Don Edwards, Saddle Songs (Dualtone, 1997)
Don Edwards, My Hero Gene Autry (Dualtone, 1998)
Don Edwards, Kin to the Wind: Memories of Marty Robbins (Dualtone, 2001)

Waddie Mitchell, Waddie Mitchell Live (Dualtone, 1998)
Waddie Mitchell & Don Edwards & the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, A Prairie Portrait (Dualtone, 2000)
Waddie Mitchell, That No Quit Attitude (Dualtone, 2002)

Peter Rowan & Don Edwards, High Lonesome Cowboy (Dualtone, 2002)

Sons of the San Joaquin, Gospel Trails (Dualtone, 1997)
Sons of the San Joaquin, Horses, Cattle and Cowboys (Dualtone, 1999)
Sons of the San Joaquin, Sing One For the Cowboy (Dualtone, 2000)
Sons of the San Joaquin, 15 Years -- A Retrospective (Dualtone, 2002)

Red Steagall and the Boys in the Bunkhouse, Wagon Tracks (Dualtone, 2002)

Yessirree, what we got here is a whackin' large collection of some authentic cowboy music. Yup. You'd do well to read this here review slowly, at your leisure. Settin' out by the corral mebbe, chewing on a big ole stalk of grass, spittin' once in a while jes' to say you did. That's right: cowboy music. An even dozen albums. Thirteen actual CDs, since one of 'em is a double. An' I've been selected to walk through these here things with ya, since I was the most familiar with the genre. Familiar with the genre means that I have listened to a bit of cowboy music in the past.

Now, when I was a youngster, before the Beatles came along and stole my heart, I was always going to be a cowboy -- riding on my palomino, with a big ten gallon hat keeping the sun out of my eyes, heading into town to see my best gal. I had the Wild Bill Hickok twin draw holster, and the Have Gun Will Travel single set with the pearl handles, and pictures of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry on my wall. I had it bad. I called my nana "Dale" and she called me "Roy."

Now, some folks get this stuff mixed up with country music, or with country & western music, but take it from me, cowboy music is a genre all its own. Today, the most famous practioner of the art is probably Ian Tyson, although Tom Russell has a spot in his heart for it, as do Jack Elliott, David Rea and a few others. We're talking about the real pretty stuff, with strummed guitars, harmonies, or at least smoothly sung vocals, some sweet steel guitar and maybe a fiddle or two.

Don Edwards is well represented in the collection, which Dualtone graciously provided. Three solo albums (one of them a double) and two collaborations mean there's more of him than anyone else. And why not? He is the king. Among the cognoscenti he is the man! Bobby Weaver of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame (in Oklahoma City) called him "... the best purveyor of cowboy music in America today." And you didn't even know the cowboys HAD a hall of fame, did you! Edwards has been making records since 1964 and the music presented here is representative of his mature style. Saddle Songs is a double CD that was originally published as two book and tape sets, Songs of the Cowboys and Guitars and Saddle Songs. It is a perfect place to begin. Traditional cowboy songs like "The Chisholm Trail," "Whoopie Ti Yi Yo," "Streets of Laredo" and "Sam Bass" find their place alongside songs by a variety of writers including Jack Thorp, Francis Henry Maynard and Texas cow-puncher Harry Stephens. Edwards uses classic instruments like a 1921 Martin OO-45, a 1907 Martin O-28, a Gibson Mastertone guitar-banjo from 1926 and an old Stella six-string for slide, and then adds his own gentle voice over the acoustic picking. It is beautiful and completely evocative of America's most romantic time. If you only want one album of cowboy songs, just to have in your collection, this is probably the one to get. But the other Don Edwards' albums have plenty to offer, too.

Kin to the Wind is an Edwards tribute to the songwriting skills and song choices of Marty Robbins. Robbins' "Saddle Tramp," "San Angelo" and "Old Red" are given sparkling performances by Edwards and his band. Rich O'Brien (guitar), Tom Morrell (steel, resophonic guitars), Bob Boatright (fiddle), Mark Abbott (bass), and Greg Hardy (percussion) are filled out by Dave Alexander and Bill Atwood on trumpets. My favourite tune on this album, though, is "Ghost Train" because I'm a sucker for those shuffles.

