Buck and Buddy

[Peter Freiberger]

That's great, Jelle! I'm sure that's JayDee, who played on the record, but one can certainly hear tonal similarity to Emmons' playing of that time (P/P's, great sustain and high end clarity). In my opinion he and JayDee both handle that kind of material beautifully, great pads and fills, and the one perfect signature lick that just makes the song.

[Jason Odd]

Going back to the original post, Buddy was simply hired to add some colour to the session, Buck was trialling the non-steel Buckaroos after Jay Dee quit in the first half of 1970, he simply didn't replace him until 1971 when Jerry Brightman came on board.

I find Emmons L.A. period an interesting one, he was mostly there to add some colour to proceedings, occasionally they let him loose, but most of the time he was tight and polite.

Back to the Buckaroos:
Jim Shaw was hired on piano, he played some, dobro and in the studio Al Bruno and Buddy Emmons were called in at least one time each to help add to the sound.
It's the start of the countrypolitan Buck Owens sound of the 70s.
It's not to say he didn't try other things, he financed an electronic moog LP around the same time and cut a Bluegrass inflected LP with Ronnie Jackson on banjo, the only Buckaroo to play banjo full-time.