Bakersfield Sound Underground's
King and Queen of Kern County Country
for the month of August, 2010

Welcome to a brand new Bakersfield Sound Underground's brand new feature: "King and Queen of Kern County Country of the Month"  Today, as blog manager, I'm declaring Tony Lee and Jana McNaughton to be King and Queen of Kern County Country.  I'm selecting them as winner of a recent Karaoke contest held at Trout's in which I had the honor of serving as judge. 

From this point on, the winners will be selected by you.  Please use the comments section below to vote for the next King and Queen of Kern County Country of the Month in the comments section below.  Your nomination is your vote.  In addition, if you would like to compliment or bestow praise upon our current reigning King and Queen, feel free to also post those laudatory comments below.

I would like to be the first to bestow compliments upon these artists: Congratulations on your win.  I could easily hear either one of you, or both of you together on a big hit song.  Your voices are simply to die for! 

        

NEXT BUCK OWENS Talent competition Rules

Here are the steps involved in how to become THE NEXT BUCK OWENS.

1.  Learn the audition song right off of this post by listening to it on the podcast (posted with the lyrics below).

2.  Start your own recording of the song to put your own personality and style into the arrangement or send a request for the instrumental tracks and simply add vocals at a studio of your choice in your area (the cheaper way to go as I've already paid for these recorded tracks). 
 
3.  Or, I'll lend you the instrumental tracks and you can simply find the nearest studio and lay your vocals on top of it.

4.  You can be a boy, girl, woman, man or band.  The whole idea behind the song is "be yourself, don't try to be anybody else."

4.  Deadline for the contest is November 25, 2010. 

***Prizes for THE NEXT BUCK OWENS: 

1.  You're cover of the original DR BLT song, IF YOU WANT TO BE THE NEXT BUCK OWENS will be aired live on KWMR's
Bakersfield and Beyond

2.  Your cover of IF YOU WANNA BE THE NEXT BUCK OWENS will appear on a digital, downloadable Dr BLT CD. 

3.  You will win a trophy and a certificate with your name and your new title, THE NEXT BUCK OWENS.

4.  You will be interviewed for this blog site, BAKERSFIELD SOUND UNDERGROUND.

Here are the lyrics and the audio for the song:

If you Wanna Be the Next Buck Owens
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr Bruce L Thiessen, aka Dr BLT © 2010

Download | Duration: 00:02:39

if you wanna be the next Buck Owens
if you wanna grab the tiger by the tail
just give 'em all you've got
dare to be different
sing out from your heart
let your guitar's wail

chorus:
be yourself
be yourself
you don't have to be anybody else
if you wanna be the next Buck Owens
break some hearts
and make some spirits melt

if you wanna be the next Merle Haggard
you don't have to sing the fightin' side of me
just give 'em all you've got
dare to be different
sing out from your heart
let your guitar scream
(chorus; instrumental solo, repeat chorus)

        

I thought the PBS documentary: Merle Haggard: Learning to Live with Myself, was very well produced.  What are your thoughts, if you saw it? If you missed it, you can catch it here:

Bakersfield and Beyond

Oh, and speaking of Merle, thisis "BAKERSFIELD AND BEYOND" DAY. That's a good reason to celebrate!You never know quite what to expect on this show. They go way "beyond"the call of duty. They even interviewed Merle Haggard a few weeks back.And in terms of the Bakersfield Sound, the co-hosts think and act outside the box. So it can be an... interesting blend of styles, sounds and eras. I'll be streaming it from 6:30-8:30 pm tonight.

KWMR

        

Attention all Homer Joy fans, friends and members of the Bakersfield Sound community: Please keep Homer Joy, my dear friend in your hearts, minds and prayers as doctors attend to his heart and he awaits as a new heart. This will be his 2nd heart transplant.

Here's a link to an interview I did with Homer Joy a couple of years ago:

Cup O Joy Interview

        

"By 1925 drought, falling farm prices, and the beginning of mechanization and rational land use were already making life more difficult for subsistence level farm families.  It was the year when seventeen-year-old Macie Azell Ellington met Buck's father at a church social.  Alvis Sr. was only fifteen, but he had an old car in which he took Macie to church and home again.  There were no parties or dances in their courtship; church was the only place they went together.

The majority of people who farmed in these border states were tenant farmers or sharecroppers.  Either condition kept most on the edge of poverty..."

The Dust Bowl, the Bakersfield Sound, and Buck
Kathryn Burke

Such were the conditions that would lead to the birth of Buck, and they would only get worse, eventually leading the family to head on a journey that would eventually lead them to California's central valley.  The Great Depression would draw many musicians to the same region and Bakersfield became the hub of a bergeoning new movement in country music.  It was a movement born of
Turbulent Times.

