Lamont Dozier
Southbound: Southern Rock
The Bakersfield Sound
Bakersfield Sound box
Other Side of Bakersfield
Hank Williams projects
Buck Owens projects
Billy Mize
The Cokers
Hank Thompson box
Red Simpson box
Ken Burns Country
Cash at Folsom
Red Simpson
Booker T. & The M.G.s
Bakersfield Sound
Scott B. Bomar
The Bakersfield Sound: Country Music Capital of the West, 1940-1974
(10 CD box set)
Producer: Scott B. Bomar with Richard Weize
Book: Scott B. Bomar
Foreword: Chris Shiflett of Foo Fighters
* Selected by The New York Times as the best box set of 2019
* Named among the best box sets of 2019 by Rolling Stone and Variety
* Chosen by All Music among their Favorite Compilations and Reissues of 2019
* Featured in the Los Angeles Times' Presents on the Music Lover's Wish List
* #1 on The Philadelphia Inquirer's 2019 holiday Gift Guide for Music Lovers
* #2 on critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine's 100 Best Reissues of 2019
* Featured on NPR's Here and Now
"One of the best boxed sets of 2019….Comprehensive and exhaustive. Yet, it is never exhausting."
- Audiophile Review
"California's hot-pickin' electric style of country music probably had a greater impact on rock than Nashville's, and if Ken Burns' Country Music could've gone deeper on it, this ripping 10-disc overview from the esteemed Bear Family label is a corrective....essential history for fans of the Grateful Dead, Gram Parsons, and all the 'Americana' that followed."
- Will Hermes, Rolling Stone
"Another monster package from the take-no-prisoners folks at Germany's Bear Family records."
- Los Angeles Times
"Bomar's empathy for the music makers and their music, and his deep research, combine to make the hardbound book in this boxed set as revealing a document of Bakersfield history as has been available thus far."
- Barry Mazor, The Wall Street Journal
"Ken Burns got it right on film, but the Bear Family's taped archives are just as important and entertaining for capturing this era of country music history."
- Grant Britt, No Depression
"The accompanying 220+ page hardbound book delves into the contents with forensic detail....an unimpeachable package from the Bear and its kin; and, if it must be described as a history lesson, you won't want to cut classes to escape it."
- Goldmine
"Buck Owens and Merle Haggard were the city's superstars, but this copious 10-CD set, which includes an extensively researched hardcover book, digs far deeper."
"Scott B. Bomar's 224-page book will take you right back to the thriving scene that time forgot underneath all that Tulare dust."
"The amazing box set…is a staggering achievement by Scott B. Bomar and his supporting team….Bomar has provided a detailed bio for every person credited with a recording, however obscure, which is a remarkable accomplishment in itself. If there was a Pulitzer Prize for box sets, it would be a unanimous choice."
- The Big Takeover
"Bomar…has produced an epic work here…that not only deserves the gratitude of Bakersfield's historians and legacy keepers, but also merits a special shout-out from the Library of Congress…. Bomar, a Grammy-nominated writer, said he sought to explore how, in his words, 'the twin pillars of the Bakersfield Sound (were) shaped by the city's larger musical community....Who were their influences, and what were the musical markers along their paths to success? In what ways did their achievements reshape the local scene from which they emerged?' Bomar succeeds to that end better than anyone ever has or doubtlessly ever will….a remarkable achievement well worth the retail price."
- Robert Price, The Bakersfield Californian
"A lot of thought and a lot of love were clearly put into this package."
- Michael Doherty's Music Log
Buck Owens and Merle Haggard emerged from the dim lights, thick smoke and loud, loud music of Bakersfield, California's thriving honky-tonk scene of the 1950s and '60s and changed country music forever. But what is the "Bakersfield Sound?" While twanging Telecasters and crying steel guitars come to mind, the music that emanated from Central California in that era reflected a variety of influences that was expressed in myriad ways.
Collected here are a diverse range of recordings that includes Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys in a Bakersfield radio studio in the mid-1940s; previously unheard work tapes of a recently-paroled Merle Haggard recording with only his acoustic guitar to accompany him; previously unknown live recordings of Buck Owens & The Buckaroos at the very last of Buck's legendary annual 'Toys for Tots' shows before Don Rich's death; unreleased recordings by Red Simpson, Billy Mize, Bonnie Owens, and Johnny Bond; radio broadcasts from the stage of the legendary Blackboard Café; and an early Bill Woods vanity record that predates any of his previously known recorded output.
The accompanying 220-page book includes hundreds of photos, a foreword by Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett, in-depth analysis by Grammy-nominated Bakersfield Sound historian Scott B. Bomar, profiles on each artist, and a track-by-track commentary that puts the sprawling 10-disc collection in context to illuminate the story of how a country music cottage industry transformed Bakersfield into the Country Music Capital of the West and ignited speculation that the city could become a serious challenge to Nashville's commercial country dominance.
The Other Side of Bakersfield: 1950s & 60s Boppers & Rockers from 'Nashville West'
Producers: Scott B. Bomar and Richard Weize
Album notes: Scott B. Bomar
* Grammy-nominated release - Best Album Notes
"Los Angeles-based music writer Scott B. Bomar has done it again, packaging music and words in a pair of compilations that offer new insights into the development of the Bakersfield Sound."
"Scott B. Bomar lays out the details of this complicated story in his liner notes, which also include a terrific track-by-track overview, but the broad strokes are apparent....This wildly entertaining disc shows how hustlers, rockabilly cats, Western swing crooners, and savvy guitar players wound up constructing what the sound of Bakersfield became."
- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music
CD digipac with 52-page booklet. Over two volumes, we spotlight The Other Side Of Bakersfield, highlighting the city's artists and independent labels that dared to indulge their rocking impulses. From familiar names like Buck Owens and Red Simpson, to collector favorites like Bill Carter and Al Hendrix, this is the story of the rockin' side of the town that went on to forge its own musical subgenre. Many of the tracks are released on CD here for the first time. With detailed liner notes, including track-by-track commentary by Scott B. Bomar, biographical details about the artists, and a plethora of photos, these carefully compiled collections are a treasure trove of goodies for fans of the Bakersfield Sound, 1950s and '60s era hillbilly boppers, and red-hot rockabilly.
"As chronicled in Scott B. Bomar's excellent liner notes, two elements ruled the music scene in Bakersfield: volume and beat....The sound quality on both volumes is top-notch, especially considering that many of the tracks were sourced from rare, decades-old 45s....Whether motivated by pure, pointy-headed historical curiosity or the desire throw down a hoedown in your living room, both volumes of The Other Side of Bakersfield are worth grabbing for a good time on a Saturday night."
- Randy Fox, The Nashville Scene
GRAMMY NOMINEE
REISSUES PRODUCER
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