My Grandpa George was a native of a tiny town in the American Southwest ~ Guadalupe, New Mexico. Proud Mexican-Americans, they rode horses, manned ranches and herded cattle. His aunt Juanita was the wife of the famous old west sheriff, Pat Garrett. I’ve written about my Honduran father’s side of the family in the post, nueva cancion y trovadores. On my mom’s side, we have deep Southwestern roots. My grandpa rode the rails from New Mexico to California during the depression where he met my grandmother, who had immigrated here as a baby from Durango, Mexico. Grandpa loved American Cowboy music and Mexican ranchera (cowboy) music. My mom still loves the “singing cowboy” tradition. Here she is in her “Gene Autry” cowboy outfit circa early 1950s.
I recently gave my mom the three-disc box set: Boots, Buckles & Spurs: 50 Songs Celebrate 50 Years of Cowboy Tradition. It includes vintage songs from Gene Autry, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers, Johnny Cash as well as more modern cowboy tunes from Marty Robbins, Waylon Jennings, Moe Bandy, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter, The Outlaws, Brooks & Dunn, Michael Martin Murphey, and many more.
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