Okay, let me go at a few of the questions raised above.

PYROGRAPHY was the old woodburning art (remember those electric woodburning sets we often got as kids?). Hence: COW-PYROGRAPHY (the proper word in the song) was simply branding steers or mavericks, as Buster Jiggs and Sandy Bob were doing before they went to town, got likkered up, and ended up tying that knot in the devil's tail. Neat song!

There's a great 2-volume set of old-time cowboy songs on Yazoo, includes cuts by Jules Allen, Ken Maynard, etc. A real "must have" that Wally probably has at Camsco. And be sure to check out the Rounder release from the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture: Cowboy Songs, Ballads, and Cattle Calls from Texas. All but two of the 13 cuts are from John A. Lomax's 1930s field recordings. That's Rounder CD 1512, and Wally probably has it, too. I also have it, but Wally has first dibs on these recordings through Mudcat's shop.

Skip Gorman did two western recordings for Folk-Legacy (Powder River, with Ron Kane, and Trail to Mexico), neither of which have been re-released a CDs yet, but they are available as cassettes. He has made two CDs for Rounder. You can scout these out on the Rounder web page, or check to see if Wally has them listed through Camsco in the Mudcat shop.

Hope this helps you build your western repertoire!

Sandy