Born 85 Years Ago Today in Washington’s Capital City, the Bakersfield Sound Pioneer Who Became Buck Owens’ Right-Hand Man

Don Rich, a key architect of the Bakersfield sound and Buck Owens’ closest musical collaborator, is remembered 85 years after his birth in Olympia, Washington. As lead guitarist, fiddler, harmony singer and bandleader of the Buckaroos, Rich helped turn Owens into one of country music’s defining star