Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Cowboy Songs & Campfire Ballads

At Austin Psych Fest, I bought a ltd-ed Spindrift CDr called Songs Born of The West: Cowboy Songs & Campfire Ballads (2012). One of 100 copies.


Songs Born of The West
It's mostly covers of (very) old-school western songs, along with a couple of apparent originals. Here are some of the original versions, because none of the Spindrift material is on the web (yet)...



"Cool Water" by Vaughn Monroe & The Sons of The Pioneers (1948)

Spindrift credits someone different than YouTube - the songwriter, Bob Dolan.



"Wanderers of the Wasteland" by Gene Autrey (1937)

Probably my grandma's favorite singers there - Spindrift recognizes Johnny Bond on this one (not the songwriter).



"The Ballad of Paladin" by Johnny Western (1957)

Even I know this one, from the tv show "Have Gun - Will Travel." What I didn't know was that Gene Roddenberry wrote for the show.



"They're Hanging Me Tonight" by Marty Robbins (1959)

From the same album as both "Big Iron" and "El Paso" - plus a cover of Bob Dolan's "Cool Water" too!



"Navajo Trail" by Frankie Laine (1961)

Frankie Laine did a few of these tunes, plus the theme to "Rawhide" - Wikipedia info.



"Cowpoke" by Johnny Western (1961)

Johnny Western has a great name for this kinda material, don't you think? Don Walser also played this tune!



"The Wayward Wind" by Tex Ritter (1956)

John Ritter's dad no less! Anyway, the Spindrift versions are pretty respectful, with a minimum of hip modernity. Different, at least...

1 comment:

Bonanza and Son Promotions said...

Fantastic stuff guys.
Martyn Bonanza.