Bakersfield Country Music Awards
Tonight is the Bakersfield Country Music Awards! I am sure some of the movers and shakers and the bender sand twangers are going to be out in force. However hard some folks try to kill Bakersfield Country music it keeps coming back, its' like cock roaches dudes - you just can't kill it.There is a new song by Dr. BLT called "Kick Ass Country" that chronicles the slow underground rumblings of a new volcanic like explosion of new country music out of Bakersfield, a large part of this most is certainly Rockwell and the Bakersfield Country Music Awards...andperhaps BLT himself...
Bakersfield has long been noted or its' own brand of country music. With this event, "Bakersfield Country Music Awards" some folks here in "Nashville West" will get their horns tooted! Its' about time...(<:
The photos above are Trouts, Thersa Spanke and Howard Yearwood at Trouts, local legend Red Simpson, Bryan Gunther and below DR. BLT
Quotes about the B/C/M/A/ after the facts:
HERE IS SOME QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEWS AT THE B.C.M.A.:
Bakersfield Country Music Awards: Sound to live again?
Unique country style on life support, some say
BY JOE BOESEN, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jboesen@bakersfield.com | Monday, Jun 9 2008 10:38 AM
Monday, Jun 9 2008 2:34 PM Bakersfield Californian
“This is a drive to embrace contributors of all avenues of the Bakersfield Sound,” said T. Rockwell, spokesman for one of Kern County’s few surviving honky tonks. Rockwell said contributors to the Bakersfield Sound were receiving certificates of recognition on behalf of Bakersfield.
The award ceremony doubled as a reunion for those people involved in creating the Bakersfield Sound. Red Simpson, 84, was greeted with the whispers due a local legend as he walked through the honky-tonk’s door. Simpson composed 30 songs with Buck Owens and six with Merle Haggard.
Later, as he took a drag on his cigarette outside, Simpson said he considers all the folks inside as “old friends.”
Bruce Thiessen, 47, of Bakersfield was handing out business cards for his blog, bakersfieldsoundunderground.com, which focuses on connecting the old Bakersfield Sound with new artists trying to revive the movement.
“I would love to get guys like Sonny (Langley) and young guys together in the studio,” he said. “It’s like the past meets the present.”
New Entry at Bakersfield Sound Undergroud
Tuesday, June 10, 2008 8:22 AM
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Bakersfield Sound Undergroud published a new entry entitled "Trout's Country Music Awards rocked, but the elephant in the room was the Bakersfield Sound generation gap" on 6/10/2008 1:11:32 AM, written by drblt.
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Trout's Country Music Awards rocked, but the elephant in the room was the Bakersfield Sound generation gap
I thought maybe some of the last bands and artists to have recorded at the old Buck Owens Studios (aka Fat Tracks/Pig Studios) would have showed up to honor the living legends that have contributed, in collosal ways, to the Bakersfield Sound.
They were conspicuously absent. I'm sure they were all very busy. I've been busy myself, and haven't always attended functions that have honored the pioneers, the past they represent, and rich heritage. they have brought, and continue to bring, to this community.
I was about the youngest one there, with, perhaps one or two exceptions. That's pretty sad. The elephant in the room was the phenomenon I call the Bakersfield Sound generation gap. At least 2 generations were missing in inaction at the 2nd Annual Bakersfield Country Music Awards.
The 50 to 100-year-olds put my generation, and younger, to shame, with their heart-felt appreciation for the givers that keep giving, whose legacies are forever etched in stone in the very heart of Bakersfield.
I guess old guys do rule (and old gals too). They certainly know how to honor their own. My generation (with notable exceptions) has cut itself off from its roots, and we wonder why a musical identity crisis has ensued.
This trend appears even more pronounced in the very town that gave birth to the likes of Homer Joy, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Billy Mize, Sonny Langley, Red Simpson, and the many other Bakersfield Sound pioneers, many of who were the honorees of the evening.
I'll get off my soapbox now. After all, I live in a glass house (well, at least the windows are glass), and I certainly don't want to come home to find them shattered.
50 Cent, you've got nothing on Terry Keplinger (pictured here), and the Fifty Buck Band. They brought the rafters down at my favorite honky tonk, Trout's on North Chester Avenue, in Bakersfield California as they introduced the 2nd Annual Country Music Awards.
bakersfield californian story by Joe Boesen
Rockwell was a terrific, affable host, and MC, once again. But the show was all about the honorees, and their legacies, both individually, and collectively, and, in that respect, these kings of Kern County country really shined.
As for the food, well, it wasn't anything too fancy, but, if you're a mid-western, meat and potatoes guy, and you were sick of beef, this ham dish was just the ticket. It could have used one more item on the plate and a desert, but that would have caused me to be even more of a pig than I already am.
I met Monty Byrom for the first time. The Bakersfield Life took our picture together, and he said, "I've only known this guy for about 5 minutes." I told Monty that "the value of my CD's just doubled." I met Sonny, and we talked about what seem to be good prospects for a forthcoming interview. I had a brief, but rewarding talk with Red Simpson, and was inspired to write anew tribute to him called Turning Red.
It was a great time had by all. It was a great opportunity for the new generation to follow the example of the drummer from Sum 41 (I believe his name is Steve Jocz, who jumped at the opportunity to play on a tribute to Buck Owens performed at the 2006 Country Music Awards.
Unfortunately, for the youth missing in inaction, it was a missed opportunity. Some of these cats won't be around too much longer. I'd like to assure you that there will be plenty of opportunitiees to mingle with the Kern County country kings again in the future, but that's a promise I can't make.
Bakersfield Sound Underground
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