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Now. Goin' back to that old-timey stuff today, home on the range, and all that.
The Sons of the Pioneers are perhaps best known nowadays, if known at all, for the classic cowboy tunes "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and "Cool Water", both composed by Bob Nolan.
They also, for a time,and seminally , featured a feller named Leonard Slye, better known as Roy Rogers.
It's interesting to question the mythology ensconced in the songs of The Sons of the Pioneers, in the same way we question the adventures of Gene Autry, Tom Mix,John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and all. Did hardened cowpokes really sit around the campfire singing songs about their day as the sun set in the canyons around them? One would guess the answer as no, as many of these men were probably barely literate and not given to sentiment. But it's mythology, innit?
The Sons of the Pioneers created, or perhaps perfected (cuz someone always did it first, right?), the cult of the singing cowboy, the traveling horseback rider with guitar in hand (and how in the world did they steer the horse?), taking note of the shadows, the sun, the desert sage. A world where some wacky character always had a tin of beans prepared at the end of a hard day rustling, the dust and sweat miraculously purged, and always a campfire prepared by the hand of god himself.
The above is quite the opposite of disparagement, as The 'Pioneers' brand of deep canyon pining is one of our favorite music genres. A dreamscape in clay and open sky, moons and fire, drifting through the neverwas with a yodel.
"Blue Shadows On The Trail" is a particular favorite, perfect for your next twilight reverie, where sleep beckons, but the twinkle of a far off star holds you still.
Sons Of The Pioneers: Blue Shadows On The Trail (mp3)
Sons Of The Pioneers: Tumbling Tumbleweeds (mp3)
Sons Of The Pioneers: Old Man Atom (mp3)
Sons Of The Pioneers: Bound For The Rio Grande (mp3)
Sons Of The Pioneers: Ridin' Down The Canyon (mp3)
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