Buck, Merle and the Valley Music Pioneers -

Inside the Bakersfield Sound Exhibit at the Kern County Museum

This wall display welcomes visitors to the Kern County Museum’s Bakersfield Sound exhibit. Photo: Steve Newvine

A tribute to the Bakersfield Sound, that special brand of country music that emphasized electric guitars, smaller backup groups, and often with a feel of valley life, is now on permanent display at the Kern County Museum in Bakersfield.

The music popularized by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard has roots that go deeper than the careers of these two singers. The exhibit sets out to identify those roots.

The Kern County Museum has a building dedicated solely to celebrating the history of the Bakersfield Sound.

(left) The Bakersfield Sound exhibit pays tribute to some early performers, such as Ebb Piling and the Ozark Squirrel Shooters. (right) The double-necked electric guitar created and played by performer Joe Maphis is also part of the collection at the exhibit at the Kern County Museum. Photos: Steve Newvine

The earliest performers of this music were the migrants from the Dust Bowl who came to the Central Valley during the Great Depression.  

The music these migrants brought to the Central Valley formed the basis for the Bakersfield Sound. By the 1950s, groups such as the Maddox Brothers and Rose and performers like Wynn Stewart finessed the early sound with a more defined beat and electric guitars, no doubt influenced by the emergence of rock-and-roll.  

Many of these performers have a place in the exhibit. They include James Elbert Piling, who formed a musical group and became known as Ebb Piling and His Ozark Squirrel Shooters.  

Joe Maphis, who played a two-necked electric guitar, is also featured. The exhibit guitar was often featured on the ABC-TV variety series The Jimmy Dean Show.

A display in the Bakersfield Sound exhibit at the Kern County Museum celebrating the music of Buck Owens, his lead guitarist Don Rich, and Buck’s son Buddy Alan Owens.. Photo: Steve Newvine

As the history behind the rise in popularity of the Bakersfield Sound is researched, two iconic performers embody the music honored in the exhibit.  

Buck Owens lived in Bakersfield and is regarded as bringing the brand to the national and international stages. One of Buck’s stage outfits, designed by the famous Los Angeles tailor Nudie Cohn, is encased among the displays.  

Buck, who died in 2006, ran the Crystal Palace nightclub, which is visible off Highway 99 in Bakersfield.

The nightclub seeks a buyer as the Owens family intends to exit the business. Some of the memorabilia from the singer's career currently displayed in the Crystal Palace may find its way to the Kern County Museum.

“Nothing is definite yet,” says Executive Director Mike McCoy. “But we would certainly want some of those items for our community to appreciate.”

A stage suit worn by Merle Haggard has a home within the walls of the Bakersfield Sound exhibit at the Kern County Museum. Photo: Steve Newvine

The Museum already has Merle Haggard's boyhood home, which was featured in a column here a few weeks ago (Exploring the Bakersfield Sound at Kern County Museum—Merced County Events). 

Some of the singer’s record albums and a stage costume are housed in the Bakersfield Sound exhibit.

The Museum has restored a portion of a local honky-tonk, or barroom, in the exhibit. Over the past several decades, the Bakersfield Sound has been nurtured in several local honky-tonks. 

Kern County Museum Executive Director Mike McCoy stands next to the sign for Trout’s Bar. The sign will soon be placed in front of the Bakersfield Sound exhibit. Photo: Steve Newvine

The Museum recovered the iconic sign for Trout’s Bar, a well-known Bakersfield honky-tonk. The bar was lost to fire in 2022, but the sign was saved and will be a part of the exhibit.

The sign had been missing since 2017 but was found in Sonora County thanks to a citizen tip.

That sign, no doubt, has a story to tell. And that story, along with many other stories about the musicians and the honky-tonks, is being preserved at the Museum. 

Bakersfield has always celebrated the contribution of area musicians who made, and the historians who continue to preserve, the Bakersfield Sound. -

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He will speak at the May 21 meeting of the Merced Rotary Club about his new book, Jack & Johnny, and his California series of books.

His books are available locally at the Merced County Courthouse Museum gift shop, Bookish in Modesto, and online at Jack & Johnny (lulu.com)