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Earning My Spurs

My first album was all yodeling songs. So as I learned more songs, especially nonyodeling songs, it occurred to me that I was truly earning my spurs for the cowboy and western song repertoire, especially since many of the new songs were familiar traditional songs from the first half of the twentieth century. I have developed quite an affection for the beauty and simplicity of the songs that were sung by my cowboy heroes from the movies of my youth and the songs that were popular on radio before and after I was born in 1940. So here is a trip down nostalgia lane plus a few newer songs that should be pleasing to your ear. My yodeling has progressed and I have learned how to play the guitar, unlike the first album, Yodeling Familiar Trails, where Greg provided all of the instrumentals. Once again, I am privileged to work with Greg Latta, an amazing musician and singer in his own right. 1. When the Bloom is on the Sage (2:25) Fred Howard and Nat Vincent (1930) Howard and Vincent, also known as the Happy Chappies, composed this song in 1930 while performing on KFRC, San Francisco, when a caller offered them $250 if they could do so and perform it before the end of the show. They collected the $250 and composed many more. 2. Tumbling Tumbleweeds (2:34) Bob Nolan (1932)(Song Writers Guild, Music of the West) Bob Nolan was one of the original members of Sons of the Pioneers, the most influential and well known western song group of the 20th century. He wrote many of their songs. This is one of the two signature songs of the Pioneers and one of the most well known in the entire repertoire. 3. Waltz Across Texas (3:00) Ernest Tubb (Ernest Tubb Music Inc.) I heard McDonald Craig sing this song just as I was starting to develop my western repertoire and fell in love with it. He did not yodel in the song but I heard one in my head and several years later developed one that fit very nicely. 4. Hittin’ the Trail Tonight (2:40) Bruce Kiskaddon and Hal Cannon Bruce Kiskaddon is one of the great cowboy poets from the early 20th century and one of my very favorites. Hal Cannon is one of the finest arrangers of western music. KG and the Ranger introduced this song to me and I have made it my own with this version. I love the poetry. 5. Cool Water (4:27) Bob Nolan (1936)(Song Writers Guild, Music of the West) This song was also one of the signature songs of the Sons of the Pioneers. The group included Tim Spencer, Leonard Sly (Roy Rogers), and the Farr brothers. It carries a subtle spiritual connotation for me as well as reflecting the critical importance of water in the west. 6. She Taught Me to Yodel (3:08) Paul Robertson and Tom Emerson (Universal MCA) Kevin McNiven from Wyoming took this song that has its roots in alpine yodeling and rearranged it to reflect a cowboy theme, modifying the yodels to give it more of a western flavor. It took me some time and a lot of practice to master the yodels. 7. My Adobe Hacienda (2:45) Louise Massey and Lee Penney (1941) I remember this song so well from my grade school days. When I began singing western songs in 2007, I promised myself that this would be one of the first non-yodeling songs that I would learn. It is about Massey’s home in the Hondo Valley, NM, and is one my very favorites. 8. Mexicali Rose (3:00) Jack Tenney and Helen Stone (1923)(Dunhill Music) This is another song that I remember so well from my youth. Written during prohibition, it reflects the booming business in alcohol that hit the Mexican towns just south of the border, in this case across from California. Tenney was the conductor of a band playing there. 9. Dear Old Western Skies (1:55) Gene Autry (1938)(Gene Autry Music) Roy Rogers sang this song on one of his albums. He is one of my yodeling heroes, with his lovely tenor voice and clear, precise yodeling. The yodels on this song are slow but beautiful. 10. Ridin’ Down the Canyon (2:38) Smiley Burnett and Gene Autry (1934)(Gene Autry Music) History has it that Smiley Burnett and Gene Autry and his wife were driving across Arizona when Gene bet Smiley $5 that he couldn’t write a cowboy song in five minutes. Smiley won the bet with this song that became a classic. 11. Except for You (3:28) Ben Peters (Ben Peters Music) I learned to yodel in 2007 from the instructional tape by Margo Smith. I purchased two of her albums and found this lovely song on one of them. It has inspired me to learn how to play a finger picking style on the guitar to accompany this song. 12. Those Old Tex Morton Blues (3:00) Owen Blundell Australia has a long and rich cowboy and yodeling tradition. Many of them are called bush ballads. I have several CD’s by some outstanding Australian yodelers, one of whom is Owen Blundell. Tex Morton was one of the original great Aussie country/western singers and yodelers. Credits Produced by Tom Hawk and Greg Latta (http://greglatta.com) Recorded and Mastered at the Latta Sound Works, Frostburg, Maryland, 21532. Audio Engineering by Greg Latta. Cover and Booklet Design by Kt Pepper Photographs by Nancy Varga (http://nvarga.com) FOR BOOKINGS AND RECORDINGS, CALL OR WRITE: Tom Hawk, 778 MacDonald terrace, Cumberland, MD 21502 301-722-0815. Email: tom@tomhawkyodeler.com Web Site: https://wwwtomhawkyodeler.com