Favourite cowboy songs

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: arkie
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 11:42 PM

Another cowboy song, not to be overlooked, is Sonora's Death Row which has been recorded by one of the finest cowboy singers of all time, Robert Earl Keen.

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 10:10 PM

Damn, again! I just went to Bookfinder and I guess you all got there before me, 'cause there is only one left, a first edition at $45. Payday hurry up!

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 09:57 PM

Damn! I checked that same site, yesterday,and NOTHING came up! Back to the drawing board! Yeehaw! Thanks, Doug/Darkriver.

John....I think yer putting a little too much faith in mah powers of perswayshun, but I'll give it a try. I really never heard from her or her people, directly, just those at Glen Canyon, but......I will let them know we'd really love it and drop a few names she might know, such as Sandy, who learned that song from her in 1959 and a few others.Heehee.

Wish me luck, boyz!

kat

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: darkriver
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 09:49 PM

Damn!

I hate when that happens!

The URI I just posted doesn't work; you need to knock off
the "search/" part of it (use just "http:/www.bookfinder.com/")
and you'll be all right.

Sorry.

Doug

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: darkriver
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 09:44 PM

Katlaughing and others interested:

I used Bookfinder

(that's http://www.bookfinder.com/)
and I came up with

47-count-em-47 used copies for sale
from 6 different stores.

(Advanced Book Exchange seems to have the most copies.)

Prices range

from US$12.50 to US$185.00
(for a first ed. inscribed &

signed by Katie Lee herself).

Doug

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: John Hindsill
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 08:23 PM

Gee, Kat, it is too bad about Katie Lee's book; but it was dern nice of her folks to respond to you, and so quickly.

Now that you and they are fast friends, perhaps Ms Lee could be friendly persuaded to post some anecdotes about the folk scene(s) in the '50s and 60s. Although I wrote that in passive tense, I was really soliciting your active participation :-).---John

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 06:20 PM

That's another one that Art Thieme did a beautiful version of, including the telling about the calico bolt getting dragged out of the general store by rowdies on their horses.

Sandy Bob: thanks for your kind words. You are right...my granddad's poems are very precious to me. He died a year before I was born, but lived on, vividly, in his writings and in my dad's tales of him, his parents, as well as dad's maternal grandparents, and growing up with them all.

Re' Katie Lee's book, bad news, I am afraid. I just received this:

Dear Kat:

Katie emailed me that the book is out of print and that she has no more. At this point you may want to try Amazon.com or various other clearing houses that carry rare books. Sorry, we had no luck here.

Sincerely,

Lori Lane
Glen Canyon Institute
Flagstaff Office
PO Box 1925
Flagstaff, Arizona 86002-1925
[phone] phone
[phone] fax
www.glencanyon.org
[e-mail]

And, I didn't have any luck at Amazon, Bibliofind, nor BookFinder!

katlaughing

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank Hamilton
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 05:44 PM

Frank (Toledo) Couldn't find your e. Mine is Hope this gets through.

Has anyone mentioned Gail Gardner's fine song, "Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail"?

The "syree petes" have nothing to do with Sierra Peaks. This is apparently some name for scrub pines taken from a botanical name. I think "petes" are geological references to sharp peaks in the mountains. Open always for correction. The term "cowpiography" is really apparently, "cow priography" which has something to do with art work representing or depicting the "American cowboy"...not sure about this, anyone know?

"Blue Mountain" by Fred Price of Monticello, Utah is another wonderful song about specific references to Mormonism and it's influence on the cowboy. Apparently Mr. Price has been the proprietor of "Mon's store" where the calico treasure on rolls were taken as streamers tied to the saddle horn and spread through the streets by drunken mischeivous cowboys. "Zapatero" is a tanner. The song is wonderfully specific. Anybody have an idea what "sleeper calves" are? Polygamy is suggested by the lines, "Say there dear brother, if you need a mother, there's Ev on the old chuck line."

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 04:17 PM

Hey, SandyBob: Was that you out there a-ropin' the devil with Buster Jiggs?

Sandy

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: SandyBob
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 01:06 PM

kat, thanks for posting this. Family gems like this are beyond price. I'm sure you are grateful for having it.

Sandy Bob

Subject: Lyr Add: HOME RANGE (P. Frank Hudson)
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 12:57 PM

Sure will, Sandy Bob. No prob.

SandyGramps: Here's a poem, about those sentiments, I may have posted before, written by my rancher/cowboy granddad, probably around 1920 or so. (If anyone uses it or copies it, please be sure to keep the copyright on it. We're working on a book of them. Thanks:-)

HOME RANGE

Back from the round up, away from town,
We ride toward home, as the sun goes down.

