I do not really know where to start on Air Conditioned Old West, Flagpole, March 16, 1994, p15. I wasn't aware that Jimmy Rodgers was known as the Yodeling Brakeman. He is generally referred to as the Singing Brakeman or the Mississippi Blue Yodeler. He was a brakeman and he did yodel but while I can visualize him singing as he braked I believe yodeling would have interfered with braking. Jimmie recorded The Yodeling Cowboy and The Yodeling Ranger but as for shifting the fulcrum to Texas and points west his first recorded songs in August 1927, were The Soldier's Sweetheart and Sleep Baby Sleep.

Hank Snow, the Nova Scotia Cowboy, originally billed himself as the Yodeling Ranger but changed to the Singing Ranger when his voice deepened and he could no longer hit the high notes in his own Lonesome Blue Yodel. Hank not only carried on Jimmie's train song tradition but also named his son Jimmie Rodgers Snow. The Reverend Jimmie Rodgers Snow is the Pastor of a church outside Nashville attended by many country singers.

My favorite Jimmie Rodgers song is In The Jail House Now. In all he recorded one hundred and eleven songs. His last big hit, in 1933 the year of his death, was Peach Picking Time In Georgia. Jimmie occasionally posed in cowboy or brakeman attire for publicity pictures but seldom performed in costume. Jimmie starred in a fifteen-minute short The Singing Brakeman in 1929. The Singing Brakeman was a Columbia-Victor Gem and featured Jimmie singing Blue Yodel, Waiting for a Train and Daddy and Home. Jimmie's real contribution was the Blue Yodel and twelve of his recordings were Blue Yodels.

Jimmy had a tremendous influence on other singers. In 1929 Gene Autry's style was pure Jimmie Rodgers including the yodel and his first recordings were either covers of Jimmie's hits or blue yodels such as Bear Cat Papa Blues or Do Right Daddy Blues. Gene Autry got on the charts in 1930 with #4 I Left My Girl in the Mountains right behind Jimmie Rodgers' #3 Frankie and Johnny. They were sandwiched by the Carter Family with #1 Lulu Wall and #4 Worried Man Blues.

Jimmie was #1 in 1931 with Blue Yodel #8 (Muleskinner Blues) and #2 with Moonlight and Skies. Gene almost cleaned the chart in 1933 with #1 Yellow Rose of Texas with Jimmie Long, #3 The Death of Jimmie Rodgers and #4 There's an Empty Cot in the Bunkhouse Tonight. The only thing that spoiled Gene's straight was Jimmie Rodgers' #2 Peach Picking Time in Georgia. Gene Autry sang, the Fats Domino hit, Blueberry Hill in the 1941 western The Singing Hill. The Lone Rangers theme is, of course, the Return From The William Tell Overture.

The first all cowboy artist was Carl, Tenor with Guitar, T. Sprague from Alvin, Texas. Carl was #2 in 1925 with When The Works All Done This Fall and narrowly missed having a million seller. Carl hit #1 in 1926 with The Dying Cowboy. Carl grew up on a ranch and recorded cowboy songs but never promoted his music.

The Grand Ole Opry's first singing cowboy was Zeke, the Alabama Cowboy, Clements. Zeke's Smoke on the Water and Blue Mexico Skies are among the finest country songs ever written. Zeke was also the voice of Bashful in Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Actually, very little of interest of a Western nature, outside of Hollywood, occurred in Texas. Jesse James died in St. Joseph, Missouri on August 3, 1882, unless he died in Lawton, Oklahoma on August 16, 1951. Wild Bill Hickok died in Deadwood, South Dakota on August 2, 1877 at age 39. August is apparently a Bad month for Badmen.

John Wesley Hardin did die in Texas on August 19, 1895. Bat Masterson killed his first and only white man, Melvin King, in a dance hall brawl over Molly Brennan in Sweetwater, Texas. However, he did most of his gun slinging in Dodge City, Kansas and died in New York City on October 25, 1921, from a heart attack while working on his newspaper column.

Billy The Kid was born in New York City and died at Fort Sumner, New Mexico Territory on July 15, 1881, or maybe not. Sheriff Peppin rode out to Fort Stanton, during the Lincoln County War, to request the loan of a howitzer and a few shells from the Ninth Cavalry, Buffalo Soldiers, for use in a shoot out with Billy The Kid.

Doc Holiday, Atlanta, Georgia Dentist, did most of his killing in Dodge City, Kansas and Tombstone, Arizona. The Doc did kill Edward Bailey in Griffin, Texas but he did it with a bowie knife and I am not sure if that counts like a regulation shooting. The infamous O. K. Corral fight occurred in Tombstone, Arizona. Doc died in a sanitarium in Glenwood Springs, Colorado on November 8, 1887, with, much to his own surprise, his boots off at the ripe old age of 35. He downed a large glass of whiskey, looked down at his bootless feet, exclaimed, I'll be damned! , and died.

