Buck Owens was born in Sherman, Texas; Jann Browne in Anderson, Indiana. They’re both Californians to the core, part of the grand sweep of our history. I say this because I think Jann would look good in a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Part of the Grand Sweep of Our History” and also because it is true. Pioneers headed west, and the most pioneering headed west til their feet hit water. As Frank Lloyd Wright put it: “They turned the country up on its side, and everything loose fell into California.” Further east, things were too set, and feisty folk like Buck and Jann were drawn to California, a state that’s had a hot foot since at least World War Two. Audiences here weren’t interested in sitting still to warmed-over music. They expected more, and challenged performers to come up with it. As Buck once explained, “Out here in the western part of the United States, there weren’t any Grand Ole Oprys or schoolhouse shows. Out here they had dances and honky-tonks, and if you couldn’t play music they could dance to, you couldn’t get a job. So I was always accustomed to a lot of beat and driving-type music.” Meaning he rocked. And unlike the Nashville norm of using studio players to tamp down and tart up an artist’s music, Buck recorded with his stage band, resulting in a signature immediacy that served him well through 75 charting singles. He was still driving and twanging right up into the night he died, March 25, 2006. One of the nice things about stardom is you can influence people you never even meet. An even nicer thing about stardom is sometimes you do meet people you’ve influenced--as Buck did with Jann--and get to hear how well that influence turned out. Jann grew up listening to Buck’s records, and the first song she tried to learn on guitar was “Love’s Gonna Live Here.” She’s carved her own niche in country since then, but Buck’s songs have always had a place in her setlists. Even though Nashville was pretty kind to Jann during her early 1990’s foray there—yielding two hit singles—it wasn’t quite her, and she’s been nothing but herself since she returned to the Golden State some years ago, crafting indelibly personal music. You’ll find nothing reverential or rote about “Buckin’ Around,” since that wouldn’t be much of a tribute to an individualist like Buck. Instead, it’s Jann being Jann, as feisty and free as ever, with a great crew buckin’ behind her. - Jim Washburn