Backing county legend Buck Owens in the mid-60s, The Buckaroos helped forge the influential Bakersfield Sound, a rock’n’roll-inspired update of classic honky-tonk. Their work proved so fruitful (and profitable) that Capitol offered them a contract of their own. The Best Of The Buckaroos culls 18 tracks from nine Capitol LPs, released from 1966 to 1970, and makes a strong case for the band’s lean electric sound.
The set begins with their most essential recording, the titular instrumental hit Buckaroo. Shining with Don Rich’s wonderful lead guitar, the infectious upbeat number sets the blueprint for their approach: pithy arrangements, faultless musicianship and country grooves so clean they sparkle. Gram Parsons picked up on this style and made it his own, but�here it leans closer to its swinging honky-tonk roots.
Rich remains the band’s star with his lightning-fast leads, but steel guitarist Tom Brumley runs a close second, playing thick liquid lines on numbers like Seven Come Eleven and Pedal Patter. A handful of vocal numbers pass by amiably but can’t match the instrumentals for inspiration and verve. At their best, The Buckaroos play rockin’ good country music: fun, fast, dazzling and vocal-free.
