That Fiddlin’ Man

Available July 23, 2013
 
1971 classic on CD for the first time featuring 10 bonus tracks!

Best known as Buck Owens’ guitarist, Don Rich was also an incredible fiddle player. And, while “Orange Blossom Special” was a live staple at a Buckaroos show, Don’s fiddle carried through to many Buck Owens studio releases, too. In 1971, 10 tracks were compiled from a number of Buck Owens & The Buckaroos albums and released as That Fiddlin’ Man. The album was an instant hit with fans.

Out of print for decades, Omnivore Recordings is proud to reissue That Fiddlin’ Man for the first time ever on compact disc. To make the release even more special, we’ve added ten additional instrumental tracks from the Buck Owens catalog that showcase The Buckaroos, Don Rich and his fiddle. That’s 20 tracks of prime Buckaroos—taken from 13 different albums recorded from 1963 to 1970.

A full-color booklet featuring new photos, liner notes from Don Rich’s family and detailed information outlining the sources of the CD’s 20 tracks, That Fiddlin’ Man is an essential piece of the Buckaroo puzzle, and a must have for fans of Buck Owens and country instrumentals.

 

 
 
 

Don Rich Sings George Jones

Available January 22, 2013
 
Includes 4 previously unissued Buck Owens recordings as bonus tracks!

The unissued and only solo ablum by legendary Buckaroo Don Rich!

Don Rich Sings George Jones is one of the most exciting country music discoveries in decades—the only solo album ever recorded by Don Rich, legendary lead guitarist and harmony vocalist for Buck Owens & His Buckaroos. Even more amazing is the fact that this album sat in Buck’s tape vault—unreleased and long forgotten—until now.

In the mid-1960s, with Buck Owens already having been part of the Capitol Records roster for almost a decade, The Buckaroos were given a separate recording contract with the label, allowing the band to make a series of its own albums and singles.

Between 1966 and 1971, The Buckaroos recorded a dozen LPs, over half of which hit Billboard magazine’s best-selling country albums chart. Although those records were primarily known for their sizzling instrumental tracks, almost all of the Buckaroos albums also included a few vocals by Don Rich and other members of the band. In fact, by 1970, several of the tracks featuring Don’s vocals had become charting singles, making a solo album by Don Rich pretty much a foregone conclusion.

Buck approached Don about recording a solo album of his own. Fellow Buckaroo, Jim Shaw remembers, “He just went to Don and said, ‘Why don’t you do an album of George Jones covers?’ I suspect Buck thought, ‘Well, that’s a good commercial way to go. George Jones has a huge pile of hits to choose from.’”
The question, then, isn’t, why George Jones songs? The real question is, why did the album languish unreleased in the tape vault for over 40 years? Since Don and Buck are both gone, there’s no one left to provide the answer.

Maybe Don’s album was simply forgotten. As Jim Shaw points out, it’s not like Don would’ve bothered to remind anybody: “Don didn’t have a lot of ambition to be a solo artist. He just wanted to read his books about military airplanes and ride his motorcycle.”