Rockin’ Right Again

Country singer Buck Owens was the very antithesis of hip a decade ago--thanks mainly to his co-hosting of “Hee-Haw.’ After he retired from music, however, his legend grew--the cognoscenti of country-punk, especially, realizing the rockabilly sting in many of his early hits.

Now that the Bakersfield maverick is back on the circuit (thanks to a No. 1 country duet with Dwight Yoakam), can he be as hip as he was in absentia? His well-reviewed Capitol album, “Hot Dog,” eschews his sedate country style of the early ‘70s for something akin to the “kind of closet rock ‘n’ roller” that turned out such ‘60s hits as “I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail” and “Act Naturally.”

“You can still be a rock ‘n’ roll fan and like some country now, or vice versa,” said the always-affable Owens. “That didn’t used to be possible, it didn’t seem to me, and hey, I’ve always been a country fan and loved rock ‘n’ roll. I recorded Chuck Berry songs when people used to rake me over the coals about it, and I still do it.”

A new re-release of his 1966 “Carnegie Hall” LP includes “Twist and Shout”--which some have incorrectly assumed was his way of reciprocating when the Beatles recorded his own “Act Naturally.”

“We were doing ‘Twist and Shout’ from ’63 on,” Owens pointed out. “It wasn’t a reciprocal thing. We did impersonations in those days and it always stirred up the audience. And of course we’d top it off with the Beatles--we used to wear the wigs, and shoot one and say it had bugs in it. We did a lot of crazy things.”

Some might think Owens crazy today for jumping back into such a competitive business at 59 after such a lengthy layoff (which he explained away with a chortle by saying, “I kinda fell into that hole for about 10 years and stayed there”).

“I enjoy the chase,” he claimed. “It’s a challenge to see if you can get yourself back into the game. The folks seem to enjoy having an old guy back out there singing songs, and that’s the only reason why I’m doing it. I don’t want to take anybody’s part in anything, I just want to be a part of it (again).”