Buck Owens

Tom Brumley, a legendary steel guitarist who contributed to the "Bakersfield sound" of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos in the 1960s before spending 10 years performing with Rick Nelson, has died. He was 73. Brumley died Tuesday at Northeast Baptist Hospital in San Antonio, eight days after suffering a heart attack, said his wife, Rolene Brumley.

On a wall behind his vast, white $5,000 desk, a few paces from the door of the bathroom with the guitar-shaped red, white and blue tiles inlaid around the Jacuzzi, hangs a framed poster of an attractive woman leaning possessively against a black Rolls-Royce Corniche. Printed across the bottom are two words. The owner of the custom desk and custom bathroom sits with his back to the poster, but he knows the words by heart, like the lyrics to one of his songs. More than his 21 No.

\o7 I've spent a thousand miles of thumbin' Yes, I have worn blisters on my heel Trying to find me something better Here on the streets of Bakersfield.\f7 --"The Streets of Bakersfield," by Buck Owens They were worried about Buck, the old boys with the unmistakable Dust Bowl faces who squeezed together in the outdoor bleachers. Buck Owens had fought a bout with throat cancer a couple years back, and now there were reports of a little growth on the back of his neck.

DWIGHT YOAKAM is not driving the tractor, he's just sitting on it, hunkered all alone under a bright blue sky tinged with a hint of encroaching twilight. Wearing faded overalls and a red Shell trucker cap, he gazes pensively at a sprawling modern ranch house off to his right. Beyond him are fields crosshatched by white picket fences, dotted with oak trees and ringed by shadowy mountains.

When Buck Owens died last year at the age of 76, he went out the way most musicians dream about: After eating his favorite dinner (the chicken-fried steak at his own restaurant and nightclub, the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield), he played a gig with his longtime band (the Buckaroos) for an enthusiastic hometown crowd, went home, climbed into bed and never woke up.

Derailers band: A review in Sunday's Calendar of three Buck Owens tribute albums referred to the Derailers as a Phoenix-based group. The band is based in Austin, Texas.

Derailers band: A review in the Oct. 14 Calendar of three Buck Owens tribute albums referred to the Derailers as a Phoenix-based group. The band is based in Austin, Texas.

For 19 years I was a Hee Haw Honey. When I read Randy Lewis' article on Buck Owens ["Bringin' Bouquets for Ol' Buck," Oct. 14"], it brought back so many memories. Thank you for giving him his due. "Hee Haw" was awarded TV Land's Entertainer Award for 2007. As Roy Clark and the cast went onstage, we all felt an empty space where Buck should have been. It's nice to know he is being remembered. Misty Rowe Big Bear

Buck Owens, the Bakersfield rebel who brought a distinctly California flavor to country music in the 1950s and '60s and built a Central Valley-based multimedia empire belying his "Hee Haw"-bred bumpkin persona, died Saturday. He was 76. Owens died at his home in Bakersfield, said Jim Shaw, the family's spokesman and longtime member of his Buckaroos band. The cause of death was not immediately known, but the country music giant who charted 21 No.

In his book "Californians: Searching for the Golden State," James D. Houston makes clear that, while it's close enough to L.A. to practically be reflected in its glitter, Kern County has never had much luck pulling in sightseers. In one atlas, Houston notes, "on the page where 'Major Tourist Attractions' are marked with circles and dots of various colors, Kern is blank. Gray Line buses do not linger in Bakersfield or Oildale or Taft."