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33-500: Cass County Boys was a Western music group that was active from the mid-1940s to the early 1950s. The Cass County Boys was formed in 1936 in Texas when accordionist Fred Martin (1916–2010) and guitarist Jerry Scoggins (1911–2004) were staff musicians on Dallas radio station WFAA. The pair were told to fill in airtime between programs and began performing together. They shortly invited bassist Bert Dodson (1915–1994) to join them. Dodson, at

66-711: A atmospheric western music style, but it also features old mid-20th century popular western musicians such as Marty Robbins along with pop music of the day. Furthermore, the Red Dead series of games heavily features western music, since it takes place in an Old West setting. Bill Elm and Woody Jackson 's modern spin on an Old West game would not be complete without their carefully assembled score; what they call their best project to date Independent video games SteamWorld and Gunman Clive also make use of western music, as do other larger productions such as Dillon's Rolling Western . The contributions of Chris LeDoux were also key in

99-742: A backing band that included Chet Atkins and Grady Martin . He sold his ranch in 1949 and moved his family to a 180 acres (73 ha) farm in New Jersey . In 1949, Carter resumed live performances with tours in Canada and the United States. In 1950, he attracted over 50,000 people during a week at the Canadian National Exhibition bandstand in Toronto, Ontario . In 1953, Wilf Carter started touring with his own show called, 'The Family Show with

132-460: A formative role." Several writers have emphasized that historically country music and cowboy music were not considered the same genre; for example, in her essay "Cowboy Songs", Anne Dingus wrote that "cowboy music is not country music, though the two are often lumped together as 'country and western'." In 1910, John Avery Lomax anthologized over a hundred cowboy songs in his collection Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads . Older western music

165-543: A ranch. He continued to appear on CBC, NBC, and CBS until CBS dropped him in 1940. In 1940, Carter seriously injured his back in a car accident in Montana. He was unable to perform for much of the decade, but his popularity was sustained by the periodic release of new recordings. He had a recording contract with RCA-Victor for five years (1947-1952) and then moved to Nashville where he recorded with Decca from 1954 to 1957. At Decca, Carter used Owen Bradley 's studio, featured

198-558: A simple guitar or fiddle accompaniment. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, western music became widely popular through the romanticization of the cowboy and idealized depictions of the west in Hollywood films. Singing cowboys , such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers , sang cowboy songs in their films and became popular throughout the United States. Film producers began incorporating fully orchestrated four-part harmonies and sophisticated musical arrangements into their motion pictures. Bing Crosby ,

231-518: A traveling Swiss performer named "The Yodelling Fool" in Canning. Carter left home at the age of 15 after a falling out with his father, who was a Baptist minister. In 1923, at age 18, after working as a lumberjack and singing with hobos in boxcars, Carter moved west to Calgary , Alberta, where he became friends with Pete Knight and found work on the Davis ranch, near Brooks, as a cowboy . (In 1979, Carter

264-566: Is widely streamed on major platforms, with music by Marty Robbins and Al Hurricane being more easily accessible. Newer takes on western music are constantly written and recorded and performed all across the American West and Western Canada, thanks to the popularity of New Mexico music within New Mexico and the success of Michael Martin Murphey throughout the western scene, they have resurrected

297-632: The Academy of Country Music and its mission is no longer distinguished from other country music organizations. By the 1960s, the popularity of western music was in decline. Though western television series were at an all-time peak in popularity, other than a handful of theme songs, this did not buoy the western music genre as a whole. Popular western recording artists sold fewer albums and attracted smaller audiences. Rock and roll dominated music sales and Hollywood recording studios dropped most of their western artists (a few artists did successfully cross between

330-468: The concertina and accordion ) also enjoyed popularity in the Old West, moreso than guitars according to folk singer Peter Bellamy . Otto Gray, an early cowboy band leader, stated authentic western music had only three rhythms, all coming from the gaits of the cow pony : walk , trot , and lope . Gray also noted the uniqueness of this spontaneous American song product, and the freedom of expression of

363-668: The Bible . In 1983, he re-recorded many of his most popular songs for Fifty Golden Years . In 1988, Carter recorded his last album, What Ever Happened to All Those Years . In 1991, at age 86, he made his last concert tour, appropriately called 'The Last Round-up Tour', with shows throughout Nova Scotia , New Brunswick, Ontario , and Manitoba . He retired the following year, due to his loss of hearing. Wilf Carter died in 1996 in Scottsdale, Arizona , 13 days before his 92nd birthday. In 1952, he moved, this time to Orlando, Florida , where he opened

