIt Tickles\u201d.<\/p>\n

During that time, Faron Young reached number two with another Collins composition, \u201cIf You Ain\u2019t Lovin\u2019 (You Ain\u2019t Livin\u2019)\u201d). George Strait would later land a number-one hit with his 1988 cover.<\/p>\n

By 1957, however, Collins felt disillusioned with the entertainment industry. Experiencing a religious conversion, he enrolled in seminary school and became a pastor.<\/p>\n

Collins continued recording for Capitol during his ministry, but neither he nor the label had much interest in promoting his work.<\/p>\n

The Comeback<\/p>\n

No longer fulfilled by his ministry work, Tommy Collins left the church and headed back to Bakersfield in 1963.<\/p>\n

Initially re-signing with Capitol, he switched to Columbia Records in 1965. The following year, Collins returned to the country top 10 with \u201cIf You Can\u2019t Bite, Don\u2019t Growl\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, his chart success stalled after that. Despite opening for both Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, Collins had spiraled further into substance use and depression by the early 1970s.<\/p>\n

Finally deciding to get sober after his wife, Wanda, divorced him, he channeled his demons into what he\u2019d always done best \u2014 writing songs. In addition to hits for Haggard, he penned Mel Tillis\u2019 top 10 hit \u201cNew Patches\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 1981, Haggard released \u201cLeonard\u201d, a tribute to Collins: Well, Leonard gave me lots of inspiration \/ He helped teach me how to write a country song \/ And he even brought around a bag of groceries \/ Hey, back before Muskogee came along.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: 3 Country Songs From the 1980s You Didn\u2019t Know Were Written About Real People]<\/a><\/p>\n

The song reached the top 10 of the country charts and became one of Haggard\u2019s most enduring hits. Signing as a songwriter with Ricky Skaggs Music in 1993, Collins was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame six years later.<\/p>\n

Featured image courtesy of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On this day (September 28) in 1930, acclaimed Nashville songwriter Tommy Collins was born Leonard Raymond Sipes in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[143408,151,153,152,44992,187701],"class_list":["post-478273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-1930s","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-country-music","tag-tommy-collins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478273","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=478273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}