Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006), known professionally as Buck Owens, was an American musician, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was the front man for Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, which had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts. He pioneered what came to be called the Bakersfield sound, named in honor of Bakersfield, California, Owens’ adopted home, and the city from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call “American music”.

While the Buckaroos originally featured a fiddle and retained pedal steel guitar into the 1970s, their sound on records and onstage was always more stripped-down and elemental. The band’s signature style was based on simple story lines, infectious choruses, a twangy electric guitar, an insistent rhythm supplied by a drum track placed forward in the mix, and high, two-part harmonies featuring Owens and his guitarist Don Rich.

From 1969 to 1986, Owens co-hosted the popular CBS television variety show Hee Haw with Roy Clark. According to his son, Buddy Alan (Owens), the accidental 1974 death of Rich, his best friend, devastated him for years and impacted his creative efforts until he performed with Dwight Yoakam in 1988.

Owens is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Owens was born on a farm in Sherman, Texas, to Alvis Edgar Owens Sr. and Maicie Azel (née Ellington).

In the biography About Buck., Rich Kienzle writes: “‘Buck’ was a donkey on the Owens farm.” “When Alvis Jr. was three or four years old, he walked into the house and announced that his name also was “Buck.” That was fine with the family, and the boy’s name became “Buck” from then on.” He attended public school for grades 1–3 in Garland, Texas.

Owens’ family moved to Mesa, Arizona, in 1937 during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. While attending school in Arizona, Owens found that while he disliked formal schoolwork, he could often satisfy class requirements by singing or performing in school plays. As a result, he began to take part in such activities whenever he could.