Qualla: Bakersfield: The Oil Town Where Country Music Got Its Sound https://qualla.com/bakersfield en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:05 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/7/3/bakersfield-wk/bakersfield-amtrak-station.jpg Qualla: Bakersfield: The Oil Town Where Country Music Got Its Sound https://qualla.com/bakersfield Bakersfield: The Oil Town Where Country Music Got Its Sound: Introduction https://qualla.com/bakersfield/ Photo credit Skyman9999. Skyman9999, CC0. Bakersfield is California's Texas - an oil town at the southern end of the Central Valley, populated by descendants of Dust Bowl refugees who brought Oklahoma and Texas culture to the Golden State. The 'Bakersfield Sound' that Buck Owens and Merle Haggard created in the 1950s and 60s was country music's twangy, electric alternative to Nashville's polished productions. The oil that pumps from the Kern River field has sustained the economy for over a century. The politics are conservative in ways that baffle coastal Californians - Kevin McCarthy represented Bakersfield, and the district stays red while the state stays blue. Bakersfield is the other California, the one that Fox News interviews when they want to show that not everyone in the state agrees with San Francisco.

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]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/7/3/bakersfield-city-wk/9q73-bakersfield-the-oil-town-where-country-music-got-i-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Bakersfield: The Oil Town Where Country Music Got Its Sound: The Sound https://qualla.com/bakersfield/ Photo credit Skyman9999, CC0. The Bakersfield Sound emerged in the 1950s from the honky-tonks where Dust Bowl refugees gathered - the sharp twang of Telecaster guitars, the stripped-down production, the working-class lyrics that Nashville's string-laden arrangements couldn't accommodate. Buck Owens and Merle ...

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]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/7/3/bakersfield-city-wk/9q73-bakersfield-the-oil-town-where-country-music-got-i-the-sound.mp3 0:06 2 full Bakersfield: The Oil Town Where Country Music Got Its Sound: The Oil https://qualla.com/bakersfield/ Photo credit Bobak Ha'Eri, CC BY-SA 2.5. The Kern River Oil Field, discovered in 1899, is one of America's largest. The derricks dot the hills around Bakersfield, the pumps nodding continuously, the industry employing thousands in extraction and refining. Bakersfield is California's oil capital - the production that the...

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Image: Bobak Ha'Eri | CC BY-SA 2.5

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/7/3/bakersfield-city-wk/9q73-bakersfield-the-oil-town-where-country-music-got-i-the-oil.mp3 0:06 3 full Bakersfield: The Oil Town Where Country Music Got Its Sound: The Okies https://qualla.com/bakersfield/ Photo credit Skyman9999. Skyman9999, CC0. The Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s brought hundreds of thousands of refugees from Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas to California - 'Okies' in the derogatory term that Steinbeck documented in 'The Grapes of Wrath.' Many settled in the southern Central Valley, where agricultural wor...

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]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/7/3/bakersfield-city-wk/9q73-bakersfield-the-oil-town-where-country-music-got-i-the-okies.mp3 0:06 4 full Bakersfield: The Oil Town Where Country Music Got Its Sound: The Heat https://qualla.com/bakersfield/ Photo credit LHOON, CC BY-SA 2.0. Bakersfield's summer heat is among the most extreme in California - 100°F is routine, 110°F is not unusual, the Central Valley trapping heat between mountain ranges. The heat combined with the agricultural dust creates air quality as bad as Fresno's. The mountains are visible on ...

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]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/7/3/bakersfield-city-wk/9q73-bakersfield-the-oil-town-where-country-music-got-i-the-heat.mp3 0:06 5 full Bakersfield: The Oil Town Where Country Music Got Its Sound: Visiting Bakersfield https://qualla.com/bakersfield/ Photo credit (WT-de) Mistoffeles, CC BY-SA 4.0. Bakersfield is served by Meadows Field Airport (BFL). The Crystal Palace presents Buck Owens's legacy with nightly performances and museum displays. The Kern County Museum covers oil and agricultural history. The Padre Hotel downtown has been restored to stylish accommodation. Th...

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Image: (WT-de) Mistoffeles | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/7/3/bakersfield-city-wk/9q73-bakersfield-the-oil-town-where-country-music-got-i-visiting-bakersfield.mp3 0:06 6 full