Epilogue

 From the epilogue of Buck 'Em: The Autobiography of Buck Owens with Randy Poe, ©2013:

Friday, March 24, 2006 was one of those nights he didn't feel up to playing.

After telling the Buckaroos he wouldn't be joining them onstage that evening, Buck walked out of the Crystal Palace and headed for his car, ready to drive back to his ranch for some much-needed rest.  But as he was walking through the parking lot, a couple from Bend, Oregon, spotted the singer and excitedly told him they had driven over seven hundred miles to see him perform that night.

Buck Owens-- a showman to the very end-- turned around went back inside his Crystal Palace, strapped on his Telecaster, and stayed on the bandstand for an hour and a half.

The final song he sang on that final night was "Big in Vegas"-- the one about a man who dreams of having his name in lights, a man who dreams of getting standing ovations.  For the man in the song, they are only dreams.  For Buck, every dream he'd ever dreamed had come true.  There were no more mountains to climb.

When the song ended, he received one last standing ovation, said good night to the crowd, and headed home.

Buck Owens passed away in his sleep in the early morning hours of March 25, 2006.