Exploring Bakersfield: The other country-western music capital
That's especially true if you're a country music fan. Long after
the Nashville sound had taken hold and made that Tennessee city
the capital of what was then called "country-western" music,
some brave musicians in the city of Bakersfield challenged the
status quo. Coming out of the honky-tonk bars in Bakersfield was
a sound that was a little rough around the edges and not as
slickly produced as the music produced in Nashville in the late
1950's. Bakersfield groups started including some elements of
rock and roll and, by the early 60's, such artists as Merle
Haggard and Buck Owens were taking the Bakersfield Sound
national.  And so it's no surprise that Bakersfield today still
has an active country music scene - Buck Owens made sure of
that. Although Owens died a few years ago, Buck Owens' Crystal
Palace remains a testament to the musician's influence on
country music and especially on Bakersfield. The Crystal Palace
is a modern entertainment com