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Sadly, country music legend Buck Owens has died at the age of 76.

For years, I only knew him as the co-host of the cornpone comedy classic known as “Hee-Haw” (alongisde banjo-picker Roy Clark), but as I grew into this music journalist thing and read more about him, I discovered that “Hee-Haw” was the least of his accomplishments. He was the originator of the so-called “Bakersfield sound” of country music (a torch he later passed to Dwight Yoakam), but his footnote in rock and roll history comes from one of his biggest hits, “Act Naturally,” which the Beatles turned into a rollicking, Ringo-sung number. Recently, the Kentucky Headhunters resurrected another one of his songs, “Made in Japan,” for their 2005 collection of covers. Long story short, he’ll be sorely missed, but here’s hoping that his passing will at least serve to inspire folks to investigate some of his material. In closing, I can only say…bye-bye, Buck.