A new player or just a Bucka-rumor?
| Saturday, Nov 12 2011 12:00 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Nov 12 2011 12:00 PM
The future of the Buckaroos
Terry Christofferson isn't the only Buckaroo missing from the lineup lately. Bassist Doyle Curtsinger, who, with 42 years' seniority is the most tenured Buckaroo of all time, has been sidelined from several shows after his hearing was damaged at an indoor shooting range a few months ago, according to band leader Jim Shaw. Curtsinger usually skips the nights when Monty Byrom performs because the volume tends to be more than he can handle. Byrom's friend Billy Haynes sits in for those shows.
"On the Buckaroo nights with Buddy that Doyle can't make, we have Todd Brumley, Tom Brumley's son," said Shaw, referring to the steel guitar great, a Buckaroo during the pinnacle of Buck Owens' artistic and commericial success in the 1960s and '70s.
"If his ears got better and the pain went away, I'd say he'd be sliding back into where he was," Shaw said. "But he and Terry are in a real unsettled area."
And that "unsettled area" has Shaw thinking about the future of the band, which, as the current list of injuries and maladies would indicate, is graying.
"I knew that down the road the other shoe would drop eventually and we'd be forced to confront, like all bands do, how do you keep going," said Shaw, noting that the Owens family owns the rights to the Buckaroo name.
"It's funny; all those old rock bands are still out there and there's only one (original) guy in the band and all the rest are these young kids. Someone owns the name, so they're out there. I kind of hesitate to do that. When is it the New Buckaroos or the buckaroos with a small 'b'? I don't know."
Considering the trio of veterans at the core of Bakersfield's most famous band have spent, combined, more than a hundred years Buckarooing together, any change to the lineup is big news. Why, after all, would anyone choose to leave a steady gig at a first-rate nightclub, performing some of the best country songs ever written before an audience of music lovers who travel from all over the world to see you?
Which is why Buddy Alan Owens caused a stir last weekend when, from the stage of the Crystal Palace, he introduced veteran Bakersfield guitarist Chuck Seaton as "the new Buckaroo."
As it turns out, the son of the late, great Buck Owens may have gotten a little carried away.
Though it's true Seaton has been sitting in for lead guitarist Terry Christofferson for the last few weekends, no decision has been made on whether the gig is permanent. It's all up to Christofferson himself, who is taking some time off to reflect on whether to continue with the band he joined in 1975 on the good word of Buckaroo Jim Shaw, a former bandmate back in Fresno.
Christofferson was hired to do what sounded impossible at the time: replace the irreplaceable Don Rich, who had died in a motorcycle accident months before. The legend's inspired guitar playing not only contributed to Owens' distinctive sound but still influences country musicians today (if you doubt it, pick up a copy of Brad Paisley's new book, "Diary of a Player," in which he calls Rich "a monster" on the Telecaster).
But Christofferson's soul-searching has nothing to do with whether he loves making music (he does) or playing with the Buckaroos (he's pretty fond of that as well). The reason he recently quit his day job as manager of the Crystal Palace and is unsure of his status as a Buckaroo is simple: His 66-year-old body isn't always up to the rigors of playing two concerts every weekend. Christofferson suffered a stroke a little more than a year ago and has experienced some residual fatigue during his recovery. As a result, he's taking a break and trying to minimize stress.
"What really was weird was the day I gave my notice to quit as general manager of the restaurant, a guy ran a red light and totaled my car, which kind of set me back," Christofferson said Friday of the September accident. "I was off work about a week there, and my back and shoulders and everything have been really sore."
Though Christofferson is on leave to figure out the future, his strategy so far has been to not think about it. Instead, he's taking it easy, confident a decision will come when it comes.
"Part of me thinks I've got to keep playing because that's all I've ever done. I've been playing guitar since I was 12 years old," said the Fresno native.
"I knew all the Buck Owens songs before I ever came to play with him."
