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24-759: Foy Willing (May 14, 1914 – July 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and bandleader, who performed Western music and appeared in Western movies . He formed the band Riders of the Purple Sage . Foy Lopez Willingham was born in Iredell, Texas , United States. He began his career while attending high school in Texas by working at a local radio station. In 1933, he traveled to New York City to further his radio career. In 1940, he moved to Oklahoma , and in 1942 to California where he became popular during

48-716: 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

72-460: 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

96-405: A heart attack. 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 the music originated, and

120-626: 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 ,

144-584: 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

168-637: 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

192-616: The Golden Age of Radio . In 1942, Willing co-founded Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage , with Iowa musician Al Sloey. The band included Patti Page on vocals, fiddler Johnny Paul, and accordionist Ken Coopern. The band's first hit, "Texas Blues", was written by Willing. They grew in fame and over their ten-year career, performed as the musical group backing up Monte Hale and Roy Rogers for Republic Studios . Willing and his band appeared as performers in many Western movies in

216-473: 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

240-831: The 1940s and early 1950s with Charles Starrett , Monte Hale, and Roy Rogers and Dale Evans . The Willing-led Riders of the Purple Sage disbanded in 1952. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage occasionally reunited to record and perform, and Willing went on to appear at Western festivals during the 1970s. Willing also traveled with Gene Autry during Autry's North American tour. On October 30, 1963, Les Paul sued Mary Ford for divorce, in Hackensack, New Jersey , charging that Ford left Paul for Willing. In 1966, Willing married Sharon Lee. Willing died on July 24, 1978, in Nashville, Tennessee , of

264-539: 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. Otto Gray and his Oklahoma Cowboys Otto Gray and his Oklahoma Cowboys were the first nationally famous cowboy western music band in the United States, and the first cowboy band to appear on the cover of Billboard (June 6, 1931). Formed in Ripley, Oklahoma in

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288-532: 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

312-593: 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

336-515: The early 1920s, the band was first known as McGinty's Oklahoma Cowboy Band, for the leader, Billy McGinty , a well-known cowboy, former Rough Rider , and world champion rider with Buffalo Bill 's show. The band members were authentic cowboys from ranches in and around Ripley. Their first promoter, George Youngblood, introduced them saying, "I wish to say of this bunch of cowboys that they are not only good fiddlers, but can ride or rope anything that has horns, hide or hair." After McGinty left to become

360-487: 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

384-548: 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

408-636: 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

432-474: 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

456-515: The postmaster of Ripley, Otto Gray (1884–1967), took over as bandleader as well as manager. With the extensive traveling generated from their popularity, the original band members dropped out to stay with their jobs and families. Gray filled their places with professional musicians willing to spend most of their time on the road. Playing on the vaudeville circuits in the Midwest and Northeast, and nationwide over some 130 radio stations, they played

480-586: 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

504-703: 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

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528-482: 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

552-533: 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

576-561: 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

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