The Mason County War was a Texas affair but was not as sanguinary as the Arizona Graham-Tewksbury feud or the ever popular New Mexico Territory Lincoln County War.

Perhaps the most overlooked outlaw is Tom Starr. Tom was a full blooded Cherokee and an equal opportunity employer. Any entrepreneur with a steady hand was welcome in his gang. The most famous member was Belle Starr who ran her own gang from 1875 to 1880. Belle Starr's true love was Cole Younger but the relationship was platonic after the Northfield Raid in 1876 and Cole's sentence to life imprisonment.

Belle first had a little fling with Blue Duck and then actually legally married Sam Starr, son of Tom Starr. Sam served a year in jail and Belle six months for cattle rustling. Sam shot one of the escorts Belle used during the interval between her and Sam's release. Belle's last lover was Jim July, a Creek Indian. I've gotten so carried away I almost forgot what prompted this. O yes, Tom Starr operated out of what is now Adair County, Oklahoma but frequently raided deep into Texas.

This raises the philosophical questions of not only where the West was but also when and what the West was. Henry Starr started off as the Good Starr. He didn't drink or smoke. He read the classics and improved his mind. He apparently read Voltaire's Candide for following a minor brush with the law in 1891 for trading whiskey to the Indians he became a first class outlaw in his own Right. What this is leading to is that by 1921 Henry Starr had traded his horse in on a Ford and was robbing banks and fleeing posses in a Tin Lizzie between movie gigs.

The question is: was Henry still a Western desperado when Banker W.J. Myers answered his demand to stand and deliver with a shotgun blast on February 18, 1923, at the People's Bank in Harrison, Arkansas? If Henry was no longer a Western desperado exactly when and where did he cease to be one?

Texas was not really represented at the Alamo, Goliad or San Jacinto. Goliad was purely a Georgia affair and the battle cry was originally, Remember the Alamo, remember Goliad. O well, at least Colonel Fannin got a Georgia County out of it even if Texas forgot.

Few of the fighters involved were in Texas before early 1836 and most long time residents declined to join the army. The Battle of San Jacinto is the most controversial event in Texas history but the story that I like, it should be true even if it isn't, is that the Yellow Rose of Texas was Santa Anna's High Yellow mistress whom the Good General was entertaining in his tent when vengeance for the Alamo and Goliad descended upon him.

Maybelle Carter, Sara Carter and her husband A.P. Carter recorded as The Carter Family on August 1, 1927, several days before Jimmie Rodgers. A.P. Carter was a fine musician but sister-in-law Maybelle is the one people remember. Maybelle's Wildwood Flower is a classic instrumental piece. Woody Guthrie used the melody of Maybelle's Wildwood Flower in one of my favorite songs The Good Reuben James. I must confess, though, that I usually play the Kingston Trio version. The only close rival to Wildwood Flower is the 1935 #4 Under the Double Eagle by Bill Boyd's Cowboy Ramblers. Under the Double Eagle is a fiddle and guitar version of an old German march.

Nineteen thirtyfive was a good year for Country Music fans but a rough one for artists. The artists came out of the gate in a tight pack. Gene Autry's Tumbling Tumbleweeds was #1, followed closely by Patsy Montana's #2 I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart with Gene Autry and Jimmy, the Singing Governor, Davis' #3 Nobody's Darling But Mine nipping at its heels. The #4 Under the Double Eagle did manage to edge out Tex Owens #5 Cattle Call.

Personally, Rambling Rose is the clear winner for crying in your beer and the Orange Blossom Special by fiddler Ervin Rouse is my choice for adrenaline pumping music. A.P. Carter's Wabash Cannon Ball is still one of the best fiddle tunes. The original Carter Family cuts included: Bury Me Under The Willow Tree, Log Cabin By the Sea, The Poor Orphan Child, The Storms Are On The Ocean, Single Girl, Married Girl and Wandering Boy.

Of course, real country music fans know the start of country music as we know it occurred on June 13, 1924, when Vernon Dalhart recorded the first million seller. Vernon recorded The Prisoner's Song, and The Wreck of The Old 97 for Victor. The Wreck of The Old 97 was #2 in 1924 and The Prisoner's Song was #1. Vernon was a light-opera singer from Texas and had been recording sentimental tunes like Can't Yo' Heah Me Callin' Caroline since 1916.

Vernon could have been the Father of Country Music were it not for the fact that he recorded under at least one hundred pseudonyms and never developed a personal following. Like so many, he felt Country Music was not in the class with the opera he loved so well. Vernon's real name was Marion Try Slaughter and the pseudonym came from Vernon, Texas and Dalhart, Texas.

