Ken Nelson, Record Producer Behind Bakersfield Sound, Dies at 96

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January 10, 2008

Ken Nelson, Record Producer Behind Bakersfield Sound, Dies at 96

By BILL FRISKICS-WARREN

Ken Nelson, the record producer behind the twangy Bakersfield Sound made popular by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, died on Sunday at his home in Somis, Calif. He was 96.

He died of natural causes, his daughter told The Associated Press.

Although best known for his work with Mr. Owens and Mr. Haggard, Mr. Nelson also helped reinvent country music when 1950s rock ’n’ rollers like Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins began supplanting perennial hitmakers like Red Foley and Eddy Arnold on the country charts.

Rather than treating the big-beat incursion of Mr. Presley and Mr. Perkins as a threat, Mr. Nelson, then the head of the country division of Capitol Records, saw it as an opportunity to take rural music in a more sophisticated direction.

First he persuaded a rising singer named Sonny James to record “Young Love,” a smooth romantic ballad, which topped both the country and the pop charts in 1957. He also recruited the Jordanaires, the uptown vocal chorus that had already backed Mr. Presley and Mr. James, to sing on “Gone,” a No. 1 country hit for the crooner Ferlin Husky, which reached the pop Top 5.

Both “Young Love” and “Gone” became prototypes for the Nashville Sound, which would give country music more mainstream appeal.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nelson had signed several young rockabilly acts of his own, most notably Gene Vincent and Wanda Jackson. For Mr. Vincent he produced the hiccupping “Be-Bop-a-Lula,” a Top 10 hit on the pop, country and R&B charts in 1956. With Ms. Jackson Mr. Nelson cut the raucous “Let’s Have a Party” in 1960.

A musical omnivore who briefly oversaw the Capitol label’s jazz division as well, Mr. Nelson recorded a broad array of music under the country rubric in his nearly three decades there. The harmony duo the Louvin Brothers, the swing-inflected band of Hank Thompson and the colorful Maddox Brothers & Rose all came under his direction.

Known for being a hands-off producer who let his artists record with their touring bands instead of insisting that they work with studio professionals, Mr. Nelson consistently supervised a roster of acts whose music demonstrated how durable and elastic the country genre could be.

Kenneth F. Nelson was born on Jan. 19, 1911, in Caledonia, Minn. Placed in an orphanage by his mother when he was an infant, he spent his childhood in Chicago, where he would go on to work in a music store and, later, at a radio station, WJJD. Promoted to music director at the station, Mr. Nelson did everything from announcing broadcasts of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to scouting talent for its “hillbilly” variety show, “Suppertime Frolic.”

After serving in the Army during World War II, Mr. Nelson returned to Chicago and WJJD. He also began producing sessions for Capitol, eventually moving to Hollywood in 1948 to work for the label full time. By his retirement in 1976 he had produced around 100 chart-topping country hits, including “The Wild Side of Life,” a No. 1 record for Mr. Thompson for 15 weeks in 1952.

Mr. Owens and Mr. Haggard accounted for more than three dozen of Mr. Nelson’s No. 1 recordings. Many of these were unvarnished, emotionally direct performances that reached beyond country audiences to influence rock acts like the Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Flying Burrito Brothers.

Mr. Nelson’s wife June died in 1984. He is survived by his daughter, Claudia Nelson, and three grandchildren.

A co-founder of the Country Music Association, Mr. Nelson was president of that organization’s board in 1961 and 1962. In 2001 he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He published an autobiography, “My First 90 Years Plus 3,” last year.

[paul secor]

Ken Nelson produced some of my favorite Merle Haggard and Gene Vincent records. A heartfelt thank you for what you did for the music, Mr. Nelson.

[Kalo]

A big hand to the producer of some of my all-time favorite "hillbilly" music.

R.I.P. Mr. Nelson.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

so there was a lot of country music is Bakersfield?

[Chalupa]

More here...

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...ENT01/801080375

I'll have to dig out my Bear Family box to be sure but, wasn't he the guy who also suggested that the Louvin Brothers drop the mandolin and go in a pop direction, a la the Everly Brothers??

[Guest Bill Barton]

R.I.P.

"A musical omnivore who briefly oversaw the Capitol label’s jazz division as well..."

Does anyone know which jazz sessions he produced?

[David Gitin]

I don't know, but he was an early friend of "Rhubarb Red" (aka Les Paul) and was responsible for signing Stan Freberg to Capitol.

[Guest Bill Barton]

I don't know, but he was an early friend of "Rhubarb Red" (aka Les Paul) and was responsible for signing Stan Freberg to Capitol.

Thanks, David! Stan Freberg. Very

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

what other artists comprise the 'Bakersfield sound?' Have any of you ever heard country music in Bakersfield?

In T-town there was this crazy guy i used to know who lived in the back of a warehouse in this little weird metal room......, he had this orginal photograph, really large like the whole pic is like 8 1/2 by 12 and its of a CAPITOL stockroom, with boxes and boxes and stacks and stacks of capitol 78s....and then in an open space in the room are mics set up and a band: Tex Ritter-- and the caption on the sticky note he had stuck on the bottom of the pic, says::: notice Tex Ritters dissatisfaction with the photographer--- and i think it said that because ritter was kind of scowling camera from a distance pissed this guy was fucking flash a photo or something. ITS LIKE THIS SKETCHY ASS PIC SOME COOL DUDE WITH ACCESS TO CAPITOL FUCKING JUST TOOK IN STOREROOM WITH TEX RITTER CUTTIN a 78

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakersfield_sound

Buck Owens and the Buckaroos and Merle Haggard and the Strangers are the most successful artists of the original Bakersfield sound era.

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stand back gentlemen, Cowboy Clementine has just entered the studio-- for starters, try this--

* Bonnie Owens (first C&W gal to not wear panties onstage, tho' it's been common in Hollywood for years)

How do we know?

Prove it....photos please.