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Buck Owens married his fiddle player in 1977. Within days, his lawyer filed papers to have the marriage annulled. The fiddle player was Jana Jae. Both her parents had studied violin at Juilliard, and her mother’s father was a country fiddler, so she got both sides of it. She started playing at two and a half. She graduated with honors in music and studied in Vienna. Then she went home and won the national fiddling championship in the ladies’ division. Buck heard her and put her in the Buckaroos — the first woman he ever hired for that band. Millions of people saw her on Hee Haw every week, holding a blue fiddle nobody could mistake for anyone else’s. Then Buck changed his mind about the annulment. He pulled the papers back and tried to make the marriage work. It lasted about a year and a half before they divorced anyway. He married again in 1979. He died on March 25, 2006, at his home in Bakersfield, at 76. She never put the fiddle down. She is in her eighties now and still plays that blue one on stages around the world.

When Buck Owens Changed His Mind About Love

In the world of country music, some stories sound so unlikely that they feel written for the stage. The brief marriage between Buck Owens and Jana Jae was one of them. It began in 1977, after years of music, touring, and shared spotlight, and within days it seemed to be over when Buck Owens’s lawyer filed papers for an annulment. But even that was not the end of the story.

Jana Jae was already a serious musician before the fame arrived. Her parents had studied violin at Juilliard, and her grandfather played country fiddle, giving her a life shaped by both classical discipline and old-time tradition. She started playing at two and a half, went on to graduate with honors in music, and studied in Vienna. Later, she returned home and won a national fiddling championship in the ladies’ division. By then, her talent had already set her apart.

Buck Owens heard that talent and brought Jana Jae into the Buckaroos, making her the first woman he ever hired for that band. It was a meaningful move in a business that did not hand out firsts easily. Millions of viewers also came to know Jana Jae through Hee Haw, where she appeared regularly holding a blue fiddle that became as recognizable as her sound. That instrument helped define her image, but the music was always the real point.

Then came the marriage, the swift filing for annulment, and the surprise twist that followed. Buck Owens changed his mind and tried to make the relationship work. For a while, they did. Their marriage lasted about a year and a half before it ended in divorce. Even so, the story never became a simple one of failure. It was a chapter in two lives that had already been deeply shaped by music, ambition, and the pressures of public attention.

Buck Owens married again in 1979. He died on March 25, 2006, at his home in Bakersfield, California, at the age of 76. Jana Jae kept going, as musicians often do when the stage has become part of their identity. She continued performing and remained closely associated with her blue fiddle, the instrument that carried her through television fame, concert halls, and years of travel.

Even now, Jana Jae’s story is not only about a short-lived marriage. It is about a gifted artist who earned her place in country music on her own terms, and about a moment in Buck Owens’s life when fame, affection, and regret all collided at once.

 

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John Denver Wrote “Annie’s Song” in 10 Minutes — But Annie Named a Different Song as Her Favorite

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People once expected Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard to clash. Nearly fifty years later, Kris stood at Merle’s funeral and sang him home. When they first met, Kris was the long-haired songwriter some in Nashville saw as a hippie. Merle was already one of country music’s biggest stars. People expected them to be at odds. Kris remembered it differently. “From the first handshake we were best friends,” he later said. That friendship lasted for decades. They toured together, and less than two months before Merle died, they were still sharing a stage in California. Merle died on April 6, 2016, his 79th birthday. Three days later, at his private funeral, Kris picked up his guitar and sang “Sing Me Back Home.” It was one of Merle’s most personal songs, drawn from his memories of San Quentin and a fellow inmate facing death. Nearly fifty years after that first handshake, the man everyone expected Merle to clash with was there for one of his final goodbyes.

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Hours before Buck Owens died, he was already walking toward his car because he felt too sick to perform. Then some fans from Oregon stopped him. Buck had eaten his favorite chicken-fried steak at the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, but told his band he wasn’t feeling well enough to go onstage. On his way out, he met fans from Bend, Oregon, who told him how far they had traveled just to hear him sing. Buck turned around. “If somebody’s come all that way, I’m gonna do the show and give it my best shot,” longtime Buckaroo Jim Shaw remembered him telling the audience. Buck performed that night, then went home. A few hours later, he died in his sleep. He was 76. There had been no farewell announcement. No one knew they were watching his final show. Buck had been too sick to play. But when he heard how far those fans had come, he turned around and gave them the show. It turned out to be his last.

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John Denver Wrote “Annie’s Song” in 10 Minutes — But Annie Named a Different Song as Her Favorite

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People once expected Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard to clash. Nearly fifty years later, Kris stood at Merle’s funeral and sang him home. When they first met, Kris was the long-haired songwriter some in Nashville saw as a hippie. Merle was already one of country music’s biggest stars. People expected them to be at odds. Kris remembered it differently. “From the first handshake we were best friends,” he later said. That friendship lasted for decades. They toured together, and less than two months before Merle died, they were still sharing a stage in California. Merle died on April 6, 2016, his 79th birthday. Three days later, at his private funeral, Kris picked up his guitar and sang “Sing Me Back Home.” It was one of Merle’s most personal songs, drawn from his memories of San Quentin and a fellow inmate facing death. Nearly fifty years after that first handshake, the man everyone expected Merle to clash with was there for one of his final goodbyes.

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Hours before Buck Owens died, he was already walking toward his car because he felt too sick to perform. Then some fans from Oregon stopped him. Buck had eaten his favorite chicken-fried steak at the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, but told his band he wasn’t feeling well enough to go onstage. On his way out, he met fans from Bend, Oregon, who told him how far they had traveled just to hear him sing. Buck turned around. “If somebody’s come all that way, I’m gonna do the show and give it my best shot,” longtime Buckaroo Jim Shaw remembered him telling the audience. Buck performed that night, then went home. A few hours later, he died in his sleep. He was 76. There had been no farewell announcement. No one knew they were watching his final show. Buck had been too sick to play. But when he heard how far those fans had come, he turned around and gave them the show. It turned out to be his last.

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CONWAY TWITTY FINISHED A SHOW IN BRANSON ON JUNE 4, 1993. BY THE NEXT MORNING, IT HAD BECOME HIS LAST. That Friday night, Conway was still doing what he had done for decades — standing in front of a country crowd and singing the songs that had made him one of Nashville’s biggest stars. After the show, he climbed aboard his tour bus for the trip back toward Tennessee. Nashville’s Fan Fair was ahead. He never made it. During a rest stop in southwest Missouri, Conway collapsed on the bus. He was rushed to a Springfield hospital, where doctors operated after an abdominal aneurysm ruptured. On June 5, Conway Twitty died from complications following surgery. He was 59. There had been no farewell tour. No announcement that Branson would be the last time. The audience had simply watched Conway Twitty sing, applauded, and gone home. By the next morning, they were part of a farewell none of them knew they had witnessed.