Interesting that this subject should come up now. I heard it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, sung by Art Johns, a Tlinget from Tagish, Yukon Territory.

Art is an unusual First Nation man in that his preference in song is Country music. He is a retired horse wrangler so his second love is Cowboy music.

The late Buddy Tabor wrote about Art:


GO ASK THAT OLD COWBOY
(Buddy Tabor)

Go ask that old cowboy, he'll tell you what's true
He remembers this country before the highway came through
He remembers this road as a long, dusty trail
Go ask that old cowboy, he'll tell you no tale

And the years flowed like whiskey.
He don't drink it no more
Go ask that old cowboy
as he walks out the door

Go ask that old cowboy, he'll tell you no lies
He remembers the friends that slipped right on by
About a wreck on the highway, how they drank and they died
Go ask that old cowboy with a tear in his eye

Go ask that old cowboy about the horses that bucked
That broke all his bones and busted his luck
About the wild ones that threw him, stomped holes in the ground
Go ask that old cowboy; he's feeling down