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The shuffle on the snare drum moved to a tightly closed high-hat. That sound would change with Buck’s single, “You’re For Me”, a song he’d written several years prior. Up until that point Buck had stuck to the Texas Shuffle style, with Don playing the role of the lonesome fiddler. In 1961 “Foolin’ Around” spent eight weeks on the #2 slot. Buck and Don toured rather archaically, throwing Buck’s Telecaster and Bassman amp and Don’s fiddle into the back of Buck’s old Ford pickup and hop from bar to bar, dance hall to dance hall, while playing with whatever house band they could find.Buck and Don continued recording singles back in Bakersfield. Don and Marlane would have two children, Vic and Vance Ulrich.The first single he played on was “Excuse Me (I Think I’ve Got A Heartache)” which peaked at #2. Marlane would work in support of keeping Don, Buck and his Buckaroos performing. Don returned to Washington to escort Marlane to Nevada where they married. Teaching music and attending college in that year was more of an excuse.But after a year of college, Don decided to drop out and join Buck in Bakersfield in December 1960, signing on for $75 a week. Marlane notes that Don remained in the Olympia area in that year he attended Centralia College because he didn’t want to leave her. As a diplomat of sorts for the small logging town in eastern Lewis County, she was asked to meet with Don who was on a visit to Morton. They had met a couple years earlier in Morton, where Marlane reined as Queen of the Morton Loggers Festival.
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While at Centralia, Don had renewed his acquaintance with Marlane Schindler, his future wife. Don opted to go to Centralia College where he served as a music tutor and also continued playing local venues. 24 on the charts and Capitol Records wanted Buck to return to Bakersfield, California.Buck tried to convince Don to come with him to Bakersfield, but to no avail. Soon after, Buck’s “Under Your Spell Again” made it to No.
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They were featured on the weekly BAR-K Jamboree on KTNT-TV 13, where Loretta Lynn was a guest with them for her television debut. Don was soon playing fiddle with Buck at local venues. Buck Owens observed one of his shows and immediately went to speak with Don. By 1958, Don was playing regularly in Steve’s Gay ’90s Restaurant in South Tacoma. While in high school he formed an early rock and roll band called the Blue Comets with his friends, drummer Greg Hawkins and pianist Steve Anderson. Don was only 16 years old when he opened for Elvis Presley in September 1957 at the Tacoma Lincoln Bowl.
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Soon he picked up guitar as well, and by the time he entered his teens, he was gigging locally, eventually landing a residence at Steve’s Restaurant in Tacoma.Don played both in and out of school (Olympia High School, class of 1959), playing locally in numerous venues, as well as in the high school orchestra. The lad began appearing on local radio broadcasts two years later. A member of Buck Owens’ Buckaroos, he provided some of the inspiration in the group’s sound and co-wrote “Before You Go” and “Waitin’ In Your Welfare Line”The adopted son of Bill and Anne Ulrich, Don’s parents began teaching Don the fiddle as early as age three when Bill constructed a small scale violin for Don to play, and his parents entered Don in numerous talent contests. Augin Olympia, Washington as Donald Eugene Ulrich) died in a motorcycle accident near Morro Beach, California.