Here’s a classic example of country music’s breakaway Bakersfield Sound by Buck Rogers from 1965.

I love this song, and it’s probably because the chorus has exactly the same tune as a hit from my childhood – by The New Seekers. To my ears, anyway.

In fact their 1971 hit Never Ending Song Of Love was written by Delanie & Bonnie, a duo about whom I know nothing more than the name, and it was subsequently covered by countless country stars from George Jones & Tammy Wynette‘s duet to Crystal Gayle. But not The New Seekers.

Buck Owens wrote and performed this back in 1964.

Born in Texas and raised in Arizona, he was a pioneer and one of the leading lights of The Bakersfield Sound, a grittier, rockier backlash against the syrupy string-drenched middle-of-the-road confections coming out of Nashville in the name of country music.

The Bakersfield guys (Merle Haggard being the other best-known exponent) preferred their country to be served rough and ready, with driving beats and twangy electric guitars and an outlaw element to the lyrics.

Looking back from today, The Bakersfield Sound is what influenced the revival of a rootsier kind of country music, first in the 1960s with Gram Parsons and then again in the 1980s with the likes of Dwight Yoakam.

Buck had moved there in 1951 with his wife and two young children and began recording a few years later, trying his hand at rockabilly under the stage name Corky Jones before teaming up with lyricist Harlan Howard and his future musical partner Don Rich.

The Buckaroos were Buck’s backing band on this tune, which was a big hit in 1965 – a year when most of the music world was listening to the Beatles and Stones: Don Rich (guitar, fiddle), Tom Brumley (pedal steel), Doyle Holly (bass) and Willie Cantu (drums).