I never had a cowboy hat. I do have a Crocodile Dundee hat with the gator teeth that I used to keep the bugs off my bald spot while fly fishing but that is the nearest thing I ever had to a cowboy hat.

I've figured out your problem, olddude. Like you said, it's the hat, but with a Crocodile Dundee hat (almost certainly a fake Akubra rather than a fake Stetson) you should have been trying to play fake Oz country and western. Of course, for real Oz country music you should give up Stetsons (real or fake) and get yourself a proper hat; nothing but a real Akubra will do. You can roll the sides up if you want, or you can even pin the front brim to the crown and imitate Chad Morgan, the Sheik from Scrubby Creek who really launched Queensland Opera (the cool name for Oz country music) to its present heights.

All the best!

Cheers, Rowan