The morn is glorious, the midday fine
For a man to spend on the firing line.
But, when evening comes and the sun sinks low
God grant each puncher a place to go.

They have taken the range we used to ride
The wire surrounds us on every side.
What the nesters don't swallow,
The sheepmen will,
But, it's home to us and we love it still.

So, wherever we wander, wherever we roam
As the sun goes down, we ride towards home;
Away from our troubles and doubts and fears,
Away from the shadows of coming years.

- P. Frank Hudson -

Copyright 1997 by Kathleen LaFrance
for G.L. Hudson Family All rights reserved

Needless to say...he was a cattle rancher!

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: SandyBob
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 12:28 PM

kat, would you let us know if you hear from Katie Lee?

Sandy Bob

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 11:57 AM

A few years ago, the Canadian Folk Bulletin published a neat song, collected in Calgary, called "Where the Ghost River Flows." It's the story of an old cowboy longing to go back to the range he once rode. Wonderful song.

Backward, turn backward, Oh time in your flight.
Give me a saddle horse, just for tonight... etc.

Sort of like "The Last Wagon." Worth looking for. I'll post the full text eventually if anyone wants it. Can't give you the tune though, without the kind assistance of Blessings Barbara and a long-distance phone call.

Still planning to investigate the voicemail option, but haven't done it yet.

Sandy

Subject: Lyr Add: NIGHT HORSE (Chuck Pyle)^^
From: Jon W.
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 11:15 AM

Anyone ever hear of Chuck Pyle? I haven't heard a lot of his stuff but what I have, I like. He comes through Salt Lake fairly often but I haven't been able to convince the old trouble-and-strife to go to one of his concerts with me yet. Anyway, here's one of his songs I taped of the radio a few years ago which has got to be one of my favorite cowboy songs even though it's not traditional (I don't think):

NIGHT HORSE
Chuck Pyle

Well, you know it's hard to find a night horse,
That one sure-footed right horse,
To ride a cowboy safely through the dark.
Well the finest one I ever rode,
Was a short legged bay named "Little Joe"
When I signed on with this outfit in south Clark.

Well the night was still and the moon was down,
Througout the herd there was not a sound,
That's the time an old hand knows the cow might run.
And sure enough they jumped the grand,
Crashin' through they split a-strand,
Twenty buckaroos knew what was to come.

Chorus:
They're runnin' boys, they're runnin,
You all go run along.
Don't try to turn 'em back 'til they tire.
Just let 'em run their course.
Turn it over to your night horse,
Let 'im bring you back on home to the fire.


Well you know a lot of things that night happened,
That later got us laughin',
Though in the moment we were all strung pretty tight,
Joe Petty thought a clump of chemise,
Was a bedded down herd of cows,
And he circled round them singin' 'til daylight.

And his night horse stolen by the cook,
Old Bill Jenny set a-foot,
Cussin' at that cook as he rode away.
But they hadn't gone far and they had a wreck,
Bill's horse died of a broken neck,
And the cook stumbled through the night in a daze.

(Chorus)

Well it's gopher holes and steep ravines,
In the night cannot be seen.
He must use something other than his eyes.
Whatever birds fly south on,
I guess that's what he counts on,
Little Joe could carry me through to sunrise.
Whatever birds fly south on,
Guess that's what he counts on,
Little Joe could carry me through to sunrise.

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 12:55 AM

If you're doin' Autry, don't forget "There's a Gold Mine in the Sky, Far Away!" Ask Greenhaus to sing it for you at the Getaway. He does an incredible "bluesy" rendition.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: DougR
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 12:46 AM

"I Ride an Old Paint," which Gargoyle mentioned, "Streets of Laredo," "Ridin' Down the Canyon," and "Lavender Cowboy," are songs that come to mind when I think of Cowboy songs that I like. Plus some 1930s and 40s Gene Autry songs like, "South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)," "Mexicali Rose," and "Be Honest With Me."

DougR

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: _gargoyle
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 12:12 AM

I Ride an Old Paint

My first "real job" (The one where the SS is taken out for a golden age so distant, it is beyond one's immediate green horizon)was as a wrangler.

Paint has a wonderful "gait" to it. Even those who have never been on horseback can feel the wonderful, melodic, lurching sway of equestrian transportation.