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396-718: The Canadian branch of RCA Victor , "My Swiss Moonlight Lullaby" became the first hit record ever by a Canadian country performer. That same year, Carter also wrote and recorded " Pete Knight , The King of the Cowboys," which also became a hit. For seven years (1934-1940) he hosted his own CBS country music radio program in New York City. His announcer was Bert Parks . CBS changed his the name to "Montana Slim," to appeal to American audiences. In 1935, Carter also performed on WABC radio . In 1937, Carter returned to Alberta, where he purchased

429-623: The Folks You Know.' His daughters, Carol and Sheila, worked with him as dancers and back-up singers. In 1964, Carter performed for the first time at the Calgary Stampede . He also became one of the most requested guests on the TV show hosted by Canadian country singer Tommy Hunter . In the 1960s and 70s he toured with Hank Snow . In 1980, Country Music Queen Kitty Wells and her husband Johnnie Wright encouraged Carter to tour with them, which

462-552: The Western genre, a style of music that had previously existed for many years before him. The music of Colter Wall is a part of this revival. Wilf Carter (musician) Wilfred Arthur Charles Carter (December 18, 1904 – December 5, 1996), professionally known as Wilf Carter in his native Canada and also as Montana Slim in the United States, was a Canadian Country and Western singer, songwriter, guitarist, and yodeller . He wrote over 500 songs. In 1971, Wilf Carter

495-798: The Wilf Carter Motor Lodge, a venture that lasted only two years. In 1971, Wilf Carter was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame . He was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1984, and the following year, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Juno Awards Hall of Fame. He was made an Honorary Chief of the Stony Indian tribe. A video documentary

528-532: The cowboy song genre, promoting western singers, Route 66 rockabilly, and cowboy poets. The style has even seen a popularity resurgence globally, thanks to the western genre 's new-found popularity on streaming services and video games . The Western Music Association was established in 1989 to preserve and promote western music. Western music in video games can be traced back to The Oregon Trail series , early Nintendo title Sheriff/Bandido , and arcade games like Sunset Riders . Fallout: New Vegas relies on

561-487: The expanded growth of Western music because of his work in the cowboy song genre in the 1990s and early 2000s. LeDoux was a PRCA World Champion in bareback riding who composed songs about personal experiences in the rodeo and ranch cowboy lifestyles . LeDoux exploded in popularity in 1992 when he dueted with country artist Garth Brooks in their Grammy nominated hit, “Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy” . His newfound popularity allowed LeDoux to introduce millions of newcomers to

594-506: The group was inducted to the Western Music Association Hall of Fame . Western music (North America) Western music is said to be influenced by the folk music traditions of England , Wales , Scotland , and Ireland , and cowboy songs sung around campfires in the 19th century, such as " Streets of Laredo ", can be traced back to European folk songs. Reflecting the realities of the open range and ranch houses where

627-544: The image of western themes in popular music. Authors such as Barry Mazor , Richard Carlin and John T. Davis have used the term cowboy pop to describe the music of cowboy singers in western films . Jimmy Wakely , for example, was described by Mazor as a cowboy pop singer, and he has written that "when singing cowboy movies ruled, Hollywood hardly made a distinction between the sounds of cowboy pop balladeers and another sound entirely, born in Texas, in which Jimmie Rodgers had

660-609: The late 1950s, Frankie Laine recorded TV drama Theme " Rawhide ". In 1964, the Country & Western Music Academy was formed in an effort to promote western music. The Academy was formed in response to the Nashville-oriented Country Music Association that had formed in 1958. The Academy's first awards were largely dominated by Bakersfield-based artists such as Buck Owens . Over time, the Academy evolved into

693-470: The most popular singer of that time, recorded numerous cowboy and western songs and starred in the western musical film Rhythm on the Range (1936). During this era, the most popular recordings and musical radio shows included western music. Western swing also developed during this time. The Western Writers of America was formed in 1953 to promote excellence in western-style writing, including songwriting. In

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726-600: The music originated, and the earliest cowboy bands were often string bands supplemented occasionally with a handheld free reed aerophone . The harmonica , invented in the early 19th century in central Europe, arrived in North America shortly before the American Civil War ; its small size and portability made it a favorite among the American public and the flood of pioneers heading westward, while squeezeboxes (such as

