I'm deeply honored and equally humbled that you would ask for my input on this.

I'll say it's Buck Owens, but mostly due to bias, mostly because of the local loyalty thing.  I'm sure a good argument could be made for various other great legendary country rockers, but Buck's from my home town, and that's enough to settle the issue for me. 

Besides, nobody has ever been able to capture his distinct rock/country fusion, not even Dwight, though Dwight comes close.  If Buck were a member of the Beatles, he would be Ringo Star, and when he got together with Ringo on Act Naturally, he demonstrated that Bakersfield could be considered the Liverpool of country music.

Johnny Cash clearly wins for a darker mix of country and rock.  Even though he's not from Kern County, I'm sure that he's had an influence on Korn, and I'm sure that someday, when the new hybrid that emerges from the fusion between the Bakersfield Sound and the Nu Metal of Korn (something I'm already admittedly prematurely calling the Nu Bako Sound, or KROCK, meaning a cross between Kern County Country of yore and Korn-based rock) , Johnny Cash will be said to have a role in shaping the sound to a degree. 

 Answer to blog question:::

Buck the Neanderthal

He used it on the first wife to stray.................

 Excuse my troglodytic state of benightedness, Chico, but I'm afraid that one went right over my head. 

I think he means hitting a woman on the head with a rock. 

I had to look those up. Thanks for expanding my vocabulary :)

Troglodytic: a prehistoric cave dweller.

Benightedness: intellectually or morally ignorant; unenlightened

 Bingo Sage!

It was the first PC 273.5!

In all fairness, Buck wasn't from Bakersfield, and didn't end up here until 1950...Merle however, was born and raised.

Wouldn't you say the Western Swing cats created the sound? Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys....we're talking pre Buck & Merle...Pre Beatles...Pre Elvis...What those guys were all into. I'm surprised the entire Bay Area folk scene wasn't discussed...Grateful Dead would have probably had a bigger influence on the music world than any of those when strictly discussing Country & Rock. Jerry & gang would be the first to tell you about Wills, Haggard, Guthrie, and the like. If you're talking 60s, you also had New Riders of the Purple Sage, Youngbloods, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, etc.

Quick look at his wiki page will give you some good references...the HEIGHT of his career was in the 1940s...good 20 years before any of the mentioned acts...and they ROCKED.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

 Chuck Berry.

 +1 on the Chuck Berry add...While I still think Bob Wills had it going in the 40s, Chuck should definitely be mentioned in there...But then that opens the doors to some of the more electric country blues acts like Gatemouth, etc.

 jbaldwin, I'm glad I could be instrumental in expanding your vocabulary.  I do enjoy collecting interesting word, but the only language I really understand is music.  Or, I should say the only words I understand are words sung to a tune.

Songs gets to my heart, not just my head.  Country rock is especially great because it usually comes straight from the heart. 

 I really think the guys who started at Sun Records in Memphis working with Sam Phillips are the true country rock pioneers. Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and, of course, Elvis Presley defined the genre. Bob Wills and his brother Billy Jack Wills  along with Spade Cooley really owed a lot more to a country jazz cross-over sensibility rather than a rock influence. Perkins, Cash and Lewis were all great country artists first and rock and rollers second. Presley was simply a phenomenon. Buddy Holly deserves a mention as one of the great originators of a country rock cross-over. When rock was pulverized by the late 1950s for being too racy (in every respect) for a buttoned down segregated America. Rock virtually disappeared, along with all the most influential artists by 1960. Itf it were not for the British it probably would still be dead, just like the blues.

I have always found it so sad that America just uses up all its creative genius and then destroys it for fun or out of boredom when it is either deemed not commercial enough or too dangerous for young minds to handle. The rebirth of country rock owes a lot to two Beatles, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. It was Ringo who really wanted to do Buck's hit, They're Going To Put Me In The Movies, and George was a huge fan of Carl Perkins guitar style and songs. It was no coincidence on the  George Harrison Tribute Concert, available on dvd, that Honey Don't was one of the songs played. But the singular band in England that kept the spirit of the country and rock blend was the Searchers, who had a huge hit with Needles And Pins.

By the the late sixties all sorts of bands were blending rock with country overtones. As mentioned above in meestro's post the Bay had several bands, like the Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Dan Hicks, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Moby Grape who merged the two genres seamlessly in the late 60s and early 70s. And in Los Angeles the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers were not alone in mining country material. Buffalo Springfield and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band were both really influenced heavily by country tunes. Seems like yesterday when Willie and Waylon would be followed by Dylan, The Band, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor, Loggins & Messina and the Doobie Brothers in a never ending blend of country rock.

Edit- Oh, thanks much for the link. The Byrds Youtube covers are great!

 Jimmy Hendrix with a Twist of Buck!!!!!!!! and a squeez of Chuck Berry <

 Let's not forget Roy Orbison

 Forget Roy Orbison?  That would be an absolute crime!

 There's always a lot of talk about who was born here and who wasn't.  That doesn't amount to a hill of beans in my humble opinion.  What matters is what they BROUGHT to this city, what they CONTRIBUTED to this city, and what they SENT out from this city.

As has been noted perhaps in another way is that country rock evolved from many types of music.  Can anyone really say it was invented, like the light bulb?  There have been some great artists mentioned here and I just don't think you can, or should try to dissect music.  Again...JMHO.

Great topic by the way.

 Jimmie Rogers, the Singing Brakeman -- heyday 1930s. He took Appalachian folk, infused it with African-American rythms, and created a uniquely American music. We generally link his music to country and, to a lesser extent, blues -- but country, blues and rock are all branches of the same musical tree. Elvis (who started out a country artist) is a direct musical descendant of Rogers, as are Merle Haggard and countless others. All of the answers people gave on the blog are good calls too, though -- no argument here. The only names I would add are Gram Parsons, the Eagles and John Fogerty.

-- RP

George W. Bush invented country rock.

 And Al Gore invented........

And Hillary Clinton started the......