Telecaster Guitar Forum - View Single Post - What is the "bakersfield" sound and tone?

cowboytwang · November 7th, 2008, 06:27 AM

Maddox Brothers & Rose; started playing dances in the San Joaquin Valley in 1937, were billed as "America’s Most Colorful Hillbilly Band" and known as the loudest honkytonk band in California. They are the godfather & godmother of THE BAKERSFIELD SOUND.

The seeds of the Bakersfield sound started in the '30s with the big dust bowl migration. Between 1932 and 1940 over 200,000 people left Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and Kansas and moved to the San Joaquin Valley in California looking for migrant farm labor, construction, and oil field work. The music and musicians that they had favored back home in Oklahoma and Texas started showing up out there to entertain them.

By 1940's you had groups like the Maddox Brothers & Rose, Spade Cooley Band (with Tex Williams), Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (who were based out of Fresno during the '40s), Junior Barnard, Cliffie Stone, Skeets McDonald, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Hank Thompson, Lefty Frizzell, Merle Travis and many others were playing, living and traveling up and down the San Joaquin Valley.
With all those great groups and so many places to hear music, that become an influence on all those kids that had moved out there with their families. For some kid working in the fields all day for a couple of bucks, then go to a dance at night and see the Maddox Brothers & Rose all dressed up in shinny outfits, or The Texas Playboys in their tour bus. Music had a big appeal and some of those kids started saying, hey I can do that.

So now you had this post WWII generation of kids getting into music. They were using broad influences, from hillbilly, western swing, jazz, jump blues, pop, early Rock-n-Roll and anything they heard on the radio or at dances and clubs.

Folks like Bill Woods, Ferlin Husky, Leonard Sipes (Tommy Collins), Billy Mize, Cousin Ebb Pilling, Fuzzy Owen, Lewis Talley, Tex Butler, Eugene Moles, Cousin Herb Henson, Wynn Stewart, Roy Nichols, Ralph Mooney, Buck Owens, Bonnie Owens, Merle Haggard, Joe and Rose Lee Maphis, Dallas Frazier, Billy Mize, Freddie Hart, Red Simpson, Jean Shepard, Wanda Jackson all came out of this scene.
From around 1949 till 1970 is when this explosion of West Coast music took place. Even though many point to Buck and Merle as the Bakersfield Sound, they were actually at the end of it, and were a little more polished & refined then some of those before them. Both grew up as sidemen for many of the others listed above.
Bill Woods is kind of considered the “Father” of the Bakersfield sound, along with Lewis Talley and Fuzzy Owen as founders.

Most of the places they played were big dance halls, and the crowds were big and loud.
Because of that most bands were using all electric instruments with drums. Electric guitars and electric bass (solid bodies were preferred so they wouldn’t feedback), electric steel guitars, pickups on mandolins and fiddles and complete trap set for the drummer. The songs were a mix of old standards, originals, and what ever was popular at the time. They played hillbilly, county, swing, pop and rockabilly, and they played it loud, rowdy, and everything with a strong beat.

This was a big difference between what was going on in Nashville at the time. Nashville was just starting to get more “uptown” or “Urban Nashville Sound” in the ‘50s and early ‘60s. If you heard anything that sounded like a drum, it was usually just brushes on a snare. The rhythm section was mostly all acoustic, and the only electric instruments were the steel guitar, and lead. They started adding back up choirs and string sections to songs.

There is couple of more people, who was very important to the Bakersfield Sound, and that is Leo Fender for all the instruments and amps(that was a big part of the sound) then also Capitol Records Producer and A&R man Ken Nelson. Without him most of those great Bakersfield acts would have never made a record. He and Cliffie Stone probably did more for getting that sound heard by the masses than anyone.