Fast foward to 2010.  The bursting recovery many expected would lead us out of the Great Recession, is, instead, an impotent, sluggish recovery some predict will only lead to a double dip recession.  Add to that backdrop disease, poverty, crime, natural disasters and war, and you have turbulence upon turbulence. 

Well, so far, the Great Recession and the aftermath, as distressing as it is, is no Great Depression, but it leads me to this he question: Will great Kern County country music be born out of these turbulent times, they way they were born out of the Great Depression? 

Answer this and win a copy of my brand new single from the CD, Bakersfield Noise.  It's called Turbulent Times and it was just released today. 

Sample it here:
Turbulent Times
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2010

And be sure to catch another episode of Bakersfield and Beyond this coming Thursday, August 19, 2010 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.  You can stream it via this link:

KWMR

        

True or false?: Long before critically acclaimed radio personalities, Mike and Amanda, of the radio show, Bakersfield and Beyond, there was Cousin Herb Henson, on KPMC radio, and Bill Woods, Johnny Barnett, and Cliff Crofford, on KBIS radio. 

Be the first to get it right and you'll win a copy of my freshly released single,

Psychological Cowboy

Dr BLT

words and music by Dr Bruce L. Thiessen, aka Dr BLT copyright 2010

By way, Bakersfield and Beyond airs tonight.  Stream it on KWMR if you're not living in or around Marin County tonight from 6:30-8:30 pm. 

KWMR

 

        

KWMR's Bakersfield and Beyond, one of the greatest things to happen to the Bakersfield music scene since Counsin Herb's Trading Post show, will be featuring an interview with Merle Haggard tonight on KWMR.  While the FM station runs out of Marin County, you can stream the show tonight, "live" from 6:40 to 8:30 pm at:

KWMR

Here's a song of mine recently aired on that very show that will surely get you geared up for that show, which will also feature many other great artists of today and of the Bakersfield Sound yesteryears.  

THE DAY MERLE WAS RELEASED FROM 'QUENTIN

(WAS THE DAY I WAS RELEASED FROM MAMA'S WOM

Dr BLT: words and music by Dr BLT © 2010

AUDIO SAMPLE

        

In a strange way, Merle Haggard just became the co-writer in an original song of mine in the works.  I woke up about 20 minutes ago from a dream in which I was sitting in the front row of a small circus stadium where a much younger Merle (twenty-something) was performing---dancing and singing Vaudeville style with a top hat, a white sports and a cane he was swinging.  The closest picture I could find to the Merle who appeared in my dream is posted here.  (Obviously he changed jackets.  LOL)

Half-way through his opening song, he strolled up to me, leaned over to my right ear and said, "I enjoyed your show."  At that point I realized that I had been Merle's opening act.

I don't recall the words Merle was singing, but I woke up with the melody in my head.  It was not a melody I have ever heard, from Merle or anybody else for that matter.  So I've decided to use the melody in a song I'll be writing about my dream.  So I won't be penning this ballad alone, it will be with the help of this chimerical Merle Haggard.  

        

Good Day!  Today is THE BLT in B.eaT.L.es DAY FOR BUCK'S SAKE, in which me and my fans will be celebrating the life and music of Buck Owens' favorite band (and mine) the Beatles with Dr BLTrivia and Beatles trivia that will allow you to win my newly released song,

THE DAY THE BEATLES CAME TO PLAY

words and music by Dr BLT © 2010

AUDIO SAMPLE 

It's the first track from a CD that will be released one track at a time:

The BLT in BeaTLes

So here's your first Dr BLTriva Beatles question: Where was I, that is, what city could I be found when the Beatles came to the United States?  Be the first to get it right and win the Dr BLTune in digital download form.  GO!

        

Bakersfield Californian Entertainment writer, Danielle Belton once called me, "...the fastest songwriter in the world."  However, as it concerns the song I just released today, I could also earn the title of "the world's biggest procrastinator."  

It took me 3 minutes to write, but 30 years to record THE SONG THAT'LL NEVER BE SUNG.  I wrote it in 1989, started recording it in 1999, and never got around to finishing the recording until this morning.

I added some electric lead guitar licks this morning in my home studio, THE BUCKAROOM, and decided it was time to get the song out there, so I released it. 

I dedicate THE SONG THAT'LL NEVER BE SUNG to Merle Haggard songwriting partner, Sonny Langley, who recently passed away. 

THE SONG THAT'LL NEVER BE SUNG

Dr BLT

words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2010
The Song That Will Never Be Sung

Be sure to catch the radio show, Bakersfield and Beyond.  It airs on KWMR tomorrow evening from 6:40 pm  to 8:30 pm.  You can stream it live at:

KWMR