Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr., was born in Sherman, Texas on August 12, 1929, and at age three or four nicknamed himself "Buck" after a mule on the family farm. The family moved west in 1937, settling in Mesa, Arizona after their trailer hitch broke in Phoenix. Dropping out of school at 13, he taught himself to play guitar, and by 1951 he had moved to Bakersfield, California and its thriving country music scene, where he eventually found success.

In the clubs of Bakersfield, Owens developed a trademark twisted-note style on his solidbody Fender Telecaster. Initially recording as lead guitarist for Tommy Collins in 1953 (on "You Better Not Do That") and then singing for the small Pep and Chesterfield labels, Owens landed on Capitol Records in 1957.

When his first single for Capitol fizzled, Owens moved to Puyallup, Washington (a Tacoma suburb) to pursue a radio career. There he met Don Rich, whose harmony vocals would combine with Owens' singing and chugging 2/4 freight train rhythm to make Owens' recordings distinctive.

In 1959, Owens hit with a recording of "Second Fiddle" in the Ray Price "shuffle" style. Later that year the success of "Under Your Spell Again" led Owens to return to Bakersfield and form a band, named the Buckaroos by onetime bass player Merle Haggard.

In 1963 Owens' recording of "Act Naturally" stayed at #1 for four weeks and "Love's Gonna Live Here" spent sixteen week atop the charts. Owens' recordings regularly topped the country chart, including "Made In Japan," "My Heart Skips A Beat," "I Don't Care (Just As Long As You Love Me)," "I've Got A Tiger By The Tail," "Before You Go," "Waitin' In Your Welfare Line," "Think Of Me," "Open Up Your Heart" and "Where Does The Good Times Go."

From 1969 to 1986, Owens received nationwide television exposure as a host of Hee Haw. Following Don Rich's death in a 1974 motorcycle accident, Owens scaled back his career, concentrating on other ventures, including ownership of radio and television stations. Owens' duet with Dwight Yoakam on "Streets Of Bakersfield" in 1988 gave him his twenty-first #1 hit.