'Buck Owens was the top-selling country act of the 1960s, with more than thirty top ten singles and fifteen consecutive #1 hits. Inventor of the Bakersfield Sound, he was hugely popular not
only with country fans but with rock fans too. The Beatles covered his songs; Gram Parsons idolized him; the Grateful Dead loved him. At least six marriages, several TV shows, and a publishing
and media empire followed. And a number of current country stars, ranging from Dwight Yoakam to Marty Stuart, city him as a major influence'--Cover, p. 2.