The Singing Cowboy

AMG Review of The Singing Cowboy

John Bush
All Music Guide

America's favorite singing cowboy has an authoritative box set to his credit, but little of substance available in the moderate to budget realm. Living Era rectified the situation nicely with a two-disc, 50-track collection dedicated to the cowboy songs of his recording prime, from his 1929 breakout as a Jimmie Rodgers prodigy who wrote his own material right up to his '40s peak (but halting just before the /p>

ovelty "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"). By focusing on the Western recordings, the collection allows space not only for his many hits ("Back in the Saddle Again," "Mexicali Rose," "The Last Roundup") but also a considerable amount of rarer movie songs ("Little Big Dry," from Riders of Whistling Pines; "Someday in Wyoming" from Old Santa Fe; and "Guns and Guitars," the theme from the movie of the same name). Included as well are a few postcards to the pop world, such as "When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano," a very early version of "Blueberry Hill," and his hit version of "South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)."