759-576: The same songs as Thorp's book, although in variant versions (most had been collected before Thorp's book was published). Lomax's compilation included many musical scores. Lomax published a second collection in 1919 titled Songs of the Cattle Trail and Cow Camp . The first successful cowboy band to tour the East was Otto Gray's Oklahoma Cowboys , put together by William McGinty, an Oklahoma pioneer and former Rough Rider . The band appeared on radio and toured

792-635: The singers. In 1908, N. Howard "Jack" Thorp published the first book of western music, titled Songs of the Cowboys . Containing only lyrics and no musical notation, the book was very popular west of the Mississippi River . Most of these cowboy songs are of unknown authorship, but among the best known is " Little Joe the Wrangler " written by Thorp himself. In 1910, John Lomax , in his book Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads , first gained national attention for western music. His book contained some of

825-541: The time, was playing bass for the Light Crust Doughboys . Martin was from Cass County , Texas, and an announcer began calling them the "Cass County Kids." They regularly performed on Gene Autry's Melody Ranch radio program and appeared in many Autry movies and ten of his TV shows during that period. Scoggins later went on to sing the theme song for the Beverly Hillbillies television program. In 1996,

858-533: The two, most prominently Johnny Cash , whose breakthrough hit " Folsom Prison Blues " (1955, live in 1968) combined a western theme with a rock-and-roll arrangement). In addition, the Nashville sound , based more on pop ballads than on folk music, came to dominate the country and western commercial sales; except for the label, much of the music was indistinguishable from rock and roll or popular classes of music. Country and western were among many genres whose popularity

891-533: The vaudeville circuit from 1924 through 1936. They recorded few songs, however, so are overlooked by many scholars of western music. Various musicians recorded western songs in the 1920s and early 1930s, including Carl T. Sprague , John I. White , Jules Verne Allen , Harry McClintock , Tex Owens , and Wilf Carter alias Montana Slim. Many of these early western singers had grown up on ranches and farms or had experience working as cowboys. They typically performed simple arrangements with rustic vocal performances and

924-503: Was billed as Carter's 80th Birthday Tour. From 1980 to 1985 he toured different parts of Canada. In 1985, Carter toured with Slim Whitman . Wilf Carter recorded over 40 original and compilation LP records for RCA Victor including Nuggets of the Golden West , Christmas in Canada , Songs of the Rail and Range , Songs of Australia , Wilf Carter Sings Jimmie Rogers , and Let's Go Back to

957-547: Was drowned out by the British Invasion . The resulting backlash from western music purists led to the development of country music styles much more influenced by western music, including the Bakersfield sound and outlaw country . The seminal compilation album Wanted! The Outlaws carried a Western theme and songs sung by Willie Nelson , Waylon Jennings , Jennings's wife Jessi Colter , and Tompall Glaser , revitalizing

990-802: Was heard locally on CFAC and nationally on the CRBC . Two years later, he was entertaining tourists as a trail rider for the Canadian Pacific Railway , who promoted horseback excursions into the Canadian Rockies . Carter soon became very popular in the region. In 1933, he was hired as an entertainer on the maiden voyage of the British ship S.S. Empress . Later that year, he stopped off in Montreal and made his first recording: "My Swiss Moonlight Lullaby" and "The Capture of Albert Johnson ". After signing with

1023-532: Was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame . Widely acknowledged as the father of Canadian country music, Carter was Canada's first country music star, inspiring a generation of young Canadian performers. Carter was born in Port Hilford, Nova Scotia , Canada. One of nine children, his father was Swiss. He began working odd jobs by the age of eight in Canning, Nova Scotia . He began singing after seeing

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1056-487: Was released in 2000, called The Last Round-up: The Wilf Carter Story , which examined Carter's distinguished career. He wrote hundreds of songs covering a wide range of themes, including traditional country western, cowboy, folk, and hobo songs. His recordings of "Blue Canadian Rockies" and " You Are My Sunshine " are among the most popular. Fellow Canadian country artist Ian Tyson considers Carter an influence on his music. Another Canadian artist, Stu Davis , acknowledged

1089-518: Was the grand marshal at the Calgary Stampede.) He made extra money singing and playing his guitar at dances, performing for tourist parties, and traveling throughout the Canadian Rockies. It was during this time that he developed his own yodelling style, sometimes called an "echo yodel" or a "three-in-one". Carter performed his first radio broadcast on CFCN Alberta in 1930. Soon after, he

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