Buck Owens was the top-selling country act of the 1960s, with 21 number-one hits and 35 consecutive top-ten hits, a total surpassed only by the Beatles. Inventor of the Bakersfield sound, he was hugely popular not only with country fans, but rock fans too. The Beatles covered his songs, Gram Parsons idolized him, the Grateful Dead loved him. At least five 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, owe their sound to him. Yet never before has there been a book about Buck Owens. And the man that emerges from its pages is the polar opposite of the aw-shucks image he cultivated on Hee-Haw . A tight-fisted control freak with an outsized appetite for sex, Owens could be ruthlessly cruel at one moment and as slippery as a snake the next. Buck Owens chronicles his rise from poverty as son of a sharecropper to one of the nation’s best-loved entertainers, worth at least $100 million when he died. It is authoritative: it counts among its myriad sources five Buckaroos, the producer of Hee Haw , the former president of Capitol Nashville, numerous country singers, relatives, wives, lovers, and employees. This biography fully reveals, for the first time, not only one of country’s biggest stars, but perhaps its biggest son of a bitch. "Eileen Sisk's fascinating but unsympathetic bio shreds the veil of secrecy surrounding the brilliant though tormented Owens to reveal a master manipulator with a heart of stone."  —John Lomax III, author, Nashville: Music City U.S.A.; Red Desert Sky; and For the Sake of the Song "This biography should be required reading for any serious country music fan. Meticulously researched, the revealing saga of one of the genre's most flamboyant stars."  —Patsi Bale Cox, author, The Garth Factor: The Career Behind Country's Big Boom "Buck was one of the kings of country music but also a complicated man. This biography tells why."  — Michael Streissguth, author, Johnny Cash: The Biography "Sisk captures the real Buck. I knew him. I experienced the weird weaknesses. I witnessed the anger. [Sisk] is a tremendous writer. She has the guts, she has the 'perfect subject,' and she's overstocked with talent. Her book is dynamite—a masterpiece, a sure-fire winner."  —Bill Mack, host of Country Crossroads "Meticulously researched and well-written."  — Sing Out "Detailed and passionate . . . [Sisk] uncovered so many fascinating facts that most writers would simply pass by or not even try to get because it takes work."  —Robert Hilburn, former pop music critic and editor for the Los Angeles Times and author, Corn Flakes with John Lennon and Other Tales from a Rock ’n’ Roll Life "Reviewers love the book while hardcore fans find it difficult to learn Owens might have been far less than perfect."  —Don Rhodes, veteran music columnist for  The Augusta Chronicle and author, SAY IT OUT LOUD!: My Memories of James Brown, Soul Brother No. 1 "Offers an unflinching look at the country pioneer."  — Country Weekly Eileen Sisk is a former editor at the Tennessean, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and the Washington Post and a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. and the Society of Professional Journalists. She is the author of Honky-Tonks: Guide to Country Dancin’ and Romancin’ . Buck Owens The Biography By Eileen Sisk Chicago Review Press Incorporated Copyright © 2010 Eileen Sisk All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-55652-768-5 Contents Acknowledgments, Preface, 1 Son of a Tenant Farmer, 2 The Exodus, 3 Bonnie, 4 The Promised Land, 5 Capitol, 6 Washington, 7 Dangerous Don, 8 Bakersfield Redux, 9 General Jack, 10 Uncle Dorothy, 11 "Act Naturally", 12 Merle and the Moose Medicine, 13 Dashing Doyle, 14 Timid Tom, 15 The Peacemakers, 16 Dennis Payne, 17 The Firing of Mel King, 18 Willing Willie, 19 Road Stories, 20 Buck's Pledge, 21 The Baron of Buckersfield, 22 Phyllis, 23 Professional Jealousy, 24 The Flex Bus, 25 The Girl Singer, 26 Buck Owens Ranch, 27 Carnegie Hall, 28 Running with the Dogs, 29 James, Charley, and Ray, 30 If the Suit Fits, 31 The Studio and the Snake, 32 Jennifer, 33 Forbidden Fruit, 34 Friends in High Places, 35 Jumpin' Jerry Wiggins, 36 Stolen Glory, 37 Kris Black, 38 A Run-In with Rolene, 39 Flying High, 40 Bucking Tradition, 41 The Show Must Go On, 42 Jay Dee, 43 Hee Haw, 44 Drugs of Choice, 45 Jo McFadden, 46 Buck Changes His Tunes, 47 Ruby and the Master of Spin, 48 Death of a Buckaroo, 49 Life After Don, 50 Jana Jae, 51 The No-Record Deal, 52 Two Goodbyes, 53 The "Three-Day" Marriage, 54 The '80s, 55 The '90s, 56 Together Again, Epilogue, Chapter Notes, Selected Sessionography and Discography, Bibliography, Index, CHAPTER 1 Son of a Tenant Farmer Sherman, Texas, is a city of mood swings. One minute, all is calm and peaceful,