List of Famous Bands from Bakersfield

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Updated June 9, 2017 28.4K views19 items

List of Bakersfield bands, listed by their level of fame. This Bakersfield musicians list includes both bands and solo artists. All famous Bakersfield bands are included, as well as many Bakersfield musicians of underground status. This list of Bakersfield musical artists includes information like what genre the artist falls under, what albums they've put out and more. If you want to know more about these famous Bakersfield bands you can click on their names to learn more about them. Bands from every genre are listed here, including rock, pop, hip-hop/rap, jazz, and more.

Korn and Merle Haggard are only the beginning of the bands on this list.

If you're wondering, "What bands are from Bakersfield?" or "What is a list of Bakersfield bands?" then this list will answer your questions. {#nodes}
  • Korn

    Korn

    Nu metal, Alternative metal
    Korn (stylized as KoЯn) are an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream. Originally formed in 1993 by three members of the band L.A.P.D., Korn's current lineup features founding members James "Munky" Shaffer (rhythm guitar), Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu (bass), Brian "Head" Welch (lead guitar, backing vocals), and Jonathan Davis (lead vocals, bagpipes), with the addition of Ray Luzier (drums) in 2007, replacing the band's first drummer, David Silveria. Korn made a demo tape, Neidermayer's Mind, in 1993, which was distributed free to record companies and on request to members of the public. Their debut album, Korn, was released in 1994, followed by Life Is Peachy (1996). The band first experienced mainstream success with Follow the Leader (1998) and Issues (1999), both of which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The band's mainstream success continued with more LPs.
  • Merle Haggard

    Merle Haggard

    Outlaw country, Bakersfield sound, Country
    • Albums: A Country Christmas With Merle Haggard, I'm a Lonesome Fugitive / Mama Tried, Last of the Breed, A Christmas Present, If We Make It Through December
    Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, during the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled after the death of his father, and he was incarcerated several times in his youth. After being released from San Quentin State Prison in 1960, he managed to turn his life around and launch a successful country music career, gaining popularity with his songs about the working class that occasionally contained themes contrary to the prevailing anti-Vietnam War sentiment of much popular music of the time. Between the 1960s and the 1980s, he had 38 number-one hits on the US country charts, several of which also made the Billboard all-genre singles chart. Haggard continued to release successful albums into the 2000s. He received many honors and awards for his music, including a Kennedy Center Honor (2010), a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2006), a BMI Icon Award (2006), and induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), Country Music Hall of Fame (1994) and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame (1997). He died on April 6, 2016 — his 79th birthday — at his ranch in Shasta County, California, having recently suffered from double pneumonia.Haggard's last recording, a song called "Kern River Blues," described his departure from Bakersfield in the late 1970s and his displeasure with politicians. The song was recorded February 9, 2016, and features his son Ben on guitar. This record was released on May 12, 2016.
  • Buck Owens

    Buck Owens

    Bakersfield sound, Country
    • Albums: The Buck Owens Collection (1959-1990), Christmas With Buck Owens and His Buckaroos, I Don't Care, Your Tender Loving Care, The Instrumental Hits of Buck Owens and His Buckaroos
    Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006), professionally known as Buck Owens, was an American musician, singer, songwriter and band leader who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band the Buckaroos. They pioneered what came to be called the Bakersfield sound, named after Bakersfield, California, the city Owens called home and from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call American music.While Owens originally used fiddle and retained pedal steel guitar into the 1970s, his sound on records and onstage was always more stripped-down and elemental. His signature style was based on simple storylines, infectious choruses, a twangy electric guitar, an insistent rhythm supplied by a drum track placed forward in the mix, and high two-part harmonies featuring him and his guitarist Don Rich.From 1969 to 1986, Owens co-hosted the popular CBS television variety show Hee Haw with Roy Clark. According to his son, Buddy Allen (Owens), the accidental death of Rich, his best friend, in 1974 devastated him for years and halted his career until he performed with Dwight Yoakam in 1988. Owens is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
  • Brian Welch

    Brian Welch

    Nu metal, Industrial metal, Rock music
    • Albums: Save Me from Myself, Paralyzed
    Brian Philip Welch (born June 19, 1970), also known by his stage name Head, is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is one of the guitarists and founding member of the nu metal band Korn and his solo project Love and Death. Along with fellow Korn guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer, Welch helped develop Korn's distinctive sound, a mix of sirenlike shards of dissonant guitar that mimicked a turntablist's various effects and rumbling down-tuned riffing, that defined the nu metal aesthetic beginning in the mid-'90s.After becoming a born again Christian, Welch left the band in 2005 to focus on life as a father and to pursue his own solo career. He released his debut Christian album, Save Me from Myself, in 2008. He reunited with Korn on-stage at the Carolina Rebellion on May 5, 2012 for the first time in seven years, and on May 2, 2013, officially announced rejoining the band. Welch and Munky were ranked at No. 26 of Guitar World's 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time.
  • Jonathan Davis

    Jonathan Davis

    Nu metal, Electronic music, Electronic dance music
    • Albums: Queen of the Damned, Queen of the Damned, Alone I Play, Evilution, Got Money
    Jonathan Howsmon Davis (born January 18, 1971), also known as JD, JDevil, or J Devil, is an American singer and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of the nu metal band Korn.
  • Adema

    Adema

    Nu metal, Rock music, Post-grunge
    • Albums: Adema, Unstable, Planets, Kill the Headlights, Insomniac's Dream
    Adema is a nu metal band from Bakersfield, California. The band formed in 2000 with members lead vocalist Mark Chavez, vocalist/guitarist Tim Fluckey, guitarist Mike Ransom, bassist Dave DeRoo, and drummer Kris Kohls. After their first two albums, Adema, and Unstable, the band was plagued with years of conflict and lineup changes. Ransom left the band in 2003 followed by Chavez later in 2004 due to conflicts between themselves and other members of the band. Luke Caraccioli replaced Chavez in early 2005 for one album, Planets, but then left a few months later in late 2005. Vocalist Bobby Reeves and guitarist Ed Farris, both from the band Level, were recruited to join as well, but only released one album, Kill the Headlights in 2007, before entering a hiatus. The band's original line up reformed in late 2009 and toured, but both Ransom and Chavez left again before any new music would be recorded. Fluckey took over lead vocals from 2011 to 2017. The lineup released an EP, Topple the Giants. In 2013 Ransom returned once again; Chavez rejoined the band again in March 2017, only to leave again in 2019. He was replaced by Ryan Shuck