AMG Review of Cowboy Songs of the Old West

Bruce Eder
All Music Guide

McCurdy performs eight of the 20 songs on this collection (the rest are by Alan Lomax), accompanied by guitar, banjo, and harmonica. The songs include "When the Work's All Done This Fall," "Jack O' Diamonds," "Red River Valley," "Utah," "Punchin' the Dough," and "Strawberry Roan," all extremely well sung, in a folk style rather than an authentic Western style, and surprisingly smooth and engaging. The digital transfer is also quite clean, especially given the age of the material -- 40 years or more.