BUCK OWENS: SINGER, SONGWRITER
AND HUMANITARIAN

If there were an official list of true Country Superstars, the name Buck Owens would have to be on it. A recording star for almost two decades, Buck's special brand of Country has been a staple of every Country radio station's programming diet He's one of the most popular television stars and his live show is possibly the finest touring today. But it seems as if every established Country entertainer has had a "hard luck" life prior to stardom and Buck Owens is no exception.
    In the arid corner of Texas called Sherman, Buck's family life in the Dust Bowl was comparable to that of his neighbors; sharecropper parents, the bare necessities of life and few frills or extras, this was life for Buck . . . but the music was always there. "As long as I can remember, we always had a piano around the house," he recalls. "And Mama would sit and play all the old hymns and we'd sing with her. She taught me most of 'em."
    When he was sixteen, the entire Owens family packed up and trekked to California. "It was like The Grapes of Wrath,"  Buck  recalls, "except  that  we

didn't make it to California. We were all packed into a little car, 5 adults and 5 kids, with the mattress on top. We ended up in Arizona because the trailer broke down and we just couldn't go any farther."
    In Mesa, Buck again  worked  at  whatever he could find for himself. "But I was also trying to learn to be a per-former, from anybody who would take the time to teach me." Buck married  at 17 and became a father at  18. Mesa,  Arizona, did not fulfill its promise of a solid future and a  move  to  California was next. The lush San Joaquin Valley with   its    abundant    crops    ready    for

picking and its booming oil industry was home for many of the Oklahoma-Texas immigrants, so Buck and his young family headed there, settling in the largest town in the Valley, Bakersfield. It was here that Buck began performing, trying, in his words, "to become a good guitar player."
    "I just wanted to be a picker and the boss told me to fill in for the singer who was gone that night. It was either sing 01 lose my job ... so I sang." He was signed to Capitol Records in 1958 "Under Your Spell Again" followed and, in 1962, he formed his backup group, the Buckaroos.
    His songwriting talents are a major part of Buck Owens' successful career. Not only are his tunes chartbusters, but they have also been recorded by such artists as the Beatles, Dean Martin, Ray Charles and Barbra Streisand.
    He's played to capacity houses all across the country and his trips overseas have broken every attendance record on the books. He has played three S.R.O. shows at the London Palladium and has sold out halls in Holland, Germany, Sweden, Ireland and Japan.

    When Excalibur owner Bob Thayar says, "My Excalibur is so clean you can eat off it," he isn't kidding. Not the one he drives, mind you, but the one he had built as a soup and salad bar for his unique Tulsa, Oklahoma restaurant MOLLY MURPHY'S HOUSE OF FINE REPUTE. The back seat of this "soup and salad car" serves as a most imaginative place for the diners to pick up their plates and "start their salads." As they walk toward the front of the Excalibur, there is no roar of an engine from under the hood, only the ooh's and ahh's of the patrons as they prepare themselves a salad from the garden fresh vegetables presented in recessed stainless steel dishes.
    No need to be concerned about avoiding the hot "headers" on this Excalibur, the only thing that's hot is the soup that is served out of a tureen nestled in the hood panels.
    Then it's back to your table to enjoy the sumptuous offerings on MOLLY MURPHY'S    menu    which     features

steaks, seafood and prime rib. The most unusual item is a "Bacchus Feast," which is served to four or more people. Included are 36 ounces of sirloin, 2V2 chickens, six fresh vegetables and 6 fresh fruits, all served to you by cleverly

costumed waiters.
    When in Tulsa, be sure to visit this exciting and imaginative theme restaurant, and see the only Excalibur that is truly accessorized with everything from "soup to croutons."