I am also confused about the concept of the Southeastern Fiddlers v. The Western of Texas. Eck Robertson a champion old-time fiddler from Amarillo, Texas and Henry Gilliland, an old-time fiddler from Virginia recorded what is considered the first Country Music recordings in New York City in June 1923. Robertson was wearing a cowboy suit and Gilliland was in his Confederate uniform. They just walked into the Victor studio and requested a recording session.

The Victor people were so startled that they recorded the pair to facilitate their departure. Robertson recorded Sally Goodin and Ragtime Annie. Robertson and Gilleland then collaborated on Arkansas Traveler and Turkey in the Straw. Sally Goodin was the #1 and Arkansas Traveler the #3 record in 1923. I also believe there is a current song, the title escapes me at the moment, but the message in something to the effect that while, That sound may be hot for a Louisiana man but if you want to play in Texas you've got to have a fiddle in the band.

What really shocked me Matthew was your failure to make an indignant demand for the inclusion of one of my favorite artists, Charley Pride. No country collection is complete without High Up On A Mountain of Love. Perhaps Charley is too White to be considered Politically Correct by the Flagpole.

Also conspicuously missing from your review was any mention of the omission of Herb Jeffries from Silver Screen Cowboys. The Bronze Buckaroo, as Herb is known, was a ballad singing, guitar picking, six gun shooting Cowboy and the Ladies never failed to swoon when the Bronze Buckaroo begin to croon. Jeffries made four movies Bronze Buckaroo, Harlem on the Prairie, Two-Gun Man From Harlem and Harlem Rides the Range.

And if you are going to include Woody Guthrie how can you omit Sonny Terry, Cisco Houston, Big Bill Broonzy or the legendary Leadbelly. Everyone knows Leadbelly's Goodnight Irene and Rock Island Line.

Patsy Cline, Del Wood, Crystal Gayle, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Martha Lou Carson, Barbara Mandrell, Dottie West, Reba McEntire and June Carter Cash are just a few of the great female artists in what you lament as an exclusively male province. June Carter Cash is just as Western as Johnny Cash. Anyone knowledgeable in Country Music should be able to name seventy-two first rank female artists without working up a sweat.

Pee Wee King named his Golden West Cowboys after the Girls of the Golden West, Dolly and Millie Good. Patsy Montana's 1935 #2 I Want to be a Cowboy's Sweetheart was the first Cowgirl million seller. Kathy Copas frequently performed with her father Cowboy. Often over looked is Marilyn Monroe's River of No Return in the movie of the same name. If Marilyn didn't sing, she at least pouted her pretty lips while someone did. It worked for the Monkey's even if it back fired on Mille Vanille. If Gamblers, Dance Hall Girls, Whiskey and Gold qualify as Western then Mae West's Occidental Woman in an Oriental Mood for Love is a shoo in. She did sing it in a saloon.

Rex Allen made the last singing cowboy movie, Down Laredo Way, in the 50's. If Cowgirls and bullwhips are to your taste then the 1958 Bullwhip is your movie. Rhonda Fleming has the bullwhip and she uses it with gusto on Guy Madison. Bullwhip was written and produced by two females, Helen Ainsworth and Adele Buffington. Frankie Laine sang the title song.

The question is, what defines music as Western? Is Western music the songs Cowboys sang? Is Western Music the songs and music that entertained Cowboys or is Western Music the songs that Drugstore Cowboys sing about real Cowboys?

How does one classify that singing cowboy Bing Crosby? Bing recorded almost every western song written including his million selling San Antonio Rose and that honky tonk favorite Pistol Packing Mama with the Andrews Sisters. The Three Stooges were in Four for Texas with Arthur Godfrey, Dean Martin and Old Blue Eyes Himself, Frank Sinatra. Unfortunately, the censor excised Ursula Andress' and Anita Ekberg's nude scenes in Four for Texas and the poor ladies had to spend most of the picture leaning over..

Gene Autry's 1935, fifteen chapter, science fiction western serial, The Phantom Empire, was his first starring role. He had previously appeared in only one movie, In Old Santa Fe, and a thirteen chapter serial, Mystery Mountain, both starring Ken Maynard. In The Phantom Empire Gene contended with Oil Can Robots and chased Gladiators on horses across the prairie while Tumbling Tumbleweeds was hitting #1 on the charts.

Lets face it. It is impossible to do any sort of justice to a music field as rich as Country in a Big Impressive Four CD Collection. A hundred would not even come close. A thousand might just scratch the surface. Four CD's barely does justice to the Three Tenors. Four each would be a good start.

It is also impossible to separate Country from Western from Bluegrass from Cajun with any precision. You can't put a label on Jerry Lee Lewis any more than you can label the other members of Sun's Million Dollar Quartet, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.

Richard E. Irby, Jr.