My Hero Gene Autry is a live album, recorded September 28th, 1997, at Mr. Autry's 90th Birthday Celebration. Edwards acquits himself wonderfully through a collection of Autry's biggest songs. Starting with "Back in the Saddle Again," he works through "Way Out West In Texas," "That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine" and a dozen more before closing with "Back in the Saddle Again" again! Favourites appear in the middle: "It's My Lazy Day" and "Twilight On the Trail"... ah, memories. Great playing by the band from Kin to the Wind with the addition of some snappy guitar from Peter Rowan.

Rowan and Edwards collaborate on 2002's High Lonesome Cowboy. Subtitled Appalachia to Abilene, this album seeks to place cowboy music into a larger American context. That high lonesome sound which is the mountain music that became bluegrass is where Rowan's roots lie. In fact, in his liner notes, Rowan traces the roots of this music even further back. "There's that poetic tradition, that bardic tradition of Cowboy music, going back before Hollywood, going way back. It goes back to Homer's epic song-poems, songs tell the tales, the Iliad and the Odyssey of the Vaquero, the High Lonesome Cowboy." Edwards makes the link more concrete in his own notes: "mountain ballads to cowboy songs ... the music was basically the same." With Rowan joining Edwards on guitars, Bryn Bright on bass, Billy Bright on mandolin and special guest guitarists Tony Rice and Norman Blake, this is acoustic music to die for! Traditional tunes as well as songs by Woody Guthrie, Maybelle Carter and Bill Monroe make this a special collection.

Edwards also appears on a couple of albums by a very special artist. In the Cowboy tradition, poetry plays an important part and of all the Cowboy poets there is no one quite like Waddie Mitchell. Born Bruce Douglas Mitchell in 1950, he was given the nickname Waddie by his father when he was born. Waddie is a slang term meaning "cowboy" and the name was prophetic. By the age of 16 he was a working cowboy, who also happened to write poetry. His poems of the West drew the attention of talk show host Johnny Carson, who invited Mitchell as a guest on several occasions.

These three collections of poetry present Mitchell in a trio of different settings. That No Quit Attitude finds him fronting a band, reciting the poems over music provided by a tight western band. Dana Walden and Rich O'Brien play guitars, Tommy Morrell adds steel, Novi Novog plays fiddle, Tim Ferguson appears on mandolin and Dana Walden (who wrote music for a couple of the tracks) plays piano. A large group of singers (including Don Edwards, Sons of the San Joaquin and the Chuckwagon Chorus) provides backup vocals. Mitchell's voice is rich and deep, and the authentic "cowboy" dialect adds to the authenticity of the tales he tells. There is a rhythm and flow to the poems that makes the homespun philosophy and ever'day adventures of men with horses, and trucks, and cows and nature seem real and warm.

Waddie Mitchell Live finds Waddie on stage at the Warehouse Theatre in Colorado Springs in 1997 with guitarists Rich O'Brien and Norman Blake, and Don Edwards producing (and joining for a song or two). Some fine picking starts things off and then Mitchell appears to recite poems, both unaccompanied and fleshed out with music. The guitarists play traditional tunes as Waddie tells his tales of cowboy life -- humourous, sad, melancholy and true. Edwards' liner notes point to poetry recordings by Jack Kerouac and David Amram as models for this recordings. The poetry of Waddie Mitchell may have a longer shelf life than the Beats!

From stripped down acoustic performance, Mitchell (and Edwards) then moves on to a recording with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. A Prairie Portrait blends the intimacy of the acoustic with the grandeur of the symphonic. Starting with a kettle drum and lots and lots of horns, the orchestra plays in with "Texas Trilogy" (a medley of "Yellow Rose of Texas," "Streets of Laredo" and "Deep in the Heart of Texas") and this sets the stage for the quiet guitar and mellow voice of Don Edwards singing "Roundup In the Spring," followed by Waddie's resonant recitation of "Sage & Cedar 1." This give and take continues through an anthology of Texas songs to celebrate Forth Worth's sesquicentennial. "Danny Boy," "Shenandoah," "Ghost Riders in the Sky" and a handful of Mitchell's poems provide historical context and intimate images. A lovely album.

