Boots, Buckles and Spurs
by: Various Artists
(Legacy)
Pursuin’ a life of my high ridin’ heroes/I burned up my childhood days...”
-Willie Nelson. “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys”
Some of my earliest musical memories are of cowboy songs, played by my Dad on his old h-fi console. Great music by Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and The Sons of The Pioneers. Now, almost 50 years later, I get to enjoy many of those classics again, along with some of the more modern tributes to horses, spurs and cattle ropin.’ Boots, Buckles and Spurs is a veritable treasure trove of cowboy tunes, from Bob Wills to Charlie Daniels.
Celebrating 50 years of the National Finals Rodeo, this amazing three disc boxed set offers up fifty prime, USDA choice cuts of cowboy classics, from Gene Autry’s timeless 1939 “Back in the Saddle Again” to the official song of the 50th Anniversary of NFR, “Cowboy Town,” by Brooks and Dunn.
Say you are an old school Southern Rocker like me? There are two cuts included by our founding father Charlie Daniels and his band, “Bull Ridin’ Son of a Gun” and one of my all time favorite CDB tracks, “Caballo Diablo.” And how about Hughie and The Outlaws? It wouldn’t be a cowboy set without “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” now would it?
Just a few highlights include Eddy Arnold doing “The Cattle Call;” Marty Robbins with “Strawberry Roan;” Sons of The Pioneers singing their classic “Tumbling Tumbleweeds;” Vince Gill’s “Oklahoma Borderline;” Rodney Crowell singing “Ever Cowgirls Get The Blues;” The Highwaymen (Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson) with “Silver Stallion;” rodeo favorite Chris LeDoux doing “Hooked On an 8 Second Ride;” and Montgomery Gentry’s take on “Wanted, Dead or Alive.”
There are classic cow poke tracks from Johnny Cash, Patsy Montana, David Allan Coe, Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Riders in the Sky, Michael Martin Murphey and many more, and even a full color liner notes book with lots of info on the Rodeo as well as credits for all the great artists and songs.
So saddle up, and hold on tight. This one comes out of the gate bucking and snortin.’ And I know that’s the way you cowboys love it.
Don’t forget to watch the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association and National Finals Rodeo 50th Anniversary event on ESPN2 and ESPN Classic December 4-13th.
-Michael Buffalo Smith
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Comments
rebyll says...
I still watch Gene Autry on Encore's Western Channel. Smiley Burnett cracks me up.