Beck brought Bakersfield country to The Rex

A lone singer sat on the Rex Theater stage Saturday and strummed his guitar to a nearly empty theater. Sharing his traditional-style country songs, the man also brought with him some priceless stories of his run- ins with music legends. Old-time country fans missed a rare gem in the performance and anecdotes of Mike Beck.

Beck has been in the country music game for a long time. He recalls the days when one could pack a guitar to the Bakersfield, California, VFW Hall on a Sunday and join the likes of Merle Haggard or Buck Owens. For being of age to play in those days, the man is remarkably well-preserved, but his voice and turns-of-phrases give away a simple wisdom that is a hallmark of the okie way of life and thinking.

As a guitarist, the man brought an exceptional number of tricks to keep his act interesting, considering he never switched guitars throughout the performance. Standard picking, fingerpicking, hybrid pick/finger picking and sweep picking were all employed in songs – some were sprinkled with a little of each. Most notable in his technical repertoire was his use of alternate tunings or changing the pitch of the guitar strings that completely alters the patterns on the fretboard familiar to most guitar players.

These alternate tunings give songs a very different feel and complimented his choice of songs perfectly. The open tuning of his rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” gave the gritty blues ring one would expect from a slide guitarist, and another tuning made for the authentic sound of Southwestern ballads that originated on the Mexican border. The alternate tunings also walked all over the faux pas of performers; never tune your instrument in front of a crowd, let alone so the audience can hear it. But Beck would pause between lines in his stories and grimace as he wrenched his tuners, raising or lowering the pitch to the appropriate tone for the next song and tuning. His face would relax when the string reached its tonal destination and the troubadour would continue his tale. And tales he had.

“I remember when I met Merle Haggard,” recalled Beck, sipping from a water bottle between songs, “he showed me great kindness. And he didn’t have to.” Beck shared that a musically well-connected friend allowed him to tag along to a venue where Merle would be performing with his band.

“The next day, Merle said to me, ‘You know, Mike?’” Beck paused, “And that was when I realized – Merle Haggard remembered my name!” Beck shared that Merle was full of simple truths and colloquialisms that okies are known for, such as, “I quit smoking a few years ago. They said it would make me live longer. I don’t know if that’s true, but it sure seems longer.” Beck also fondly reminisced about the ridiculous choices in clothing Merle would don, “That man truly did not care what he looked like. And I loved that about him.”

The same well-connected friend didn’t seem too interested in helping Beck to meet his all-time favorite artist, Bob Dylan, whose influence is readily recognizable in Beck’s voice’s tone and timbre, poetry, and flow. “I had to get to him on his level and said, you know meeting Bob would be like you getting to meet Hank Williams – and that’s all it took.” Beck voiced his pity for the upcoming generation, remembering only having an A.M. and F.M. radio station where he grew up, but the waves sent the same songs all over the nation. “Back then, because of the concentrated production and distribution of music, we had a thing called ‘hits.’ Sadly, youth will never know what a hit really is. It’s chaos out there in the music industry, which is good for some – everyone has a chance to be heard on the internet. But they will likely never have songs that will become legendary standards.”

Beck has enjoyed some notoriety as a solo artist, touring the U.S. and Europe. The Western Horseman magazine recently picked “The 13 Best Cowboy Songs,” and included two pieces by Beck. That periodical accolade put him on par with other writers such as Ian Tyson, Tom Russell, Lucinda Williams and Gene Autry. With seven albums under his belt, he is a regularly featured performer at The National Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering.

Despite his growing musical status, Beck likes his audiences. Rather than spending his break in the Rex’s green room, he opted to hang out with locals gathered outside the theater and took time to listen to stories after sharing so many.