Sing Along Cowboy!: Songs of the Wild Frontier

Sing Along Cowboy! is a collection of cowboy songs with a foreword by Rob Quist—Montana’s famed singer, instrumentalist, and songwriter. The songs extend back to the heyday of the North American cattle drives. These are great singable songs meant to be enjoyed anywhere—in a living room, around a camp fire, or at a good old-fashioned sing-along. All that's required is a voice, guitar, and souls wanting to connect with their comrades over a song. Each song comes complete with melody, lyrics, and guitar chords. Some songs are classic gems, such as “Across the Wide Missouri,” (a.k.a. “Shenandoah”), which tells the story of a man who falls in love with an indigenous chief's daughter, but the river and his work take him away from her. Also included is “Old Chisholm Trail,” which tells of the trials of a cowboy driving cattle from Texas to the Kansas railheads. “Colorado Trail,” is a beautiful song with the mournful lyrics “weep all ye little rains, wail winds, wail, all along, along, along, the Colorado Trail.” This volume contains 56 of such wonderful songs and a brief guide to singing the cowboy way. Hinrichsen explains the three principles of singing: sing as you speak, relax completely, and know you are singing to. Hinrichsen writes that “authentic cowboy singing is possible for anyone; all that’s required is a love for the songs and persistence. Live with and sing these songs for years to discover the truth and beauty in these miniature Shakespearean dramas, and the singing itself will grow true and beautiful. Regardless of your country of origin or background, authentic American cowboy singing is within your grasp too. Sing out!” Included for each song is an index to the first lines of text and a list of alternative titles. Because early cowboys, known as vaqueros, spoke and sang in Spanish, also included are the Mexican folksongs “Cielito Lindo” and “El Abandonado.,” and others. Songs included in this volume are: “El Abandonado,” “Across the Wide Missouri,” “The Big Corral,” “Billy The Kid,” “Blood on the Saddle,” “Buffalo Gals,” “The Buffalo Hunters,” “Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie,” “Chopo,” “Cielito Lindo,” “Cindy,” “The Colorado Trail,” “Corrido de Kiansis I,” “Corrido de Kiansis II,” “Cowboy Jack,” “Cowboy Lullaby,” “The Cowboy,” “The Cowboy's Lament,” “La Cucaracha,” “The Days of '49,” “Down in the Valley,” “The Dreary, Dreary Life,” “The Dying Ranger,” “Git Along, Little Dogies,” “Goodbye, Old Paint,” “Ho! Westward Ho!,” “Home on the Range,” “I Ride an Old Paint,” “Jack o'Diamonds,” “Jesse James,” “Little Joe, the Wrangler,” “Lo Que Digo,” “The Lover's Lament,” “Las Mañanitas,” “My Love Is a Rider,” “Night-Herding Song,” “The Old Chisolm Trail,” “Old Dan Tucker,” “Old Texas,” “Poor Lonesome Cowboy,” “The Railroad Corral,” “Red River Valley,” “Sam Bass,” “Sweet Betsy from Pike,” “The Tenderfoot,” “Tenting on the Old Campground,” “The Texas Rangers,” “El Toro Moro,” “The Trail to Mexico,” “The Wabash Cannonball,” “The Wells and Fargo Line,” “When the Curtains of Night Are Pinned Back,” “When the Work's All Done This Fall,” “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” “Yipeetyee I'm off to Truckee,” “The Zebra Dun.” The song “Yippeetyee I'm off to Truckee,” penned by the author, tells the story of a man who sets off to Truckee, California to marry his sweetheart, but is overcome by a blizzard in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Rich Hinrichsen is the singer in Tango Cowboys, a duo that specializes in cowboy songs and tangos. He has performed cowboy songs at several festivals including Northwest Folklife in Seattle, Bellingham Folk Festival, and the Subdued Stringband Jamboree. He also led the Bellingham Folk Festival workshop “Cowboy Camp Sing-a-long,” which featured songs in this volume. His paternal grandmother, Bessie Virginia Camp, was the daughter of George & Myrtle Camp, who founded the Camp Cattle Ranch in Belt Park, Montana. The Camp Cattle Ranch, which recently turned 100 years old, is still active, with 98 cow-calf pairs.