Red Steagall is a cowboy with a degree in agricultural chemistry and agronomy from West Texas State University. He's been performing for more than 35 years, playing western swing and the quieter cowboy music we're looking at today. He sings in a pleasant tenor over strummed guitars, dobro and shuffling drums. He also recites poems. There's a distinct Irish sound to his songs. Many Irishmen (and women) traveled west to find their fortunes. Red sings of their trials and memories in songs like "If I Never See Ireland Again" and "Gone To Texas." Folky and melodic, the music on Wagon Tracks links the cowboys to the Celts. It's perhaps the least distinctive of all the albums in this bunch, but there's still some decent material here.

From whence came the cowboy? Well, the history is plain.
He rode out of Europe on a frigate from Spain.
To Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina he spread
And from the Gaucho, the Huaso, the Vaquero was bred...
If you're thinking the cowboy is all said and done
This hombre that's carved out his place in the sun.
Well he isn't gone -- an I'm tellin' you friend
There's more cows and horses than there ever has been...
But a cowboy's a cowboy by whatever name
Be he brown, white, red, yellow -- his glories the same.
And his name, like his spurs, has a wonderful sound.
Keep your eye on the sunset -- 'cause he's still around.

Yep, that's the cowboy, at least according to "From Whence Came the Cowboy" by Jack Hannah. Hannah is a member and main songwriter of the Sons of the San Joaquin. The final recordings we'll look at are a brace of albums by this trio of two brothers and a son whose voices blend in the way that only family groups can do. Think of the Delmores, the Carters, the Everlys. There is simply something about family relationships that lifts harmonies to new levels.

Gospel Trails is a collection of Gospel tunes done in San Joaquin style -- three part harmonies and acoustic guitars, fiddles, accordion, harmonica and light string accompaniment on a set of fairly standard hymns: "The Unclouded Day," "There's Power In the Blood," "I'll Fly Away" and "In the Sweet By and By," which features a special guest, Dale Evans Rogers. Horses, Cattle and Cowboys serves as a virtual tribute album to the work of the "buckaroo." "Ridin' Easy With the Sun," "Livin' the Life of the Trail," "I Ride Along and Dream," you get the idea. Rich O'Brien produced and leads the band on this album, creating a softer, quieter environment than on the Gospel Trails disc. The harmonies, as expected, are the key to the Sons of the San Joaquin sound, but the guitar pickers and other musicians provide solid support. Listen for the marimba. Jack Hannah wrote (or co-wrote) 10 of the 13 tracks, but the songs all have an authentic sound. "Trilogy For Roy" combines "Shenandoah," "Red River Valley" and "Home on the Range" as a tribute to Roy Rogers, the cowboy's cowboy!

Sing One For the Cowboy continues the Sons' tribute to the life under the stars with nine more new Jack Hannah compositions and three covers. It's essentially just more of the same: gentle acoustic guitar music punctuated by the odd Mexicali horn part and wonderful three part singing. This tradition is summed up on 15 Years -- A Retrospective, the Sons' greatest hits album. It includes a version of Ian Tyson's "The Gift," as well as the old stand-by "Ghost Riders In the Sky." This is the one to get if you only want one album from the Sons of the San Joaquin.

And that's it. Cowboy music in a nutshell. While I was playing these albums to consider them people wandered in and out of the office. "What are you listening to today, Dave?" "Cowboys!" I replied. And the consensus was, "Hey! That's pretty nice stuff!" They don't deal with country concerns: cheatin' women, drinkin', partyin', trains. And there's very little of the "hokey" factor that makes one tire of mainstream country. This is honest, pure, gentle (there's that word again!) folk music. The lyrical concerns are for the beauty of the countryside, respect for our animal friends, descriptions of the sun going down over the mountains and satisfaction in a job well done. It comes in many different shades: solo voices, group singing, recitations, even orchestras. You name it, they've got it. And this group of albums provides a marvelous introduction to the genre. But you don't have to invest in all of them. Get yourself a Don Edwards set and relax. Before long you'll find yourself at home in the range of sounds these dedicated westerners provide.