Update: Buck Owens went out with his BOOTS on. I am PROUD of this man.

God BLESS ya, Buck. R.I.P.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-03-25T232815Z_01_N25200755_RTRUKOC_0_US-OWENS.xml&archived=False

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Honky-tonk star Buck Owens, who sold more than 16 million albums and popularized country entertainment on television as host of "Hee Haw," died on Saturday at age 76.

Owens, who helped spread the twangy "Bakersfield sound" as an antidote to Nashville's slick country music, died of heart failure at his home, said his keyboard player Jim Shaw. The night before, he had performed his usual twice-weekly concert at his entertainment complex, Buck Owens' Crystal Palace.

:toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast:

"He was one of the true innovators," Shaw said. "He did it his own way, an outside gunslinger type who used his own band and made music in Hollywood rather than Nashville. That free spirit made him important to a lot of people."

Owens honed his craft in the rowdy bars of Bakersfield, a gritty oil and farming town about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. He played it loud and kept it simple, performing tunes that were more escapist than the hard-life tales of his Bakersfield colleague Merle Haggard.