The story of Korn's Jonathan Davis and a Buck Owens guitar - By N.L. Belardes

Jonathan Davis and Buddy Owens at Bakersfield's Crystal Palace
image by Joe S.

If I were a musician I'd want one. It's patriotic, colorful and a fine piece of craftmanship. I'd like to call it a Buck Special...

Buck Owens had one of his signature red, white and blue guitars made for Jonathan Davis of Korn at the beginning of 2006. He wanted to give it to Davis at that time. “That night Jonathan came in for dinner, but Buck was sick,” said an anonymous source. “So they waited for the right time…” It was a basic Buddy Owens night singing Buck Owens classics at Bakersfield’s Crystal Palace. “There was good energy, the whole Davis family was in there, brothers and step-brothers.”

“Toward the end of the show Buddy got him up there. Jonathan Davis said nice things about Buck Owens and Bakersfield. He mentioned that he always dreamed of getting one of those guitars as a musician.”

And he did.

Then Buddy tried to get him to sing but Davis wouldn’t do it—he politely refused. His thanks were really brief and he got off the stage.

The anonymous source indicates it may be a rumor that Davis brought guitar to the airport. He was flying to New York to be on MTV’s Unplugged. Was he going to use the trademark Buck Owens guitar on MTV’s classic show?

It wasn’t in a protective case and so he couldn’t take the guitar on the airplane…

Is this story true of Korn and Buck Owens true?

Maybe one of the readers of this blog knows the answer…


MTV Unplugged "Freak on a Leash" (Featuring Amy Lee)
Better quality MTV format

*Korn's Unplugged CD hits shelves on March 6th. You can pre-order here. More info on the unplugged gig featuring covers of the Cure and Radiohead. Track listing.

This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on Monday, February 12, 2007. You can leave your response.