It's that lifelong passion for making music that has band leader Shaw cautiously optimistic his old friend will decide to stay.
"I think there's about a 60 to 70 percent chance he'll come back," said Shaw, who noted that Owens immediately expressed regret for his slip of the tongue last weekend.
"We're kind of waiting to see what Terry decides to do."
Another guy who's got more than a passing interest in Christofferson's decision is Seaton, 57, a veteran of countless Bakersfield blues/rock/country bands, who has found himself in the unaccustomed position of being the "new guy" during the half-dozen shows he's performed with the Buckaroos.
"They got me to commit until the 18th of this month," Seaton said. "There's a chance Terry will still want to play on the weekends and, by all means, if that's what he wants, he's the Buckaroo. I'm the Chuckaroo."
But Seaton hasn't had much time to sit around and play what-if. He's too busy trying to keep up. By Shaw's estimation, when all the Buckaroos are present and accounted for, they usually can satisfy even the most obscure requests, pulling hundreds of songs out of their collective memory to play on the spot. Seaton has learned about 30.
Complicating matters further has been playing behind an alternating lineup of lead singers: Monty Byrom and Jennifer Keel one weekend, and Buddy Alan Owens and Kim McAbee the next.
"I've been a nervous wreck," Seaton said. "The first night with Monty, I was sick to my stomach. Then we had a good night and I think, that's behind me, but then I go through the same thing the next night."
Seaton is immersing himself in Buckaroos 101 by reviewing recent shows taped at the Crystal Palace and DVDs of Owens' television work from the 1960s. He's picking up quite an education from his perch on the couch -- and an even greater respect for Christofferson and Rich.
"He coined so many licks and phrases. In order to make them sound right, you have to do the licks that Don did, and they're not easy to do. I'm trying to do my best and get the feel he had."
Shaw's appraisal?
"He's doing great -- a real pro," the keyboard player said. "I realize how much stuff we've thrown at him at once, so we're going to let that wash over him for a while. He's 80 percent solid. Terry's job is absolutely the toughest."
Christofferson caught a little of a recent show when he turned on the radio while en route to get a prescription filled.
"I thought, oh, that sounds familiar. It sounded like he was doing a good job. I think the world of Chuck."
Seaton has felt most at home accompanying former Big House bandmate Byrom on the Elvis Presley classic "Suspicious Minds" and chiming in with Owens on the Hank Williams tune "Move It On Over" -- "It's my style, a real rocking, boogie-woogie thing and we rocked it pretty good."
But some tunes are coming a little more slowly.
"'Act Naturally,' as simple as that is, a simple three-chord song that you've heard all your life, but to play it like they want it played, I had to sit down and go from scratch to get the Don Rich way."
Despite the homework and his best efforts to sound like other guitarists, Seaton isn't especially worried his style will be lost. Christofferson, too, confronted that possibility, and not just as a stand-in for Rich: He also was assigned the pedal steel and had to study up on the styles of his predecessors on that instrument.
"Tom Brumley played on 'Together Again,' so I learned to play 'Together Again' that way. Ralph Mooney played on the early Buck stuff, so I learned to play that style on those songs. What came out was my own style."
While Seaton works on synthesizing his musical personality with the rest of the Buckaroos, he's juggling a long list of commitments with no fewer than three other bands, including Foster Campbell and Friends, which opens for B.B. King Nov. 26 at the Fox Theater.
But for Shaw, Seaton's obvious talent isn't his only asset. There's a quality the veteran musician has in abundance that's an absolute prerequisite for any potential Buckaroo: a deep respect for the integrity of being part of something bigger than yourself.
"There's different kinds of musicians," Shaw said. "Some musicians just listen to themselves, work up their licks at home. Chuck Seaton listens to what everyone else is doing."
And if the job offer were to be extended, Seaton is more than willing to accept.
"It's made my head swim, being born and raised in Bakersfield and considering myself a country player of sorts. This has been a huge honor."
