New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection (See also, " Mexican American Song.") Gene Autry, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front. An example is " Corrido villésta de la toma de Matamoros," which concerns the taking of Matamoros by Mexican revolutionary forces in 1913, a battle that had an impact on the United States as many people of the town fled the violence by crossing into Brownsville, Texas. Higley and set to music by Daniel Kelly in about 1874, not far from this railhead, was spread rapidly across the West in the 1870s by cowboys on cattle drives.Īs the settlement of Mexico included portions of what became the Western United States in 1848, the Corridos, or ballads, sung by those close to Mexican culture often include both United States and Mexican history. The pioneer song " Home on the Range," written by Dr. For example, the railhead at Abilene, Kansas brought cowboys together from many Southwestern territories. The westernmost terminals of the railroads became points where cowboy songs were sung, shared, and then taken to new parts of the West by the cowboys returning home. They refashioned old folk and popular song forms to their own tastes, and added serious and comic lyrics about their lives and work, as well as specials calls and hollers to herd cattle and communicate with each other over the vast expanses of the trail. In addition, the great trail drives of the 1860s to the 1890s drew young men from all over the country and abroad to work as cowboys. The Bar J Wranglers: Cowboy Music from WyomingĪ webcast of their performance at the Library of Congress, October 2, 2008.ĭistinctly "Western" songs began to emerge in the mid-19th century, reflecting the Texas, Arizona and Oklahoma region's unique mix of peoples of Anglo, Celtic, Spanish, and Other European African Native and Central American heritage.An early example of a highly successful "cowboy song" composed for the popular market by those with little or no experience of the West. Sung by Bob Roberts, Lyrics by Grant Clarke, music by Lewis F. An example of a work song composed by a cowboy for herding cattle at night. Starving to death on a government claimĪ pioneer song sung by folklorist Vance Randolph, who learned it in Kansas in his youth.Ī comic cowboy song about the arrival of the bicycle in the West sung by Lum Wilson "Bill" Jackson in 1941.Ĭomposed and sung by Harry Stephens.Playlistįive recordings from Library of Congress collections Listen to this page Western and Cowboy SongsĪlthough it is often spoken of in the same breath as "Country" music, "Western" is a distinct area of American popular music whose roots reach into the frontier era of the 19th century.
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