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: raredance
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 11:35 PM

Katie Lee's "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle" cassette has 28 of the songs in her book done by her with some help from Travis Edmonson. It's a great companion to the book if you can get both. I picked up both several years ago at a gift shop in Jerome, AZ. She also does "Old Dolores (The Town of Old Dolores)" on the tape. True, she is a stickler for what she considers to be the authentic version of a song, but the folk process doesn't always conform to her opinions.

rich r

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 10:30 PM

Whoops! Ed Trickett has also recorded both "Night Rider's Lament" and "The Goodnight-Loving Trail" for us. He's the one who leads "The Last Wagon" (mentioned above), as well. That fellow has a real knack for seeking out good songs!

A totally unknown singer named Arnold Keith Storm, from Mooresville, Indiana recorded outstanding performances of "Utah Carroll" and "Little Joe the Wrangler" for Folk-Legacy. His album is now available as a "custom cassette." Check the Mudcat Shop.

Looking forward to your new CD, Frank! Let us know when it's available.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 10:19 PM

Last I heard, Katie Lee was living in Jerome, AZ. I sang with her at the Limelite in Aspen, CO, back in the summer of '59. Learned "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle" then. We've kept in touch off and on ever since. She has several cassettes available. I think she'd also insist that Ian Tyson should have sung "Sirey Peaks," not "Sierra." She's a stickler for authenticity, bless her soul.

Harry Tuft recorded a nice "Old Dolores (The Town of Old Dolores)" on his Folk-Legacy album, which will appear as a CD in a couple of weeks. Ed Trickett recorded "The Telling Takes Me Home" (it's the title song of his first Folk-Legacy recording, now on cassette), and Utah recorded it himself on a similarly titled release.

Another great song is Slim Critchlow's "The Last Wagon," which is on For All the Good People, A Golden Ring Reunion (Folk-Legacy CD-121).

Sandy

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 06:56 PM

I just received a very nice reply from the Glen Canyon email addy given above re' Ms. Lee's book. It said they were fwding my message on to her and that she or her asst would undoubtably get back to me; that if I'd not heard from them in 2 wks to email them, again.

kat

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From:
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 05:20 PM

Frank: Your e mail didn't come through. I think me equipment is so old that mine doesn't come through either. I put mine up with my name. Maybe that will work. If so e mail me and I"ll send you a list of everything we're doing.

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Peter T.
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 05:18 PM

Ballad of a Runaway Horse (... an Absent Mare) by Leonard Cohen, covered by Emmy Lou Harris on her Cowgirl's Prayer is my current favourite. Almost a parody, but not quite.
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank Hamilton
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 04:55 PM

Frank,

Yes still doing concerts. Check out my pages at and http://www.mindspring.com/~hamprod/

You can e me at Like to hear about what you are doing.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: SandyBob
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 01:25 PM

Katie Lee's book describes her search for the site of the town of Old Delores. More importantly is a search for the roots of authentic inspiration to what she believes (I agree) is the finest cowboy song around and a reflection on whether you had to have "lived it" to write an authentic song. Great stuff.

SandyBob

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Tom
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 01:11 PM

I need to find out who wrote a cowboy song called "Doggone Cowboy." I learned it from Glen Bulthuis from Grand Rapids Mi. who heard someone do it out west, but didn't know if that person had written it.

please reply to [e-mail]

Thanks!

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: arkie
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 12:48 PM

Glenn Ohrlin, who lives up on Dodd Mountain just south of Mountain View, Arkansas is a wonderful source of authentic cowboy music. His book Hell-bound Train has already been mentioned. He has several recordings on LP which are now quite rare but worth it they can be found. He does have a cassette which is available now and then, It is currently in stock at the Ozark Folk Center. He does one of the best renditions of the Wally McCray poem, Reincarnation, of any I have heard. His book includes The Gol-Durned Wheel, describing a cowboy's encounter with a bicycle and a lot of classic cowboy songs that he collected during his years of cowboy work and rodeoing, along with notes and observations.

Bob Campbell, of Kilgore Texas, writes some fine songs which are picked up by many of the contemporary performers on the Cowboy circuit. Such songs as Cowboy Moon, Roundup Time on the Pitchfork, and Arbuckle Coffee.

A search on the internet for the Elko Cowboy Gathering will turn up a multitude of resources on cowboy music and poetry.

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: John Hindsill
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 11:25 PM

Now I may be real partial, and I am, but almost any pre-1950 Sons of the Pioneers' songs would be a favorite of mine.

A really first rate anthology (2 LPs)of cowboy music is "Back in the Saddle" on New World Records [NW 314/315] issued in 1983. There are 28 tracks from traditional cowboy songs to more recent ones. There is extensive historical commentary about the songs, a bibliography which is inclusive of some of the books mentioned in other responses, and a selected discography of representative works. I don't know if this has been reissued to CD.---John

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD DOLORES^^ (Utah Phillips)
From: Susan A-R
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 10:38 PM

Utah Phillips sings a lovely one called The Town of Old Dolores, or some such thing. Tis one of my favorites.

