The term American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as traditional music, traditional folk music, contemporary folk music, vernacular music, or roots music. Many traditional songs have been sung within the same family or folk group for generations, and sometimes trace back to such origins as the British Isles, Mainland Europe, or Africa. Musician Mike Seeger once famously commented that the definition of American folk music is "...all the music that fits between the cracks."
Western music is a form of music composed by and about the people who settled and worked throughout the Western United States and Western Canada. Western music celebrates the lifestyle of the cowboy on the open range, along the Rocky Mountains, and among the prairies of Western North America. The genre grew from the mix of cultural influences in the American frontier and what became the Southwestern United States at the time, it came from the folk music traditions of those living the region, those being the hillbilly music from those that arrived from the Eastern U.S., the corrido and ranchera from Northern Mexico, and the New Mexico and Tejano endemic to the Southwest. The music industry of the mid-20th century grouped the Western genre with that of similar folk origins, instrumentation and rural themes, to create the banner of country and western music, which was simplified in time to country music.
Bob Nolan was a Canadian-born American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a founding member of the Sons of the Pioneers, and composer of numerous Country music and Western music songs, including the standards "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." He is generally regarded as one of the finest Western songwriters of all time. As an actor and singer he appeared in scores of Western films.
"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" is a nursery rhyme first recorded in America in the late 19th century. The melody to which the nursery rhyme is sung recurs in other nursery rhymes including "It's Raining, It's Pouring"; "Rain Rain Go Away" and "Ring around the Rosie". It was further used as the basis for a successful 1938 recording by Ella Fitzgerald, composed by Fitzgerald in conjunction with Al Feldman.
"Streets of Laredo", also known as "The Dying Cowboy", is a famous American cowboy ballad in which a dying ranger tells his story to another cowboy. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
Waikiki Wedding is a 1937 American musical film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Burns, Martha Raye, and Shirley Ross. Crosby plays the part of Tony Marvin, a PR man charged with extolling the virtues of the Territory of Hawaii. The female lead, played by Shirley Ross is a local beauty queen who makes unhelpful comments about the islands. Bob Burns, along with Martha Raye, are the "comic relief". Amongst the supporting cast was a young Anthony Quinn. It was made by Paramount Pictures as a rival to the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films then being made by RKO Pictures.
"Don't Fence Me In" is a popular American song written in 1934, with music by Cole Porter and lyrics by Robert Fletcher and Cole Porter. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
"Buffalo Gals" is a traditional American song, written and published as "Lubly Fan" in 1844 by the blackface minstrel John Hodges, who performed as "Cool White". The song was widely popular throughout the United States, where minstrels often altered the lyrics to suit local audiences, performing it as "New York Gals" in New York City, "Boston Gals" in Boston, or "Alabama Girls" in Alabama, as in the version recorded by Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins on a 1959 field recording trip. The best-known version is named after Buffalo, New York.
Mississippi is a 1935 American musical comedy film directed by A. Edward Sutherland and starring Bing Crosby, W. C. Fields, and Joan Bennett. Written by Francis Martin and Jack Cunningham based on the novel Magnolia by Booth Tarkington, the film is about a young pacifist who, after refusing on principle to defend his sweetheart's honor and being banished in disgrace, joins a riverboat troupe as a singer and acquires a reputation as a crackshot after a saloon brawl in which a villain accidentally kills himself with his own gun. The film was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Brewster Martin Higley VI, MD was an otolaryngologist who became famous for writing "My Western Home". Originally written in 1871 or 1872 and published under the title "My Western Home" in the Smith County Pioneer in the fall of 1873, possibly December, this poem later became the original lyrics for the famous American folk song "Home on the Range".
"Along the Navajo Trail" is a country/pop song, written by Dick Charles, Larry Markes and Eddie DeLange in 1945, and first recorded by Dinah Shore in May 1945.
"Git Along, Little Dogies" is a traditional cowboy ballad, also performed under the title "Whoopie Ti Yi Yo." It is cataloged as Roud Folk Song Index No. 827. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
Rhythm on the Range is a 1936 American Western musical film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Bing Crosby, Frances Farmer, and Bob Burns. Based on a story by Mervin J. Houser, the film is about a cowboy who meets a beautiful young woman while returning from a rodeo in the east, and invites her to stay at his California ranch to experience his simple, honest way of life. Rhythm on the Range was Crosby's only Western film and introduced two western songs, "Empty Saddles" by Billy Hill and "I'm an Old Cowhand " by Johnny Mercer, the latter becoming a national hit song for Crosby. The film played a role in familiarizing its audience with the singing cowboy and Western music on a national level.
"I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)" is a comic song written by Johnny Mercer for the Paramount Pictures release Rhythm on the Range and sung by its star, Bing Crosby. The Crosby commercial recording was made on July 17, 1936, with Jimmy Dorsey & his Orchestra for Decca Records. It was a huge hit in 1936, reaching the No. 2 spot in the charts of the day, and it greatly furthered Mercer's career. Crosby recorded the song again in 1954 for his album Bing: A Musical Autobiography.
Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. It has also been covered by numerous jazz musicians, including Sonny Rollins, Monty Alexander, Joshua Redman, and John Scofield.
"Tumbling Tumbleweeds" is a Western music song composed by Bob Nolan, a founding member of the Sons of the Pioneers. Nolan wrote the song in the early 1930s while he was working as a caddy and living in Los Angeles. It was first recorded by the Sons of the Pioneers in 1934, and it became one of the most famous songs associated with the group. Originally titled "Tumbling Leaves", the song was reworked into the title "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and into more widespread fame with the 1935 film of the same name starring Gene Autry. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
Just for You is a 1952 American musical film starring Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman and the final motion picture to be directed by Elliott Nugent. It was nominated for Best Song at the 1953 Academy Awards. The film was based on the book Famous by Stephen Vincent Benét. Filming took place between October 22 and December 20, 1951. It is said that Judy Garland had originally been sent a script as she was being considered for the female lead, but she apparently decided not to proceed with the project. Location scenes were filmed at Lake Arrowhead, near San Bernardino, California and at Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino National Forest.
"The Old Chisholm Trail" is a cowboy song first published in 1910 by John Lomax in his book Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads.
The Home on the Range Cabin, near Smith Center, Kansas, is a log cabin built by Dr. Brewster Higley VI in 1875. It is associated with the song "Home on the Range", written by Higley as a poem in 1872 while living on a dugout that he built on the banks of the Beaver Creek. Higley's friend Dan Kelley set the poem to music; the song eventually became famous and is now the state song of Kansas.
"Empty Saddles (in the Old Corral)" is a classic American cowboy song written by Billy Hill. Hill based the song on a poem by J. Keirn Brennan grieving for lost companions. The song became widely known to the public in July 1936, when Bing Crosby sang it with deep emotion in the Paramount musical Rhythm on the Range, and his Decca recording of it, made on July 14, 1936, with Victor Young and His Orchestra, reached the Top 10 that September.
Cowboy Songs is a compilation album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby released in 1939 featuring Western songs.
