Git Along Little Doggies - One of the most famous old cowboy songs. Its melody and a few simple lines have been traced back to an English lullaby from the mid 1600s.
Little Joe the Wrangler - A poem written by Nathan "Jack" Thorp in 1898 that he set to the tune of "The Little Old Cabin Down the Lane" (a folk song written in 1871 by William Hayes). Thorp spent his early days traveling the West, often hiring on as a cowhand. He always carried a banjo and gathered songs as well as the herd.
The Zebra Dun - A song handed down through oral tradition in the 1880s-author unknown. It expresses a cowboy's delight in seeing a "greenhorn" taken down a peg or two by a roughstock horse.
The Cowboy's Lament - Also known as "The Streets of Laredo." This classic originated as an Irish ballad circa 1790 in which the "hero" lamented the sorrows that resulted from his carousing life as an army soldier. On the frontier the lyrics changed to describe a cowboy's life and death in the American West.
The Girl I Left Behind Me - Sung by soldiers and sailors in England during the 1700s when they left for duty. It soon traveled to the shores of the New World, where cowboys tailored the song to remind them of the girls that they left behind.
Home on the Range - Though considered a staple cowboy song, it only became famous after John Lomax published it in a collection of folk songs in 1910. A multi-million dollar lawsuit in 1934 prompted an investigator to find that Brewster Higley, a Kansas resident, wrote a poem entitled "My Western Home" in 1871. This poem was the foundation for "Home on the Range," which became one the most famous songs of the 20th century.
When the Work's All Done This Fall - Written in 1893, this poem by D.J. O'Malley was based upon a true story. O'Malley worked as a wrangler and a cowhand from the age of fifteen and wrote many poems about cowboy life.
The Strawberry Roan - This song began as a poem written in the early 1900s by Curley Fletcher, a bronc-riding cowboy. In the following years, as the West was slowly fenced in, this song would have been heard around big outfit campfires.
Red River Valley - Although the author remains unknown it most likely originated as a Canadian love poem written during the early 1800s, in the Red River Valley of the North. Once put to music, this song was widely sung in the Northern Territories and then made its way south, where the cowboy theme was incorporated into its lyrics.
I Ride an Old Paint - This lament is about a cowboy down on his luck. Many cowboys in the 1800s considered Paint - or multicolored - horses to be substandard or inbred stock and would not ride them. Author unknown.
Track List:
1. Git Along Little Doggies
2. Little Joe the Wrangler
3. The Zebra Dun
4. The Cowboy's Lament (The Streets of Laredo)
5. The Girl I Left Behind Me
6. Home on the Range
7. When the Work's All Done This Fall
8. The Strawberry Roan
9. Red River Valley
10. I Ride an Old Paint
Suggested CDs:
Little Joe the Wrangler - A poem written by Nathan "Jack" Thorp in 1898 that he set to the tune of "The Little Old Cabin Down the Lane" (a folk song written in 1871 by William Hayes). Thorp spent his early days traveling the West, often hiring on as a cowhand. He always carried a banjo and gathered songs as well as the herd.
The Zebra Dun - A song handed down through oral tradition in the 1880s-author unknown. It expresses a cowboy's delight in seeing a "greenhorn" taken down a peg or two by a roughstock horse.
The Cowboy's Lament - Also known as "The Streets of Laredo." This classic originated as an Irish ballad circa 1790 in which the "hero" lamented the sorrows that resulted from his carousing life as an army soldier. On the frontier the lyrics changed to describe a cowboy's life and death in the American West.
The Girl I Left Behind Me - Sung by soldiers and sailors in England during the 1700s when they left for duty. It soon traveled to the shores of the New World, where cowboys tailored the song to remind them of the girls that they left behind.
Home on the Range - Though considered a staple cowboy song, it only became famous after John Lomax published it in a collection of folk songs in 1910. A multi-million dollar lawsuit in 1934 prompted an investigator to find that Brewster Higley, a Kansas resident, wrote a poem entitled "My Western Home" in 1871. This poem was the foundation for "Home on the Range," which became one the most famous songs of the 20th century.
When the Work's All Done This Fall - Written in 1893, this poem by D.J. O'Malley was based upon a true story. O'Malley worked as a wrangler and a cowhand from the age of fifteen and wrote many poems about cowboy life.
The Strawberry Roan - This song began as a poem written in the early 1900s by Curley Fletcher, a bronc-riding cowboy. In the following years, as the West was slowly fenced in, this song would have been heard around big outfit campfires.
Red River Valley - Although the author remains unknown it most likely originated as a Canadian love poem written during the early 1800s, in the Red River Valley of the North. Once put to music, this song was widely sung in the Northern Territories and then made its way south, where the cowboy theme was incorporated into its lyrics.
I Ride an Old Paint - This lament is about a cowboy down on his luck. Many cowboys in the 1800s considered Paint - or multicolored - horses to be substandard or inbred stock and would not ride them. Author unknown.
Track List:
1. Git Along Little Doggies
2. Little Joe the Wrangler
3. The Zebra Dun
4. The Cowboy's Lament (The Streets of Laredo)
5. The Girl I Left Behind Me
6. Home on the Range
7. When the Work's All Done This Fall
8. The Strawberry Roan
9. Red River Valley
10. I Ride an Old Paint
Suggested CDs:
- TJ Casey
- Tom Forsell
- COUNTRY: Western
- COUNTRY: Country Folk
- TYPE: ACOUSTIC