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January 14, 2013

The 'Bakerfield sound' today is a boom

  • Bakersfield, Calif., and Kern County top national lists measuring economic vitality: private sector job growth, construction gains and economic growth.
  • By TRACIE CONE
    Associated Press

    BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — For most of its existence, Bakersfield has inhabited that awkward in-between place. Not as sophisticated as Los Angeles, just over the Tehachapi Mountains to the south, not as wealthy as its longtime economic rival Fresno, equidistant to the north.

    But as many communities continue to struggle economically, good things are happening in this place best known for endless oil fields and the “Bakersfield Sound” — a twangy style of steel guitar music made popular by hometown country crooners Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.


     
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