 | Once Upon a Time... by Black Light Orchestra
Buy new: $17.98 / Used from: $12.24 A spectacular uptempo reworking of the theme from the movie ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST(Morricone). The original slow haunting version from the soundtrack is also great, but doesn't create any imagery or feeling of cowboyishness.(Would you believe I'm an English teacher?)
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 | Roy Rogers Tribute by Various Artists
Buy used from: $19.76 HAPPY TRAILS, written by Mrs Roy Rogers (Dale Evans, Queen of the West),one of the best songs ever written by a woman(See my Listmania for the others). My next choice is only on vinyl, OLD COWBOYS NEVER DIE, a medley of classic cowboy songs on the album COUNTRY FEVER by the Atlanta Pops Orchestra.
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 | My Rifle, My Pony and Me by Various Artists
Buy new: $26.97 / Used from: $9.99 MY RIFLE,MY PONY AND ME. Finally found this Dean Martin/Rick Nelson duet from the claustrophobic jail sequence in the great western RIO BRAVO on this CD after a 30 year search. Paid 40 bucks for one song at the time. Obsessive, obsessive...
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 | Borrowed Tales by Don Williams
Buy used from: $1.61 Again....MY RIFLE, MY PONY AND ME. Another good version of this great cowboy song. The gentle giant does another great western song: WHERE THE ARKANSAS RIVER LEAVES OKLAHOMA on CD Till The Rivers All Run Dry and SENORITA below.
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 | Don Williams - Greatest Country Hits by Don Williams
Buy used from: $2.86 SENORITA
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 | All Time Heart Touching Favorites, Vol. 1 by Roger Whittaker
Buy used from: $0.86 Roger's rendition of the classic RED RIVER VALLEY is by far the best I've heard. Amazon doesn't list the songtitles here, but if it's the first half of the double-album I have on vinyl, hopefully it's on this CD.
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 | Paint Your Wagon (1969 Film) by Alan Jay Lerner
Buy new: $8.99 / Used from: $4.47 WANDERING STAR by Lee Marvin, of all people. Though never released as a single in the USA(dunno why), it was the #1 single for weeks in the UK. They love cowboys in England and Germany.
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| Spirits Of The West
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $5.50 Excellent guitar album of cowboy songs and themes such as Maverick, Tombstone Territory, Cheyenne, Rifleman, Sugarfoot, Red River Valley, Happy Trails, etc etc.
If you have a cowboy heart, you'll like this.
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 | Eyes That See in the Dark by Kenny Rogers
Buy new: $14.98 / Used from: $46.35 EVENING STAR, written and produced by Barry Gibb of the BeeGees!!!! as are all the other songs on this good album. Barry and his SON !!! are currently recording a country album in studio/home he bought from Johnny Cash's estate.(UPDATE: It burned down recently. Pity, historic home. Hope Barry's new album was salvaged).
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 | Windsong by John Denver
Buy new: $6.98 / Used from: $2.07 SONG OF WYOMING. One of the best recordings John Denver ever made, a gem. His voice is a magical instrument here.
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 | Best of Crystal Gayle by Crystal Gayle
Buy new: $22.99 / Used from: $7.75 Her version of WAYWARD WIND will make you forget any other you've heard. Wait till you hear her final note. You could take a shower and come back.
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 | I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash
Buy used from: $15.20 GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY. Wow! You can get this 3-CD set pretty cheap, used.
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 | William Tell & Other Favorite Overtures
Buy new: $9.98 / Used from: $4.49 Of course, the part of the WILLIAM TELL overture that became the theme for the Lone Ranger. Glen Campbell also does a good guitar version on one of his albums.He had/has a second career as a fine studio guitarist.
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 | Greatest Hits by Mitch Miller
Buy used from: $3.68 YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS. And a much later version, a Johnny Lee duet(with new lyrics) is really good but I can't find it on Amazon.
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 | My Rifle, My Pony and Me (Western Movies Songs)
Buy used from: $12.69 An added bonus to the title track is the song 'FAREWELL' from the Disney movie DAVY CROCKETT:KING OF THE WILD FRONTIER. It's a great song, all the more powerful as Davy leads the Alamo holdouts in the song they know is their last.
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 | Highwayman by The Highwaymen
Buy used from: $1.98 Six good cowboy songs from first two CDs of supergroup(the Mount Rushmore of outlaw country). LAST COWBOY SONG, HIGHWAYMAN,SILVER STALLION and maybe LIVING LEGEND, BORN AND RAISED IN BLACK AND WHITE, and BIG RIVER qualify. The latter is a huge improvement on the original hit by John alone.
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 | 20 Greatest Hits by Kenny Rogers
Buy used from: $3.99 THE GAMBLER. I saw Kenny 'Live' in a small Toronto hotel showroom in 1977(?). A year later he played the 20,000 seat Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
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 | The Best of Ed Bruce by Ed Bruce
Buy used from: $52.50 MY FIRST TASTE OF TEXAS, another gem by the writer of Last Cowboy Song(Highwayman) and Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys.MAVERICK DIDN"T COME HERE TO LOSE with guest vocalist James Garner is on the vinyl LP 'I WRITE IT DOWN'.
