Bakersfield sound: History and Key Facts

The Bakersfield sound is a sub-genre of country music developed in the mid-to-late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. Bakersfield is defined by its influences of rock and roll and honky-tonk style country, and its heavy use of electric instrumentation and backbeats. It was also a reaction against the slickly produced, orchestra-laden Nashville sound, which was becoming popular in the late 1950s. The Bakersfield sound became one of the most popular and influential country genres of the 1960s, initiating a revival of honky-tonk music and influencing later country rock and outlaw country musicians, as well as progressive country.

Wynn Stewart pioneered the Bakersfield sound, while the performing artists Buck Owens and Merle Haggard became two of the most successful artists of the original Bakersfield era while performing with the Buckaroos and the Strangers respectively.

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