Back when country music was still known as ”country and western,” the western half of the equation was equally important. From the ”singing cowboys” like Gene Autry, Tex Ritter and Roy Rogers in the 1930s, `40s and
`50s to Marty Robbins and Johnny Cash`s gunfighter epics in the `60s and Willie Nelson`s cowboy romanticism of the `70s, the sound and lore of the West were an integral part of country music.
In the `80s, though, the western influence began to wane, perhaps as a result of the backlash against the ”Urban Cowboy” hype. But while western music may have retreated for a while, in the `90s it`s making a comeback.
Longtime cowboy singing star Chris Ledoux is currently high on the country charts, while a Roy Rogers tribute album released last year featured guest appearances by such country stars as Randy Travis, Clint Black and Emmylou Harris. Perhaps most telling was the success of Michael Martin Murphey`s 1990 ”Cowboy Songs” album, which spurred Warner Bros. Records to launch its new Warner Western subsidiary label.
Warner Western`s first three artists, Don Edwards, the Sons of the San Joaquin and cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell, will be appearing Wednesday and Thursday at Schubas, 3159 N. Southport Ave.
According to Texas-based Edwards, who has been performing and recording western music since the early `60s, America`s love affair with cowboys and the Old West never really ended.
”I don`t think there`s a person alive who at some point in their life hadn`t wanted to be a cowboy,” he said. ”And if you think about it, the cowboy is one of America`s most enduring symbols.”
Where the three-member Sons of the San Joaquin pay heavy tribute on their ”A Cowboy Has to Sing” album to the harmonious sound of the Sons of the Pioneers, Edwards` ”Songs of the Trail” ranges from interpretations of old- time cowboy classics like ”Little Joe, the Wrangler” to more contemporary western material like Murphey`s ”An Old Cowboy`s Dream,” in which Edwards demonstrates some world-class yodeling.
Waddie Mitchell, on the other hand, is neither a singer nor a musician. A ”professional buckaroo” who lives on a ranch near Elko, Nev., Mitchell says he began learning cowboy poetry while growing up on Nevada ranches. He began writing his own poems while in his 20s.
The idea of cowboy poetry may strike some as odd, but it has a long history, Mitchell says.
”The cowboy poetry tradition dates back to the days of the earliest cowboys,” he said. ”When men lived together in close proximity for long periods of time, they`d tell stories. By the third time you told the same story, though, they`d say, `I`ve heard it already.` But when they`d put a rhyme and a meter to it they`d listen to it over and over again. It was a good way to entertain each other.”
Far outside of the West, reaction to western music and poetry has been surprisingly strong. Last May, Edwards, Mitchell and Murphey did a monthlong stint at New York`s Rainbow Room cabaret that drew rave reviews.
Edwards says you don`t have to be a Louis L`Amour fan to appreciate their work.
”Without getting too academic about it, we try to explain a bit about the poetry and music at our shows,” he said. ”But we give people the real thing of what it`s like to be a cowboy and really live that life. Waddie`s been a cowboy all his life, and while I started out 32 years ago in music, I`ve also worked on ranches and cowboyed. So we play off each other and build up something that is not only entertaining but a cultural experience as well.”