For some very cool Bakersfield Music Scene pictures go to Kern County Museum.
Also about 11 or 12 years ago the Bakersfield paper did a nice series of stories on the "Bakersfield Sound". They have them online at Bakersfield.com

November 7th, 2008, 06:27 AM	#6 (permalink)
cowboytwang Friend of Leo's Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: mojave desert Posts: 2,045 14 Photos	Maddox Brothers & Rose; started playing dances in the San Joaquin Valley in 1937, were billed as "America’s Most Colorful Hillbilly Band" and known as the loudest honkytonk band in California. They are the godfather & godmother of THE BAKERSFIELD SOUND. The seeds of the Bakersfield sound started in the '30s with the big dust bowl migration. Between 1932 and 1940 over 200,000 people left Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and Kansas and moved to the San Joaquin Valley in California looking for migrant farm labor, construction, and oil field work. The music and musicians that they had favored back home in Oklahoma and Texas started showing up out there to entertain them. By 1940's you had groups like the Maddox Brothers & Rose, Spade Cooley Band (with Tex Williams), Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (who were based out of Fresno during the '40s), Junior Barnard, Cliffie Stone, Skeets McDonald, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Hank Thompson, Lefty Frizzell, Merle Travis and many others were playing, living and traveling up and down the San Joaquin Valley. With all those great groups and so many places to hear music, that become an influence on all those kids that had moved out there with their families. For some kid working in the fields all day for a couple of bucks, then go to a dance at night and see the Maddox Brothers & Rose all dressed up in shinny outfits, or The Texas Playboys in their tour bus. Music had a big appeal and some of those kids started saying, hey I can do that. So now you had this post WWII generation of kids getting into music. They were using broad influences, from hillbilly, western swing, jazz, jump blues, pop, early Rock-n-Roll and anything they heard on the radio or at dances and clubs. Folks like Bill Woods, Ferlin Husky, Leonard Sipes (Tommy Collins), Billy Mize, Cousin Ebb Pilling, Fuzzy Owen, Lewis Talley, Tex Butler, Eugene Moles, Cousin Herb Henson, Wynn Stewart, Roy Nichols, Ralph Mooney, Buck Owens, Bonnie Owens, Merle Haggard, Joe and Rose Lee Maphis, Dallas Frazier, Billy Mize, Freddie Hart, Red Simpson, Jean Shepard, Wanda Jackson all came out of this scene. From around 1949 till 1970 is when this explosion of West Coast music took place. Even though many point to Buck and Merle as the Bakersfield Sound, they were actually at the end of it, and were a little more polished & refined then some of those before them. Both grew up as sidemen for many of the others listed above. Bill Woods is kind of considered the “Father” of the Bakersfield sound, along with Lewis Talley and Fuzzy Owen as founders. Most of the places they played were big dance halls, and the crowds were big and loud. Because of that most bands were using all electric instruments with drums. Electric guitars and electric bass (solid bodies were preferred so they wouldn’t feedback), electric steel guitars, pickups on mandolins and fiddles and complete trap set for the drummer. The songs were a mix of old standards, originals, and what ever was popular at the time. They played hillbilly, county, swing, pop and rockabilly, and they played it loud, rowdy, and everything with a strong beat. This was a big difference between what was going on in Nashville at the time. Nashville was just starting to get more “uptown” or “Urban Nashville Sound” in the ‘50s and early ‘60s. If you heard anything that sounded like a drum, it was usually just brushes on a snare. The rhythm section was mostly all acoustic, and the only electric instruments were the steel guitar, and lead. They started adding back up choirs and string sections to songs. There is couple of more people, who was very important to the Bakersfield Sound, and that is Leo Fender for all the instruments and amps(that was a big part of the sound) then also Capitol Records Producer and A&R man Ken Nelson. Without him most of those great Bakersfield acts would have never made a record. He and Cliffie Stone probably did more for getting that sound heard by the masses than anyone. For some very cool Bakersfield Music Scene pictures go to Kern County Museum. Also about 11 or 12 years ago the Bakersfield paper did a nice series of stories on the "Bakersfield Sound". They have them online at Bakersfield.com __________________ Alvin http://www.myspace.com/alvinblaine http://www.oldbluesound.com/about.htm http://www.facebook.com/cowboytwang _________________________ Originality is just undetected Plagiarism!