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My work is putting together a soundtrack of Western music for a meeting in a few months.
We are looking for Western, definitely, but not country. Not the "down home, me and my dog and my truck and my beer" songs, but more of the "The wind they call Mariah" and "Down in the West Texas Town of El Paso" kind of stuff. The Bonanza theme. The theme to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Any ideas? It's sadly much easier to find country, but there has to be some music that conjurs desert, old time cowboys, and lonely heroes instead of bars, one night stands, and family life.
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Choctaw Bingo by James McMurtny (may have misspelled that). In fact, most things from him are definately country, normally funny, and occasionally true.
check out some of the stuff on "Life's Blessings" by clicking on "Music" then on "Lyrics" and then on "Samples" for mp3 snippets of the songs that you like.
"Glory", "West Texas Wind", "The Great Divide", "The Road" and "Wildflowers" come to mind. And she's local so you can get her to play it in person, if need be, for not too much cash.
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Anothewr local guy with an incredible sense for Americana singing and an earnestness that reminds of Buddy Holly. Very campfire spiritual style with soulful harmonica work. Incredibly good. Also local and likely can be had live for a small fee.
posted
There is lots of good "Western" stuff out there; check out some of the singing cowboys especially. My mom is a huge fan of Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers (oh, and let's not forget Dale Evans).
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Maybe something like from the old musical Calamity Jane starring Doris Day and Howard Keel. They sing one that goes, "Lost my heart in the black hills, the black hills of Dakota..."
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For TExas music, I would go with Jerry Jeff Walker. I will try to find some specific ones for you. Hmm. Might not want to go with "Up against the wall, Redneck mother," but there are others!
Ha! Remembered one. It is actually a cover of a Rodneyt Crowell song, it turns out. Beautiful song, definitely campfire-esque.
quote: Banks of The Ol' Bandera Lyrics Artist(Band):Jerry Jeff Walker Review The Song (0) Print the Lyrics
Banks of The Ol' Bandera Lyrics
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Rodney Crowell
On the banks of the ole Bandera runs a barefoot child Takin' Sunday-go-to-meetin' shortcuts He's out across those open fields, down those dusty drives
The hills that wear blue bonnets, they look like a print dressing gown Thru the summer rains, that pur down like honey They help make the mushrooms grow and that always make the B-man dance Once we ran barefoot through those clovers so wet with dew Like wild Comanches' crazy horses on the loose
Chorus: Sometimes it feels like a song Sometimes it makes me feel like it's gone Now it all feels like a song
You can hear a screen door slammin', hey let's run a foot race to the creek Where you see clear down to the bottom of the deep end Dependin' on where you stand, how you look, and what you want to see
Monkey vines, swimmin' holes - weren't they always around the bend And that rope we used to swing on, now it just hangs tattered by the wind
Red River Valley Ghost Riders in the Sky Tumblin' Tumbleweed
you can get a lot of ideas from here because this local group has played Carnegie Hall itself as an "original Cowboy band" -- they play all the old stuff -- so that page lists the titles, etc., which might help you.
One of my all time faves. Jerry Garcia and Gave Grisman do a cover on their "Not for Kids Only" album, which everyone should have anyway. Dan Zanes also does a cover.
Awaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, you lonely river...
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I prefer the lyrics Connie Dover sings to Shenandoah, although she doesn't do it as "Western" as some.
You should just get my dad and a coulple of his friends to come out and play for you. I'll even sing with them. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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What, no one has mentioned "Ghost Riders in the Sky"?
Seriously, Katie, you can raid my CDs if you want; I have some stuff that you should be able to use.
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Deadwood always has a different song for the ending credits. There's probably a soundtrack around somewhere that has some songs you might be able to use.
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Same one, but slightly different and with a few more verses. He's not shot, he's dying of VD. I think Cash cleaned up the lyrics some, but there's still that reference to "Rose's"... Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Having looked it up in my Lomax books, it seems Cash has mixed two different versions of the song: one called "The Streets of Laredo", and one called "The Dying Cowboy". Except for the change from "As I walked down to Tom Sherman's barroom" to "As I walked down the streets of Laredo" and a few other minor changes, the lyrics are as they were printed as "The Dying Cowboy". In my family, we were more prone to sing the "The Streeets of Laredo" version. Of course, all versions were based on "The Sea Grave" or some such broadside, which was originally about a sailor. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Chris Ledoux: I don't much care for him, but aaaaaall the cowboys I met out in Utah this summer loved him. There was a song about a wild roan that I liked, though.
Riders in the Sky: Very funny. Excelent fiddler. Lots of old cowboy folk songs. Exactly what your looking for.
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Glen Campbell. My fathr and I travelled back and forth across the country a lot when i was little in the 60's, and I remember listening to Glen Campbell songs on the road. Wichita Linesman Galveston
These are all by The Corb Lund Band. He has his whole two first albums for download on his website (minus some bonus tracks added to the first album for its CD release) and samples of his latest.
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quote: Chris Ledoux: I don't much care for him, but aaaaaall the cowboys I met out in Utah this summer loved him. There was a song about a wild roan that I liked, though.
That Chris Ledoux song is probably "Strawberry Roan." Just about anything by Chris works too, especially "Night Rider's Lament."
Ya can find some Willie Nelson with Ray Charles duets that go well with that theme. I seem to recall "Seven Spanish Angels."
I agree with the Roy Rogers, Sons of the Pioneers, Eddie Arnold (beautiful voice).
[ April 07, 2005, 09:51 PM: Message edited by: Stan the man ]
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Bob Dylan's "Desire" album is lovely and desert(MExican) themed. Sort of. Some of it.
Where are you, Katstress? I feel we are going off your chosen path here. I am trying to focus on westernish country with a desert theme, but are you looking for classic cowboy songs?
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This is all wonderful. We are definitely not going to hire live entertainment, and I'm not the one putting the soundtrack togeher, but I've been sending e-mails to the woman who is all day. She thinks I'm enormously clever. Thanks!
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"The Ballad of Weaverville", by Jim Ringer and Mary McCaslin, as performed by Kate Wolf on Give Yourself to Love
"Medicine Wheel" and "Brother Warrior", both by Kate Wolf (I think on Give Yourself to Love and Poet's Heart respectively, but also on Weaver of Visions: The Kate Wolf Anthology, IIRC).
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Someone mentioned "Ghost Riders in the Sky." Perhaps you have not heard the slightly better version done by Moosebutter: Ghost Chickens in the Sky. (That's just a sample.)
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