The Frémeaux & Associés release
Western Cowboy Ballads and Songs 1925-1939 compiles the early recordings of all the famous cowboy songs one would expect plus plenty more which never rooted into American popular culture of the era as deeply. "The Gal I Left Behind Me," "Cattle Call," "Home on the Range," and "Oh! Suzannah!" are all collected here alongside the amazing performance by
the Sons of the Pioneers of the dark, yet joyous, "Hold That Critter Down" and Powder River Jack Lee's humorous and cocky run-through of "Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail." This set is put together nicely in that the first disc in the set of two is devoted to actual singing cowboys such as J.D. Farley and
Jules Verne Allen, while the second disc is devoted to the stars of the early Hollywood Westerns like
Gene Autry,
Patsy Montana, and
Roy Rogers providing a nice compact study showing how much influence authentic cowboys had on the music moviegoers heard from the musical Westerns with which the culture was so obsessed at the time. ~ Gregory McIntosh