OLD DOLORES
(Utah Phillips)

In the country down below where the little pinions grow
It's nearly always half a day to water
There stood a little town where the crick come tumblin' down
From the mesa where she surely hadn't oughta
The streets were bright with candle light, the whole town joined the chorus
And every man in sight let his cattle drift at night
Just to mosey to the town of old Dolores

Well things would kinda spin till the sun come up again
Like the back of some old yaller prairie wagon.
And show ya, dim and red, maybe half a hundred head
of our cattle ponies standin' rains a draggin.
The red mud walls, the waterfalls
The whole wide world before us
??? The town of old Dolores

Now the dance hall girls are pooled in the plaza in the cool.
It's there he used to meet her 'neath a willow
And sure sometimes a girl gives a fella's heart a whirl
When the same's been using saddle for a pillow
The wide eyed stars, the long cigars,
The drinks that Joe poured for us
if there's any little well, down within the gates of hell
You can be the boys have called her old Dolores

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: ddw
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 10:27 PM

I read through this quickly but only saw a very brief mention of Ian Tyson, who has produced a great six-CD collection of cowboy songs that range from very old to very recent. A couple of my favorites are his version Night Rider's Lament (no disrespect, Art, I've just never heard yours) and Sierra Peaks, but I'd be hard-pressed to even pick a favorite album out of the bunch, let alone a few songs. I guess I do like the first three albums best -- he goes a little too far electric/country later. But they're still worth looking up. I don't recall all the titles, but one (the third, I think) is Cowboyography, one is just Ian Tyson, one is Old Corrals and Sagebrush (that's the first) and a later one is 18 Inches of Rain.

I haven't looked for them, but I'd bet there are songbooks spinning out of the albums. Worth a check.

cheers

ddw

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 10:14 PM

Did anyone mention "Streets of Laredo"? I can't hear that song without thinking of the movie "Bang the Drum Slowly," the best baseball movie ever--with a truly amazing performance by Robert De Niro as a catcher who is dying of cancer--after the team learns the catcher is sick, he leads them in singing the song.

Another one I didn't see above is "I Ride an Old Paint." And how about "Git Along, Little Dogies"? --seed

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: John Hindsill
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 07:51 PM

Re: Katie Lee

I thought I was the only one who ever heard of her, but then my universe is very tiny. I have a very old vinyl of hers, "Songs of Couch & Consultation"

"Ten Thousand Goddam{sic}Cattle" may be out of print, but Ms Lee may, perhaps, be reached through the Glen Canyon Institute [e-mail]--. Though she is quickly approaching 80, she is apparently very active with this group. Maybe she can direct you to a copy of this book.

Good luck--John

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: raredance
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 07:29 PM

OK so it's Guy Logsdon

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: raredance
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 07:26 PM

I love the Katie Lee book, it's fun to read right through.

Here are some other books that haven't been mentioned yet in this thread.

"The Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing" And Other Songs Cowboys Sing by Gut Logsdon (1989, 1995 paperback University of Illinois Press ISBN 0-252-06488-7)

Songs of the Wild West sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Simon & Shuster 1991 ISBN 0-671-74775-4)

Songs of the Great American West by Irwin Silber (1967, Dover Edition reprint 1995 ISBN 0-486-28704-1)

The Hell-Bound Train by Glenn Ohrlin (1973, 1989 paperback, Univwersity of Illinois Press ISBN 0-252-06071-7)

Cowboy and Western Songs by Austin and Alta Fife (1969 Creative Concepts PUblishing ISBN 1-56922-003-4)

Songs of the American West by LIngenfelter, Dwyer & Cohen (1968 Univ of California Press Lib Cong. 67-12220)

Songs of trhe Cowboys by N Howard "Jack" Thorpe. This was the first printed compilation of cowboy songs in 1908. Thorpe revised and expanded it in 1921. There has been considerable discussion over the years whether Lomax swiped some of Thorpe's material for his 1910 first edition of cowboy songs. Neither of Thorpe's books contains any music and a number of the songs were written by Thorpe himself, the most famous probably "Little Joe the Wrangler". The 1921 Thorpe edition was reprinted in 1984 by Univ. of Nebraska Press ISBN 0-8032-9403-4. The 1908 version of Thorpe was reprinted in 1966 with extensive commentary, additional texts and tunes by Austin and Alta Fife.

