It’s tough sledding staying steadfastly traditional in a world where in the past decade country music has leaned heavily into influences from outside the genre. For Buck Ford, however, walking this line allows him to showcase his authenticity as a writer and human, unwilling to sacrifice artistic integrity for the trendier sounds heard on country radio today. Ford’s latest single, Saving The Planet, is a great example of this style which incorporates a modern edge to a traditional backdrop.
Worlds Of Country: So when did you sort of know that you wanted to pursue music?
Buck: Well, I’ve always been a big music guy when I was a kid, my dad, hardcore Merle Haggard, George Strait and George Jones kind of fan, and that’s about all I know, to be honest with you. And I always loved music. And I grew up, you know, George Strait was obviously my hero. And those guys like Mark Chestnut and Joe Diffie and those guys growing up in the 90s, that’s the stuff I loved and always had a little bit of music in me. And I was about 16 when I really decided that, hey, I want to go play some music. And I’ve been playing the guitar just for fun because friends are doing and it seemed to be kind of a cool thing to do. But I was only one kind of music that I liked to play and that was just stuff that I do. And right around 17, I really kind of started forming, you know, with players and started to get things together. And, you know, by that time I was, you know, done with the motocross thing when I was around 20. That’s right. Through a band together and just went at it ever since. I’ve been doing it for about 12, 13 years now. So it’s been I’m definitely not new to that to the scene, but I spent a lot of fun doing it and it’s great. And I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere soon.
Worlds Of Country: So when you were doing the motocross, did you always know that when it was over you wanted to go straight into music or was that it?
Buck: Well, not really. It wasn’t something in the plans. You know, I always thought motocross is going to be my thing. You know, I did that since I was a kid. And, you know, I raced professionally for four years. Then turned professionally 17 and rode til I was 21. And, you know, music wasn’t something that I had planned to do. It was just something along those things like, all right, when I was done with motels, like what’s next? And like, I knew exactly. And I went immediately into music as soon as I was done with that. And when I was doing motocross, I knew I was done and there was no coming back. And I just went after this music thing and went at it hard and never it never really stopped to ever have been doing it ever since. And it wasn’t planned. It just happened that way, you know.
Worlds Of Country: Are there any lessons that you carried with you from your motocross days into your your music career?
I owe a lot to motocross. Those sports that was just such a you know, you had to work so hard just to be, be competitive. I had a great family backing that you needed that to really go out and do it and perform and and, you know, had that stability would be on a motocross track with all the stress and being a young young kid. And, yeah, I felt like I had to grow up kind of fast to to accomplish those things. And, yeah, just taken that charisma into the music is just like that’s I owe a lot to motocross to really go out there and and, you know, chase the dream and, you know, pay some dues and go through the hard times. That music that comes with music, you know, because there’s a lot of them. And I definitely owe a lot to motocross stuff that I’ve been through and definitely helped me.
Worlds Of Country: So how would you describe your personal musical style?
Buck: My style is about as country as you can get these days. It’s just it that style of music. And it as long as I’m making my own records and paying for it out of my own pocket, you know, I’m going to record and and continue to play that traditional sounding stuff that I like to play. You know, if I’m going to go cut a record and pay for it and go tour and with my own band and you know, I’m going to play the music that makes the reason why I do this is for that kind of music. I wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t for that kind of music. And, you know, that’s just my style. It’s traditional as heck, but it’s definitely modern and edgy enough to to attract the newer age folks. And, you know, it’s definitely for the country people. You’re a country boy or country girl, you know, and that’s just the way it is.
Worlds Of Country: Did you ever feel any pressure to sort of walk away from that and change trends, or did you always wear your steadfast sticking to your guns that every day?
Buck: I feel that pressure to go and I’m not saying sell out because that’s not something really believe in. And there’s people that are doing really good, doing that sort of thing. And I don’t really see them selling out. They’re just business people and smart and they’re going with it and trying to be successful. But yeah, every day I have folks that are saying, man, what if we want to promote this route or stuff for my age, my booking agent to people that are dealing with me in artist development, it’s like, what if we were to put you in a V-neck or what if you were to put you, you know, into your hair this way and all that stuff? And, you know, that’s all great ideas. And it’s all it’s definitely a trick, but I just don’t see myself like that.
Worlds Of Country: Your current single, Saving the Planet. Could you tell us the story behind that song and how it came together?
Buck: Yeah, the story behind it and how it came together and. Yeah, I mean, that’s just, you know, to me, that song is it fits right now with every day, you know, with the style of music I cut it in and the way we wrote that. And it’s just, oh, I had to throw the politic thing in there to kind of like, say, you know, get people’s attention, because right now, politics are just such a huge thing. And it’s like first verse. It’s like, wow, this guy is going to bash somebody’s political views. But then it’s like the chorus comes. It’s like, oh, no, he didn’t do that. Well, he just kind of went a different route and, you know, so we wanted to tie that political thing into the song to really capture that. And then, you know, then the next verses is about, you know, more the you know, the planet sort of things like, yeah, you know, we’re trying to conserve and recycle and do that kind of stuff and and moral stories. We’re just trying to recycle good time and, you know, saving them beer cans. And just briefly on a beer later down the road on another. We’ll see you next time. You know, sign another form of beer, you know, so it’s just a simple song. And those are kind of songs I like to cut now. So you don’t really have to think about. But, you know, it has some kind of twist to it that I don’t know. It’s fitting for right now especially. And I just knew we had to put that as a single and especially for summertime. So that’s where that came from.
Worlds Of Country 