One of the American West’s treasured contributions to the nation’s rich musical tapestry is the singing cowboy of the early 1900s. Entertainers like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers perfected this archetype throughout the 1940s and early 1950s. But singing cowboys at the turn of the 20th century laid the groundwork. Though many of these performers hadn’t actually spent much time on a ranch, a select few pulled from real-life ranching experience and used it as inspiration for their careers.
Author Richard Carlin explains how this mysterious musical archetype impacted the country’s view of the West in his book, “Country Music: The People, Places, and Moments That Shaped the Country Sound”: “The idea that the West was populated by a roving band of guitar-strumming, happy-go-lucky tunesmiths was spread mostly by city-born performers, most of whom had never punched cattle.”
