Buck Owens – “I hope that they see me as absolutely honest”
LAURA: Well, what happened?
BUCK: I was just kind of lost, you know? And along comes this gorgeous little thing that played the fiddle, and she really played. And so, in a desperate effort to try to fill up that hole in my life, I know what happened. I got involved with her, got drunk, and got married that same night. The next morning I looked over at her, and there she was — my wife.
LAURA: I bet you never got drunk again after that.
BUCK: I have not. (laughs)
Buck has been married four times. This particular marriage ended quickly, lasting only two days. His first marriage to Bonnie Owens gave him sons Buddy and Michael. With his second wife Phyllis, Buck had his third son Johnny. He then married fiddle player Jana, and in 1977 he married Jennifer Smith, from whom he is now divorced. At the time of his death, he was living with Karen Rotan; they had just become engaged, as Buck had proposed to her two days before his passing.
LAURA: Speaking of your wives, as part of your show at the Crystal Palace you certainly make a lot of cynical comments about marriage.
BUCK: Yeah (laughs).
LAURA: Is that how you feel, or do you still believe in true love?
BUCK: Oh, I believe in true love. I believe love is the greatest thing. It’s the biggest thing.
LAURA: So you’re not cynical about marriage and love?
BUCK: No, but I am cynical about sex and love! (laughs)
LAURA: Speaking of love, can we talk about Don Rich? Because the story of your relationship had considerable impact on me, and I’m sure others as well. You’ve described Don as a soulmate, a wife, a brother, and a son. To have that kind of loss when you’ve found such a rare and joyous alliance, it must have been devastating.
BUCK: He was the heart and soul of everything — he read my mind. I think in another life, if reincarnation happens, he and I were brothers, or father and son, or whatever.
LAURA: Maybe you had many lives together.
BUCK: Yeah, I think so.
Don Rich was Buck’s musical partner for fourteen years, contributing guitar, fiddle, and sublime harmonies that made the Buckaroos’ sound complete. He was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1974 at age 32.
LAURA: Did that kind of unfathomable loss make you more distant with people?
BUCK: Yeah, absolutely.
LAURA: Because you don’t want to feel that kind of pain again?
BUCK: No, no, I don’t. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 31 years….I’m having a tomb for him built out at the ranch.
LAURA: When you talk about the telepathic relationship you had with Don — was it only the music you shared telepathically, or did you have it in other areas of your lives?
BUCK: Yeah, in everything.
LAURA: And also from a distance, when you were apart from each other?