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 | Greatest Hits by Lee Ann Womack
Buy new: $10.97 / Used from: $3.56 A LITTLE PAST LITTLE ROCK. Not a cowboy song at all, but the references to Dallas and Little Rock plus the guitar riff reminiscent of Magnificent 7 and Galveston give me an excuse to include this great song, cheating though I am.
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 | Cimarron by Emmylou Harris
Buy used from: $59.99 ROSE OF CIMARRON. The bass guitar and the rolling rhythm allows this great production to qualify(maybe).
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 | Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions by Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris
Buy used from: $4.94 ACROSS THE BORDER, a magnificent collaboration by Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt on the Bruce Springsteen song. Whenever I listen, I never want it to end.....and it almost doesn't.
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 | All the Pretty Horses (2001 Film)
Buy new: $8.98 / Used from: $5.97 FAR AWAY. It doesn't HAVE to be a cowboy song but it is from this fine western movie,though barely heard in the film.
Easily the best thing Marty Stuart has ever done.
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 | The Magic Touch of Floyd Cramer by Floyd Cramer
Buy used from: $9.69 SHENANDOAH. Fabulous piano version by the always stylish Nashville master.
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 | The Best of Jimmie Rodgers by Jimmie F. Rodgers
Buy new: $12.99 / Used from: $4.97 This picture is just a visual aid. Available only on his vinyl LP Twilight on the Trail is his terrific vocal version of SHENANDOAH.
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 | I've Always Been Crazy by Waylon Jennings
Buy used from: $18.84 BILLY, a great cowboy song, sung sensitively by Waylon. Another good Waylon cowboy song is SWEET MOTHER TEXAS on his vinyl only LP of the same name.
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 | Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Buy used from: $3.55 There are two main themes from the soundtrack which was written entirely by Bob Dylan: the several variations of BILLY and also the FINAL THEME.Soundtrack from Kristofferson film directed by Sam Peckinpah.
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 | Music from Lonesome Dove: The Soundtrack Album
Buy used from: $38.34 Even the theme has great sweep.
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 | The Last Of The Mohicans: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Trevor Jones
Buy new: $16.99 / Used from: $4.25 A stirring theme.
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 | Dances With Wolves: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Buy used from: $0.89 The main haunting theme.
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 | The Essential Elmer Bernstein Film Music Collection
Buy new: $16.99 / Used from: $15.63 THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. Remember the Cheers episode about this movie?
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 | Music From 'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly' & 'A Fistful Of Dollars' & 'For A Few Dollars More'
Buy new: $8.98 / Used from: $4.20 |
 | Cool Water (& 17 Timeless Favorites) by The Sons of the Pioneers
Buy new: $11.98 / Used from: $7.91 Home on the Range, Tumbling Tumbleweeds, Streets of Laredo, Cool Water etc. On Joni Mitchell's album Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm, she does a unique duet of COOL WATER with Willie Nelson.
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 | Best Of: The Ultimate Collection by Willie Nelson
Buy new: $18.98 / Used from: $11.95 BUTTERMILK SKY. Also available on the album Standard Time, which tried to duplicate the formula of his great album Stardust, but was very ho-hum.
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| Island in the Sea by Willie Nelson
Buy used from: $15.93 Title song. Lyrics and yodel just manage to make this qualify as a cowboy song. But it is really pleasing.
Willie does a pretty good DON'T FENCE ME IN on the album Willie and Leon:One For The Road.
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 | Country Boy: The Best of George Hamilton IV by George Hamilton IV
Buy used from: $15.35 ABILENE
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 | Four Strong Winds by Ian & Sylvia
Buy new: $10.99 / Used from: $7.66 Fine title song could be a cowboy song, but I really wanted space to recommend two cowboy songs sung by Ian(Tyson)that I can't find on Amazon. INDIAN NATION and BARNEY. The latter is quality writing, but often too emotional to handle for a horse lover like me.
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 | Old Rivers/Twas the Night Before Christmas...Back Home by Walter Brennan
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $12.00 OLD RIVERS. Not necessarily a cowboy song at all, though it is loveable and often included in cowboy anthologies. More appropriate would be his SHIFTING WHISPERING SANDS, on the Dutchman's Gold vinyl LP.
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 | Glen Campbell 20 Greatest Hits by Glen Campbell
Buy used from: $7.50 GALVESTON,written by Jimmy Webb. Webb made a comeback with the Highwayman albums, writing both that song and Silver Stallion.
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 | Spirit by John Denver
Buy used from: $5.70 SAN ANTONIO ROSE. Another good version is found on the Willie Nelson/Ray Price duets album Faded Love.
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 | Cowboy & Western Songs by Bing Crosby
Buy new: $11.98 / Used from: $8.98 DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS. And I guess we can squeeze in George Strait's ALL MY EXs LIVE IN TEXAS and Eddy Arnold's CATTLE CALL(other good versions by LeAnn Rimes and Emmylou Harris.
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Listmania!