He Was Singin' This Song by Jim Bob Tinsley (1981 University of Central Florida, University Presses of Florida ISBN 0-8130-0683-X)

rich r

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: DonMeixner
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 06:47 PM

"Short Grass" by Ian Tyson

"Make Me a Cowboy Again for a Day" from the PBS Special 'The History of the English Language'

"Billy Vanero" from Art Thieme

"Alongside the Santa Fe Trail" also from Art

"Blue Bonnet Girl" Sons of the Pioneers

"Night Rider's Lament" Don Edwards version

"Diamond Joe" by P. Domain

"The Wild West Is Where I Want to Be" Tom Lerher

and 50 or 60 others I haven't mentioned.

Don

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 06:09 PM

The words to Night Rider's Lament are in the DT.

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Mudjack
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 05:49 PM

My two favorites are Night Rider's Lament and The Goodnight-Loving Trail; the first penned by Alaskan writer Michael Burton (see Nancy Griffin's @ OLGA) and the second penned by Utah Phillips. I'm not sure where to find that one. Both are newer cowboy songs but color a perfect picture of what the cowboy endures.
Mudjack

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank of Toledo
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 05:38 PM

I have an old paperback collection of cowboy songs entitled "Traditional and Modern Cowboy Songs" dated 1932 and published by Paul-Pioneer Music Co., New York. It has a version of Utah Carroll with eight verses and quite different from the one I have by Don Edwards, Slim Critchlow, and Harry McClintock.

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: SandyBob
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 05:16 PM

One of my favorite cowboy songbooks is "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle" by Katie Lee. ( ASIN: 0873581482 ) The book is out of print but worth finding. Great songs and great history.

SandyBob

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 05:16 PM

There's another book I forgot about that my dad recommends called "He Was Singing This Song".

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: paddymac
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 05:08 PM

A great book on the topic is "For A Cowboy Has To Sing" by Jim Bob Tinsley; University of Florida Press; ISBN 0-8130-1052-8. Sixty great songs from the late 1800's to the 1940's. I guess you'd say they mostly started out as popular songs, but became so well-known that they have passed into the folk idiom (copyright questions aside).

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank of Toledo
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 04:54 PM

Don Edwards on Shanachie A CD titled Saddle Songs and Slim Criitchlow on Arhoolie. Two invaluable collections....From Frank to Frank; are you still doing concerts. Would like to touch base and let you know about our concert series.

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: MMario
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 04:48 PM

Searching the DT with "@cowboy" gives 130 hits. Seems like a good place to start

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank Hamilton
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 04:38 PM

Hi,

I have just recorded four on my new CD coming out in September.

Utah Carroll
Sam Bass
The Buffalo Skinners
The Brazos River (Rivers of Texas)

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Wally Macnow
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 04:26 PM

You can find a number of good recordings of cowboy songs here

Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 03:14 PM

I think there's bean a couple of threads on this. You might do a forum search for more. My dad sang us all the old cowboy songs he learned as a kid growing up on a ranch in Colorado. Most of them can be found in the reprint edition of Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads collected by John A. & Alan Lomax. The reprint I have came out in 1986 and is published by Macmillan Pub. Co.

Some of my personal favourites include The Strawberry Roan; When the Work's All Done This Fall; Zebra Dun; Little Joe the Wrangler; and Billy Vanero. I just learned a new one I'd never heard before, which was done beautifully by the Mudcat's own Art Thieme called Night Rider's Lament. He also did a couple of others which are really pretty including Blue Mountain and The Cowboy's Barbara Allen. I think most of these should be in the Digitrad Database. In case you are not familiar with it, just look up in the top right of this page and choose either to type in a title and click on "go", or look it up alphabetically. There are literally thousands of song lyrics in the database.

For some cowboy midi files click here

Most of us have a program called MediaRing, which allows us to send voice messages up to 15 minutes long for FREE to someones email address or the telephone number for their computer. If you would like to hear any of the tunes to the above, send me a personal message, through the Mudcat, with your email address and/or phone number & I will do my best (voice only).

Also, my dad is making a new tape of cowboy songs for me and one other Mudcatter who'd expressed an interest. It is just done on a little 4 track home outfit, but he's 82, has been doing it since he was a little kid and has his own amazing database of songs in his head. He plays banjo, guitar, mandolin, keyboard, and fiddle. Ssome of the ones in the DigiTrad may have midi files to click on to hear, also.

Happy Trails,

katlaughing

Subject: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Paul S
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 02:21 PM

I've just learned a couple of Woody Guthrie's cowboy songs: "Philadelphia Lawyer", and "Lay Down, Little Dogies". I love this stuff and need to learn more.

Please, tell me your favourite cowboy songs, and where I can find the lyrics and music.

Thanks [Some song titles in this thread have been converted to links by a Mudelf.]