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Singing cowboys
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Subject: Singing cowboys From: Bud Sherman Date: 30 Mar 99 - 11:51 PM The American movies of the thirties, forties and early fifties were filled with "singing Cowboys". Probably the worst, in my humble opinion, was Tex Ritter,(father of the tv actor John Ritter). His worst song was "Blood on the Saddle", a gory song about a cowpoke who gets killed by a bucking bronco. I have mercifully forgotten nearly all the lyrics(?). However as a second grader they did have an appeal. |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Date: 31 Mar 99 - 12:22 AM I remember those movies as if they were only 60 years ago. Often have wondered where those full orchestras were hidden as the heero rode his trusty steed through the blooming sage. -- John (not jon) |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: catspaw49 Date: 31 Mar 99 - 12:35 AM Good Lord man, didn't you see "Blazing Saddles?" All was revealed! There was the "Count" and his band wailin' in the middle of the desert. I knew it had to be something like that. So Tex couldn't sing for toffee and his acting covered the full range of A to A...So what??? Still beats the livin' hell out of a Steven Seagal movie. Same acting talent...no singing. Bummer. catspaw |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Art Thieme Date: 31 Mar 99 - 12:56 AM I loved ol' Tex. Fine voice for what he did. Great song was "Blood On The Saddle"--fun---did it for years. Tex's "Billy The Kid" was fine too. (Was the tune Woody used for "So Long, It's Been Good To Know Ya" ) And "High Noon" was OK too. But the absolute BEST was Tex's recitation of "THE FACE ON THE BAR ROOM FLOOR".(Terrible piano behind it though.) No, these weren't as good as the trad cowboy songs etc.--but it was a sub-plot of the Wesrtern myth that was simply grand in it's own way --even if somewhat simple too. Bob Nolan with the Sons Of The Pioneers was the epitome of this. I think (now that I think about it) that "Billy The Kid" came from the Sons Of The Pioneers first. But Tex did sing it great. And if all this made way for the greatest Western film/epic/whatever ever, __LONESOME DOVE__, then good things were most certainly spawned in those other and earlier times. Just one man's opinion... Art |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Gene Date: 31 Mar 99 - 01:25 AM Two of my favorite Tex Ritter recordings are Just Beyond The Moon and The Men In My Little Girls's Life As far as I'm concerned There AIN'T NO SINGER ON THIS EARTH that can hold a candle to Tex on those... |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Ferrara Date: 31 Mar 99 - 05:44 AM You know, I can't remember hearing Tex sing a single song. (I remember plenty of songs sung by Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, though.) But I remember going over to my best friend's house, where there was a B&W TV, to watch his movies. What's wrong with Tex Ritter's acting? Nothing that would bother an 8-year-old, anyway! I loved his movies. Ken Maynard, too. - Rita F |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Arkie Date: 31 Mar 99 - 10:07 AM According to Merle Travis and Arkansas Slim Andrews, who both worked with Tex Ritter he was a man of integrity and honor. I liked his movies and am glad to know that the man stood tall. I like his singing more now than when I was a kid. |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Roger in Baltimore Date: 31 Mar 99 - 10:45 AM And Tex was a master at the "spoken verse". He often spoke rather than sang a verse to give it some emphasis. Thank you, Tex. Roger in Baltimore |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: steve in ottawa Date: 31 Mar 99 - 10:54 AM Hey guys, hows about mentioning the name of at least one of these movies? ...besides Blazing Saddles :-) And something I only learned recently while watching a PBS documentary series called "The West": the trail-driving cowboys really did sing. It calmed the cattle. Sometimes two cowboys would trade off singing all day -- 12 hours or more. Anyone know more about this? |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Bruce O. Date: 31 Mar 99 - 12:42 PM Ferrara mentioned Ken Maynard. According to my sources he was the only one who had been a real cowboy. |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Lucius Date: 31 Mar 99 - 10:44 PM As a former singing cowboy myself, I have to protest. Its been a bad enough year for cowboys. First Roy, then Gene, then Rex Allen, then people start dumping on Tex. Except for John Wayne in "Riders of Destiny" I can't think of one cowboy that I dislike, and that goes double for Slim Whitman. |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: DonMeixner Date: 31 Mar 99 - 11:15 PM I have always loved the cowboy myth. Especially the singing cowboys. Tex Ritter was not a great voice but he was a great singer. The cowboy singers of the 30's and 40's fit into a slot that the home folks could relate to just as the hill billy singers of the same era had. The diference was Tex was an actor first who began to sing in the films. Most of the singing cowboy films where "B" movies so we really have seen relitively few of them and many of them are long lost. An many of the songs were written for the films or as genre pieces. Roy Rogers said The Sons of the Pioneers were a Cowboy jazzband as much as anything. And if you doubt they were very skilled or sophisticated, listen to the vocal arrangements of the original band recordings from 1934-1938. An awful lot of the cowboy songs were done in shorts and in-betweeners, the music videos of the day. Unfortunately, this slice of American folklore hasn't had the benefit of restoration like Casablanca has. The version I heard of Tex singing "Twilight on the Trail" had a very heartfelt sentiment to it that the other singing cowboys couldn't come close to and I think it was more the emotion in his voice than any vocal training. Saddly the real cowboys that made it into films are nearly all gone. Ben Johnson died this past year and Harry Carrey Jr. is in his 80's. You can hear themsinging with Ken Curtis and The Sons of the Pioneers in the John Wayne film Rio Grande. For cowboy songs done in films the real Cowboy Way watch the bar room scene in The Sacketts and listen to the band play Yellow Rose of Texas of find Centennial and listen