Welcome back to Country Music 4 Ever! It’s time to start up my “Country Legend Highlight” again. I’ll go over the rules again for you, since it has been so long since I've done one of these.

Each artist I highlight has to have at least 20 number one songs and their debut in country music has to be at least 40 years ago. So, this month’s highlighted artist is Buck Owens. Buck debuted in country music in 1956 and he had 20 number one songs.

Buck was born Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. on August 12, 1929, in Sherman, Texas. His family moved to Arizona in 1937, where Buck began performing in honky-tonks to help earn money and avoid farm labor.

Buck enjoyed listening to string bands and cowboy music and learned to play western swing, rhythm & blues, and honky-tonk music.

In 1947, Buck met Bonnie Campbell. The two worked in a group called Mac & the Skillet Lickers. Buck and Bonnie married in 1948, and moved to Bakersfield, California in 1951.

Buck quickly got involved with the Bakersfield music scene and began performing at the Blackboard, which was the center of the Bakersfield music scene.

Buck recorded a rockabilly song called “Hot Dog” in 1956, but recorded under the name “Corky Jones” so his country credibility would not suffer. In 1957, he got signed to Capitol Records and two years later, “Second Fiddle” became his first chart record.

His first number one came in 1963 with “Act Naturally,” which began a string of six years in which he had at least one number one song.

In 1988, Dwight Yoakam coaxed Buck out of retirement to record “Streets of Bakersfield,” which helped Buck return to the top of the charts.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back soon!