ROCKY TOPP

By Bryce Martin

Robert John Jones was born in Los Angeles, February 28, 1948. As a U.S. Navy corpsman assigned to a U.S, Marine unit he regularly faced enemy fire on the front lines in Viet Nam. At age 20 he was discharged from the Navy with a 100 percent disability. "My job was to get in there, get them patched up and on a helicopter. If they made it that far they had a good chance of surviving." In aiding another, he took a mortar hit to the thigh and was sent home for good.

"I went to Bakersfield in 1973. It was a wonderful time. The clubs were everywhere with country music. I was interested in songwriting, not so much being a singer. Buck liked some of my songs and he recorded some."

Jones did have four singles released on Capitol, as Rocky Topp.

In 1974 Don Rich was killed. "Buck said to come by and visit with me anytime. He was lonely, missed Don and was depressed. He hadn't shaved. He was wearing a pith helmet. He looked awful. His eyes were bloodshot a lot of the time. He told me his spirit was gone. He recalled the past. 'I was on fire,' is how he worded it. He said he took the money from Hee Haw and now people only know the cornfield and Roy, and it didn't relate to him or who he had been at all. He was depressed much of the time"

In a conversation with Jim Shaw, a few days previous, regarding the sudden news of The Crystal Palace now on the sales block, Shaw, the operations manager for the nightclub-restaurant, spoke in a measured rhythm. "It's business as usual," he said. "I expect to be here and the place open for a long time. The Owens boys will listen to offers and eventually make their decision. We're open for business."

Jones, said, "There's a time...me and Jim talk regularly, and we realize the memory of Buck is not a memory many share any longer; the era for Buck and those Bakersfield days, that memory for Buck and that era has ended."

The spacious Crystal Palace is largely filled with what constitutes as a museum of photographs and mementoes chronicling Owens' illustrious career as a bandleader, singer, songwriter, showman, and his place in country music history. Newer generations keep coming and Owens is no longer a draw. New favorites are being made and old ones tossed aside. There's a time, like Jones said.

Jones said he did not know who came up with the album title Buck 'Em, or if it was the record company's idea and convincing back was difficult. "Heck, it may have been Buck's idea. He had his ways.".