Biography
Don Rich ranks among the foremost country guitarists of the 20th century, yet even this ranking fails to capture the full scope of his contributions. Serving as Buck Owens’ closest associate—beginning on fiddle before shifting to lead guitar while delivering tight vocal harmonies—Rich helped shape the energetic, amplified Bakersfield sound that ruled country airplay throughout the 1960s and played a decisive role in eroding the divide separating country from rock & roll. Although content to remain beside Owens, Rich also claimed attention independently and alongside Buck’s support group the Buckaroos, issuing multiple albums across the latter 1960s and opening 1970s. Once the Buckaroos’ individual visibility declined, Rich’s own releases likewise receded, yet he remained content performing beside Owens both live and on Hee Haw, the nationally syndicated variety program that elevated Buck to widespread fame. The partnership concluded abruptly in 1974 after Rich perished in a motorcycle accident, though his influence has continued to cast a long shadow across country music.
Born in Olympia, Washington on August 15, 1941 and adopted by Bill and Anne Ulrich, Don Rich took up music in childhood, mastering the fiddle at age three and performing on area radio broadcasts by five. He soon added guitar, and by his teenage years he was working local dates, eventually securing a steady engagement at Steve’s Restaurant in Tacoma. Buck Owens first encountered Don Rich at this establishment. After encountering career setbacks in Los Angeles, Owens had moved to Tacoma, where he held a stake in KAYE radio and worked as a disc jockey and performer. Impressed by Rich’s fiddle playing, Owens promptly engaged him for regional appearances. Roughly two years afterward, Owens’ “Under Your Spell Again” reached the national country charts, prompting Buck’s return to his native Bakersfield, California; he urged Rich to join him, but Don declined.
Rich instead enrolled at Centralia College with the goal of becoming a music instructor. He maintained that plan until December 1960, when he abandoned it and traveled to Bakersfield to join Buck. Don’s initial recording with Owens was the 1960 single “Excuse Me (I Think I’ve Got a Heartache),” after which the pair remained inseparable as both friends and musical partners, forging the propulsive, electrified honky-tonk style Owens labeled the “freight train sound” and which became known as the Bakersfield Country sound. That sound solidified once Rich switched from fiddle to lead electric guitar, a change completed during 1962 and fully evident by 1963 on the hit “Act Naturally” and its follow-up “Love’s Gonna Live Here.” Around this period Owens established his official backing unit the Buckaroos—Merle Haggard, who spent a few weeks on bass in an early configuration, supplied the name—and appointed Rich bandleader. Personnel shifted rapidly at first, with early versions also including bassist Kenny Pierce, drummer Ken Presley, and steel guitarist Jay McDonald, among others, until the definitive lineup of Rich, bassist Doyle Holly, steel guitarist Tom Brumley, and drummer Willie Cantu stabilized by late 1964.
Beyond directing the Buckaroos, Don Rich co-wrote successes with Owens, most prominently “Before You Go” and “Waitin’ in Your Welfare Line,” while “Think of Me” was written with Estella Olson. Following the 1965 country number-one instrumental “Buckaroo,” the Buckaroos began issuing their own albums, all spotlighting Don’s guitar and, on occasion, his vocals.
Their debut LP, 1966’s The Buck Owens Songbook, presented earlier Buck material in instrumental form. By most accounts 1966 marked the commercial apex for Buck Owens & the Buckaroos, who topped the charts—already crowded with similar-sounding records—and played Carnegie Hall, yet the group sustained its status among country’s leading acts into the early 1970s, bolstered by Buck’s television presence as co-host of the folksy variety series Hee Haw. Originally broadcast on CBS and later continuing in syndication, Hee Haw turned Owens into a household name and installed the Buckaroos as the program’s house band. While the show’s popularity endured, so did the Buckaroos’ album output, and Rich soon began solo projects. In 1970 he recorded a vocal collection of George Jones songs that remained unreleased until Omnivore Records issued it in 2013; however, the fiddle-centered instrumental album That Fiddlin’ Man appeared in 1971, as did the duet set We’re Real Good Friends with Buck’s son Buddy Alan.
That Fiddlin’ Man failed to chart, as did the two 1971 Buckaroos LPs, and Rich’s solo recording activity gradually ended. He resumed his role as Buck’s primary lieutenant, appearing on records, in concert, and on Hee Haw until his fatal motorcycle accident on July 17, 1974 near San Luis Obispo, California. Although Buck Owens carried on with the Buckaroos, he felt Rich’s loss deeply and never ceased acknowledging him as his lifelong musical counterpart.
