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Bakersfield
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Bakersfield Image
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: Vince Gill and Paul Franklin's tribute album to the Bakersfield sound features cover versions of ten 1960s songs by Merle Haggard and Buck Owens.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. Exclaim
    Jul 30, 2013
    80
    It's difficult to see another album topping Bakersfield as this year's best pure country release.
  2. Boston Globe
    Jul 30, 2013
    80
    Bakersfield gives us two current masters paying homage, not through note-for-note reproduction, but by putting their own reverential take on the music of two country music titans.
  3. American Songwriter
    Jul 30, 2013
    80
    This is a great example of what a “tribute” album should be when compared to the countless other such recordings that are out there that are made primarily for the sake of money. This is real country music, albeit from the arid oil country of California and not the hills of Tennessee, with two of the finest living practitioners of the genre paying tribute to the masters of the craft and their genre-shaping material.
  4. AllMusic
    Jul 30, 2013
    80
    The bottom line is Bakersfield smokes from top to bottom; a fitting tribute, it is one of, if not the, best country album of 2013.
  5. PopMatters
    Aug 22, 2013
    70
    [Gill's] instrumental work on Bakersfield, while it never strays far from the originals, is unfailingly effective. Famed session player Paul Franklin earns his co-billing.

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. Brutaljuice
    Jul 31, 2013
    9
    I really hate most of today's contemporary country music or as some call it, country-pop. It lacks the soul, depth, and the tradition oldI really hate most of today's contemporary country music or as some call it, country-pop. It lacks the soul, depth, and the tradition old school country has. Thank you Vince Gill and Paul Franklin for making this beautiful tribute to Buck and Merle.
    I use to have to work out in Bakersfield a lot and this takes me back. This album represents something of a master class in Bakersfield's golden age of country. So well done and something I just missed hearing. I really hope they will do another album because there are so many more songs/artists out of good old Bakersfield, Wynn Stewart, Jean Shepard, Susan Raye, and Freddie Hart. Yes! maybe a women Bakersfield country album.    … Expand