Bakersfield Sound

The Bakersfield sound was a genre of country music developed in the mid- to late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. The many hit singles were largely produced by Capitol Records country music head, Ken Nelson. Bakersfield country was a reaction against the slickly produced, string orchestra-laden Nashville sound, which was becoming popular in the late 1950s. Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, and Merle Haggard and the Strangers, are the most successful artists of the original Bakersfield sound era. Other major Bakersfield country artists include Wynn Stewart, Susan Raye, and Freddie Hart.