to the drovers singing to the cattle in the Trail Drive sequence. Don |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Judy MAINORD Malone Date: 31 Mar 99 - 11:53 PM I was looking up sassafras tea recipes and linked up to this. Anyway, I am (ahem) 50 and loved watching the old B/W cowboy movies back in the 50's/60's. My Aunt kept saying we were related to Ken Maynard (not that I know of even though we had Mainords/Maynards in Texas and some in Mission,TX.) We just happen to have relatives that look like him in early years, and our Mainords are musical as in playing guitar, harmonica, piano and they can SING!! Ken was the FIRST singing cowboy and Gene Autry actually played second fiddle (er, guitar) to Ken in the movie about the Santa Fe Trail. I think that's right, I am just writing this off top of my head as singing cowboys was the last thing on my mind. Too bad old Ken loved the bottle a little too much and landed up in poverty living in a house trailer when he died. Yep, we have the drinking too. Guess that's all I know to say. Judy in TENNESSEE |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: ddw in windsor Date: 01 Apr 99 - 12:08 AM I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the singing cowboy who's still alive and cranking out some dandy stuff. I'm talking about Ian Tyson and his "Cowboyography" series. The first three are wonderful and then they get spotty, but the last three are well worth a listen. All are available on tape or CD from most any music store (they might have to be ordered). I know this isn't exactly what this thread started out to be, but I tho't it might be of interest to some of our friends on the other side of the big ditches. My wife's cousin came over from England last year and I had to keep an eye on him to keep him from stealing all six of the CDs before he left. More to the original thread.... I spent many a happy Saturday afternoon listening to Gene and Roy, but I can't for the life of me remember many Tex Ritter movies coming to town. I've heard him since, but by then couldn't listen with a kid's ear and I'll always wonder what I missed. cheers, ddw |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Arkie Date: 01 Apr 99 - 12:11 AM For a taste of real singing cowboys and modern singing cowboys as well as a full dose of cowboy poetry, there are a number of cowboy gatherings around the country. There's the "BIG" one in Elko, Nevada which has been available on the internet, and there are many others scattered about the west and even as far east as Arkansas. But you already knew that, didn't you. |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowboys From: Dale Rose Date: 01 Apr 99 - 12:32 AM Well, I did. The one in Arkansas (at the Ozark Folk Center) is well worth going to. Here is just a bit about last year's event. There were many other groups and storytellers, including locals Glenn Ohrlin, Bob Krenke, and The Lonesome Cowboys. |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Gene Date: 01 Apr 99 - 02:41 AM There's an Annual Cowboy's Gathering at: *RUIDOSO-NEW MEXICO in October* If you're ever in the area... |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: BK Date: 04 Apr 99 - 03:06 AM One other little note I might as well throw in: American singing cowboy movies were shown in much of the English speaking (and other parts of the) world. In Peebles, Scotland young Eric Bogle went to the Saturday morning cowboy movies, and idolized Roy Rogers, just as did many a young lad in towns all over America. He wrote a song about Roy Rogers and sang it on Prairie Home Companion some months ago. I would imagine it will be available soon, if not already so, on his newest CD. I taped it off the PHC broadcasts, wrote down the words, edited it slightly for north American idiom, and sang it for the guys at the blue grass jam; they loved it. A very nice tribute to the singing cowboy who was my childhood favorite. Leave it to Eric Bogle, raised in Scotland and living in Australia, to write a wonderful Roy Rogers song... Marvelously stange world we live in! Cheers, BK |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Date: 04 Apr 99 - 11:53 AM Anent the Sons of the Pioneers: Regarding them being a "jazz" band-listen to Kilocycle Stomp, and instrumental led by the Farr brothers recorded mid 30s. In the '50s, after Bob Nolan retired, I used to see SoP on a local (L.A.) television show Town Hall Party. They never quite sounded like their current recordings; only in the last few years did I come to learn that Nolan only retired from appearances, but still did the recordings for several years. Incidentally, the TV announcer for Town Hall Party later was Monte Hall's Let's Make a Deal announcer, Jay Stewart.--John |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Mudjack Date: 04 Apr 99 - 12:19 PM I went to see Ian Tyson and was absolutely taken by his cowboy artistry in cowboy songs. The opener was Don Edwards who has spent his entire career from the sixties preserving and keeping the cowboy songs alive. I would further have to say the man can yodel and sing those cowboy songs as well as anyone. Jack |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Rick Fielding Date: 04 Apr 99 - 03:03 PM Still remember hearing Tex Ritter sing "and the green grass grew all around all around....." when I was about six. Didn't hear Burl Ives til years later, so Tex was MY first folk singer. I'm proud to say that I've become friends with Merrick Jarrett, who lives in Kitchener Ont. and was one of Canada's first radio singing cowboys. Merrick is in his late seventies now and still sings up a storm. Don't forget Wilf Carter (Montana Slim in the U.S.) was also a "real" cowboy. |
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Subject: RE: Singing cowwboys From: Art Thieme Date: 04 Apr 99 - 10:21 PM Say Rick, Tell Merrick that he had many fans here in the U.S.A. His Riverside LP of Cowboy songs was a great one. I used two of the songs from it in my LIAR'S CLASS that I taught at Augusta (Elkins, West Virginia) in 1995. "High Chin Bob" (about ropin' a mountain lion) and "Judge Roy Bean" were the two songs. Does Merrick Jarrett have any recordings on cassette or CD--or even the old LP??? I'd love to purchase some! Please let me know by private Email where to contact him if some can be had. All the best, Art Thieme folkart@ivnet.com |
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