The Bakersfield Sound: How a Generation of Displaced Okies Revolutionized American Music

The "Bakersville sound" was a unique rock-influenced genre of country music that emerged in central California in the 1950s. Robert Price's book The Bakersfield Sound is an well-researched account of its origins (which interestingly began with the Dust Bowl-era migration of Oklahomans to California) and key artists (Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, and many others).