BUCK: Yeah, as close as anything you ever saw. And he knew it, and I knew it. And we seldom spoke of it, maybe a time or two. But we knew there was something there. We didn’t know exactly how to describe it. We didn’t know how to.
LAURA: It was an undeniably sacred relationship?
BUCK: Yeah, and everybody else knew it too. [He pauses for moment.] That’s the kind of guy I lost. I lost him.
To hear firsthand the emotion of Buck quietly murmuring “I lost him” punctuates the deep depression he admits lasted more than a decade — a time when Buck largely stopped recording and performing.
LAURA: Was it while you were still grieving and hadn’t been playing or recording that Dwight Yoakam came to see you?
BUCK: Well, let me tell you the story of Dwight. My secretary comes in and she says, “A guy is here, he says he’s Dwight Yoakam.” People had been sending me pieces out of the paper, reviews of his shows. And he’s talking about me all the time. And so I ask her, “But is it Dwight?” And she says, “Well, he’s tall and skinny, and he looks like him.” (laughs)
LAURA: Don’t you think it’s kind of funny he didn’t call you first and say, “Hey, I’d like to come see you”?
BUCK: Well if you know Dwight it’s not. That’s just him. That’s called “BAU,” business as usual. (laughs) And so Dwight was playing at the Fair here in Bakersfield, and he said, “Why don’t you come out tonight and do a song with me, a song or two?”
LAURA: Do you think that first encounter and performance with Dwight shifted anything for you, in terms of healing from your loss?
BUCK: Well…yes. I’ll tell you this: We went out there on that stage, and it was one of those electric moments that rarely happens in people’s lives. I don’t remember what song we sang, but actually, it’s the only time that I felt that way, the only time. Where you could actually feel an energy in the air from those people in the stands. They just went crazy. And so which meant that Dwight and I meshed very well. And I had said, ‘Well, I’ll sing one song.’ But we ended up singing four or five songs.
LAURA: What was it between you two that made you mesh so well? Was it a kindred spirits feeling, like with Don?
BUCK: Not exactly the same as with Don, but kindred spirits, yeah. It was a feeling that — well, you see, I was accustomed to people admiring things I had done. But with Dwight, it was different. I just knew that I liked him. I liked him because he reminded me of me when I was his age.
LAURA: You both had success outside of Nashville.
BUCK: Yeah.
LAURA: Do you like most of the music coming out of Nashville today?
BUCK: No, most of it I don’t like. But I’m very honest with them. It’s too political. I mean what the hell does it mean if it has no honesty to it?
LAURA: That’s the paradox — because the purest incentive to listen to country music is the authenticity.
BUCK: Exactly!
LAURA: Do you understand when it’s been said that someone like yourself is too twangy for Nashville, too country for country music, or too far outside of the system if they don’t chose to live in Nashville?
BUCK: I don’t understand it.
LAURA: That never made sense to me given what I understand the foundation of country music to be all about.
BUCK: Well, you said it right there….It doesn’t make sense!
LAURA: You know, I like Nashville. I mean if you fall in love with country music, you’re going to go to Nashville and have a great time.
BUCK OWENS: I hate it.
LAURA: You hate it?
BUCK: Well, no, I don’t hate Nashville. It’s just that the people there got away with coming in and taking the music away. But now, I don’t know if you can feel it yet or not, but I feel it — it’s coming back the other way. I notice even Faith [Hill] is now saying, “Well, I have to get back to my roots.” They’re getting back to their roots!
LAURA: Perhaps.
BUCK: But why are they getting back to their roots?
LAURA: You tell me.
BUCK: Because the roots is what they’re trying to sell now, even though they wanted to be pop stars. (laughs)
