© 2008 CMA Close Up News Service / Country Music Association, Inc.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then inspiration is the highest form of creativity. Both elements come to play in two recent albums that achieve their excellence through celebrating the late County Music Hall of Fame member Buck Owens.

On Dwight Sings Buck, released by New West Records, Dwight Yoakam, a longtime Owens friend and collaborator, offers 15 songs that include such classics as "Act Naturally," "Together Again" and "My Heart Skips a Beat." And Palo Duro Records has issued Under the Influence of Buck by The Derailers, the Austin-based band forged on its founders' appreciation for Owens. "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail," "Cryin' Time" and "Love's Gonna Live Here" are among the 13 tracks featured on that album.

On Yoakam's second album, Hillbilly Deluxe, released on Warner Bros./Reprise Records in 1987, he honored that sound with the single "Little Ways." "It started with a very deliberate reference to Buck in the phrasing of the opening line when I pushed the time," he said. "I had dedicated the song to him and he was aware of that. The label knew I was playing the Kern County Fair, and Warner Bros. set up a meeting at Buck's radio station. We hit it off, and he agreed to come out to see us at the fair. We got him to get up onstage with us. That was the first time he had done that in a long, long time."

Before long Yoakam and Owens recorded a hit duet, "The Streets of Bakersfield," which helped establish a friendship that lasted until Owens' death on March 25, 2006 - just four days after the two had shared a four-hour phone conversation. "He was talking about writing his memoirs," Yoakam recalled. "He was also talking about wanting to do more bronze statues for the Crystal Palace [Owens' concert venue in Bakersfield]. He literally was talking the future, for the most part. I could never imagine four days later he would not be here."

Up to that point, out of respect, Yoakam had never played his mentor's songs, except when playing "Streets of Bakersfield" as an encore or backing Owens onstage. "After he died, we were in Orlando, Fla., to perform," Yoakam said. "And I said, 'We should probably do two or three songs in memory of Buck for a couple of weeks.' For my audience and those members of my audience that were fans of Buck's, we allowed them the opportunity to say goodbye with us."

Those performances led toward recording Dwight Sings Buck. "The band and I were in a rehearsal studio," Yoakam said. "We would begin each song by hearing Buck's original arrangements, and then I would listen to a work tape that we had of what we just did and think through ideas, variations and things. The most distinct arrangement is probably 'Only You.' I hope I captured an underlying spirit in what that song was. And, of course, the first single, 'Close Up the Honky Tonks,' is a very distinct arrangement. This album was a happy experience, every moment of doing this record."

Yoakam and New West Records will donate a portion of the proceeds from Dwight Sings Buck to the Buck Owens American Music Foundation, a charity dedicated to preserving the Bakersfield Sound and the legacy of Owens.

That legacy impacted, among many other artists, The Beatles, whose cover of "Act Naturally" caught the young Brian Hofeldt's attention. "I was about 7 years old," the future Derailers singer and lead guitarist remembered. "I'd sit down at the piano and try to bang out 'Act Naturally,' and my folks said, 'You know, that's actually a Buck Owens song.' And I went, 'Buck Owens? The guy from "Hee Haw"?' I didn't know, but I thought if The Beatles liked him, I'm going to listen to as much as I can. Buck Owens really stuck with me. I just loved his delivery and his songs. That guitar sound was just so stunning and sparkling and clear. It really spoke to me."

The Derailers met Owens in 1995. "Our friend Casper Rawls had a Buck Owens birthday bash every year in Austin at the Continental Club," Hofeldt related. "In 1995, he finally talked Buck into coming down to visit. Buck stood back in the corner, and when we got up onstage to do our Buck songs in the show, he came up and stood right in front of us. He was visibly touched because we had paid such direct homage to his music and even [by] the way we dressed and presented ourselves."

Four years later, Owens invited The Derailers to be the house band for his 70th birthday bash at the Crystal Palace. The back cover of Under the Influence of Buck shows him standing in front of the stage that night, watching The Derailers and smiling. Later he joined them in the studio to record "Play Me the Waltz of the Angels," which appears on their 1999 album Full Western Dress.

Remembering that session, Hofeldt recalled Owens telling them, "'It's interesting you guys picked this song to involve me with. I'd actually played guitar on the original Wynn Stewart version.' It was a real full-circle thing for him. Of course, it was just an amazing, wonderful experience for us to be involved in a recording with Buck Owens. I can't say enough nice things about how supportive he was to us over the years."

In recording Under the Influence of Buck, Hofeldt said, "we did adhere pretty close to the arrangements that Buck and his Buckaroos and Ken Nelson, Buck's producer, laid out for those songs. For so many years, we've been playing those songs like that, and another thing is that the sound is so specific and so unique and such a part of what we've taken as a part of our sound that we really wanted to, in tribute to Buck, play that sound the way it was. We felt we were approaching what we were doing in a way that Buck would be proud of. We had him on our minds the whole time."

Both Yoakam and Hofeldt have benefited from their friend's advice. "One thing I really remember is he said, 'Don't be afraid to entertain the idea of doing an outside song from another songwriter,'" Hofeldt recalled. "He said, 'I have my own publishing company and I'm doing well with it. I wrote most of my own songs. But I never would have gotten my first No. 1 if I hadn't gotten "Act Naturally,"' which was written by Johnny Russell and Voni Morrison.

As for Yoakam, the most valuable lesson imparted by Owens was "to cherish the opportunity that I've had to make a living performing music. Watching him enjoy what he was doing to the very end of his life, that makes it a great lesson."

Owens actually performed at the Crystal Palace on the night he died. Shortly after ending his show, he encountered some late arrivals who had just made it down from Oregon and without hesitation went back to sing some more for them. "He played a short set and ended with 'Big in Vegas,'" Hofeldt said, noting the song that closes The Derailers tribute album. "That was the last song that Buck ever performed. To the end, he was the ultimate entertainer."