Remember the Singing Cowboys?
How many of us remember watching Saturday morning westerns or going to the movie to watch Roy Rogers, Gene Autry or any of the other singing cowboys?
I certainly do, and in the beginning what is now called “country music” was called “country and western music” and the singing cowboys could be heard up and down the dial. The reason was simple, westerns used to be one of the most popular film genres in Hollywood. There were clear cut good guys and bad guys, and sometimes the good guys sang, you never had a bad guy who was one of the singing cowboys.
They were so popular that only Gene Autry (sometimes called the king of the singing cowboys) ever received a Hollywood star in the category of film, , music, television, radio, and live, and he was known for his roles as a kindly singing cowboy.
Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and others helped to create a strong romanticized version of the wild, wild west that our imaginations were captured for decades. The singing cowboys still live here at the Country Music Time Traveler Radio station and can be heard every Saturday starting at 6 AM Texas time. The singing cowboys can also be heard throughout the day in our regularly scheduled programming.