Description:

With The Soda Crackers and Stephanie Erin Wittmer

Johnny Owens classic country sound could have only come from one person. It is in his bones, it’s in his genes and it is emblazoned in his memory. Growing up Buck Owens youngest son, he watched his father come up through the music scene. From the early stages to the very end. He saw his dad write many of his number one hits with a paper and pen. These songs would come to life as Johnny would listen to rehearsals at the ranch where they lived. So many incredible artists would walk through that door, you never knew who would show up to play. He watched as Buck Owens and the Buckaroos took shape and became one of the most successful country bands in history. Going on tour with his father and watching every night from the front row is one of his greatest memories. With 21 number one hits, over sixty-two top 100 charted songs and a little TV show called “Hee Haw, Johnny learned from the master himself.

Always being there for his dad and what he needed was his life’s work for many years. Johnny never sang for his dad. How do you do that when your father is in the Country Music Hall of Fame and is larger than life? So, Johnny kept his gift to himself. Once Buck passed away, Johnny decided it was time and began to sing. From the stage at the Hall of Fame to the Schermerhorn in Nashville (with James Burton and Friends) to the Buck Owens Crystal Palace, fans come from all over the world to hear the authentic story Johnny’s voice tells. His voice is a throwback to the past, when country music told a story you wanted to hear and feel. More often than not, fans have said they close their eyes and hear it as if Buck himself was there singing. Songs that could bring back a memory of happier times, family and sometimes just a laugh. And that is the goal of every show. It was why Buck was so loved and it is why Johnny will always sing to honor his dad and his legacy in Country Music.

According to Robert E. Price, writer of The Bakersfield Sound, “History of the hard-edged style that transformed country music,” and for The Bakersfield Californian, Johnny Owens is as close in tone and appearance to his Buckness as any that walk the earth today.”

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With a goal to bring back the “classics,” The Soda Crackers – a six-piece band whose average age barely cracks the 30-something barrier – are in full swing. Make that – full Bakersfield Sound with a nice helping of Western Swing thrown in as a side dish of sorts. The Soda Crackers celebrate the unsung heroes of the Bakersfield Sound, the B-side hits that never get played, and the showmanship plus the instrumentation that all the greats brought to the smoky ol’ beer joints & dance halls from years gone by.

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Stephanie Erin Wittmer is a country singer-songwriter originally from central Illinois and now based out of Frazier Park, CA. Growing up in small-town, rural Illinois, Wittmer was exposed to country music and performing at a very young age; she recalls putting on performances for her parents when she was three or four years old. Like many children, she took piano lessons, wrote poetry in her journal, and then finally thought to merge the two when she was a teen.

Stephanie’s debut EP Pilot merges 90s country influences and traditional country with modern folk-pop flourishes that make for an inspired journey along open roads and past tumbleweeds. Repeated listens to the short yet spirited collection might recall such iconic voices as Trisha Yearwood, Alison Krauss, and Shania Twain, but fans of modern Americana faves such as Margo Price will find something amongst Pilot’s four tunes to love as well.