Long after Rich’s passing, Sundazed assembled the retrospective Country Pickin’: The Don Rich Anthology, drawing from his solo recordings, Buckaroos albums, and Owens’ catalog. In 2013 Omnivore brought out the previously unreleased Don Rich Sings George Jones and reissued That Fiddlin’ Man. Three years later Omnivore issued Guitar Pickin’ Man, a collection of Buck Owens & the Buckaroos tracks fronted by Rich.
Born in Olympia, Washington on August 15, 1941 and adopted by Bill and Anne Ulrich, Don Rich took up music in childhood, mastering the fiddle at age three and performing on area radio broadcasts by five. He soon added guitar, and by his teenage years he was working local dates, eventually securing a steady engagement at Steve’s Restaurant in Tacoma. Buck Owens first encountered Don Rich at this establishment. After encountering career setbacks in Los Angeles, Owens had moved to Tacoma, where he held a stake in KAYE radio and worked as a disc jockey and performer. Impressed by Rich’s fiddle playing, Owens promptly engaged him for regional appearances. Roughly two years afterward, Owens’ “Under Your Spell Again” reached the national country charts, prompting Buck’s return to his native Bakersfield, California; he urged Rich to join him, but Don declined.
Rich instead enrolled at Centralia College with the goal of becoming a music instructor. He maintained that plan until December 1960, when he abandoned it and traveled to Bakersfield to join Buck. Don’s initial recording with Owens was the 1960 single “Excuse Me (I Think I’ve Got a Heartache),” after which the pair remained inseparable as both friends and musical partners, forging the propulsive, electrified honky-tonk style Owens labeled the “freight train sound” and which became known as the Bakersfield Country sound. That sound solidified once Rich switched from fiddle to lead electric guitar, a change completed during 1962 and fully evident by 1963 on the hit “Act Naturally” and its follow-up “Love’s Gonna Live Here.” Around this period Owens established his official backing unit the Buckaroos—Merle Haggard, who spent a few weeks on bass in an early configuration, supplied the name—and appointed Rich bandleader. Personnel shifted rapidly at first, with early versions also including bassist Kenny Pierce, drummer Ken Presley, and steel guitarist Jay McDonald, among others, until the definitive lineup of Rich, bassist Doyle Holly, steel guitarist Tom Brumley, and drummer Willie Cantu stabilized by late 1964.
Beyond directing the Buckaroos, Don Rich co-wrote successes with Owens, most prominently “Before You Go” and “Waitin’ in Your Welfare Line,” while “Think of Me” was written with Estella Olson. Following the 1965 country number-one instrumental “Buckaroo,” the Buckaroos began issuing their own albums, all spotlighting Don’s guitar and, on occasion, his vocals.
Their debut LP, 1966’s The Buck Owens Songbook, presented earlier Buck material in instrumental form. By most accounts 1966 marked the commercial apex for Buck Owens & the Buckaroos, who topped the charts—already crowded with similar-sounding records—and played Carnegie Hall, yet the group sustained its status among country’s leading acts into the early 1970s, bolstered by Buck’s television presence as co-host of the folksy variety series Hee Haw. Originally broadcast on CBS and later continuing in syndication, Hee Haw turned Owens into a household name and installed the Buckaroos as the program’s house band. While the show’s popularity endured, so did the Buckaroos’ album output, and Rich soon began solo projects. In 1970 he recorded a vocal collection of George Jones songs that remained unreleased until Omnivore Records issued it in 2013; however, the fiddle-centered instrumental album That Fiddlin’ Man appeared in 1971, as did the duet set We’re Real Good Friends with Buck’s son Buddy Alan.
That Fiddlin’ Man failed to chart, as did the two 1971 Buckaroos LPs, and Rich’s solo recording activity gradually ended. He resumed his role as Buck’s primary lieutenant, appearing on records, in concert, and on Hee Haw until his fatal motorcycle accident on July 17, 1974 near San Luis Obispo, California. Although Buck Owens carried on with the Buckaroos, he felt Rich’s loss deeply and never ceased acknowledging him as his lifelong musical counterpart.
Long after Rich’s passing, Sundazed assembled the retrospective Country Pickin’: The Don Rich Anthology, drawing from his solo recordings, Buckaroos albums, and Owens’ catalog. In 2013 Omnivore brought out the previously unreleased Don Rich Sings George Jones and reissued That Fiddlin’ Man. Three years later Omnivore issued Guitar Pickin’ Man, a collection of Buck Owens & the Buckaroos tracks fronted by Rich.
Albums
