Cowboy Songs | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | August 21, 1990 | |||
Recorded | Omni Sound Studio, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
Genre | Country, western | |||
Length | 65:43 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. Records | |||
Producer | Steve Gibson | |||
Michael Martin Murphey chronology | ||||
|
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic |
Cowboy Songs is the sixteenth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey and his first album of cowboy songs. The album peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. [2] [3]
Michael Martin Murphey is an American singer-songwriter best known for writing and performing Western music, country music and popular music. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including Cowboy Songs, the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs by Marty Robbins in 1959. He has recorded the hit singles "Wildfire", "Carolina in the Pines", "What's Forever For", "A Long Line of Love", "What She Wants", "Don't Count the Rainy Days", and "Maybe This Time". Murphey is also the author of New Mexico's state ballad, "The Land of Enchantment". Murphey has become a prominent musical voice for the Western horseman, rancher, and cowboy.
Western music is a form of country and hillbilly music composed by and about the people who settled and worked throughout the Western United States and Western Canada. Western music celebrates the lifestyle of the cowboy on the open ranges, Rocky Mountains, and prairies of Western North America. Directly related musically to old English, Irish, Scottish, and folk ballads, also the Mexican folk music of Northern Mexico and Southwestern United States influenced the development of this genre, particularly corrido, ranchera, New Mexico and Tejano. Western music shares similar roots with Appalachian music, which developed around the same time throughout Appalachia and the Appalachian Mountains. The music industry of the mid-20th century grouped the two genres together under the banner of country and western music, later amalgamated into the modern name, country music.
Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style, and is also known for its music charts, including the Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular songs and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows.
Music
Tammy Wynette, was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of country music's best-known artists and biggest-selling female singers.
Fletcher Bangs "Biff" Watson is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. His musicianship has been a part of recording sessions for many artists.
Paul V. Franklin is an American multi-instrumentalist, known mainly for his work as a steel guitarist. He began his career in the 1970s as a member of Barbara Mandrell's road band; in addition he toured with Vince Gill, Mel Tillis, Jerry Reed and Dire Straits. He has since become a prolific session musician in Nashville, Tennessee, playing on more than 500 albums. He has been named by the Academy of Country Music as Best Steel Guitarist on several occasions. In addition to the pedal steel guitar and lap steel guitar, Franklin plays Dobro, fiddle, and drums, as well as three custom-built instruments called the Pedabro, The Box, and the baritone steel guitar.
Production
Chart (1990) | Peak position |
---|---|
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 25 |
The Very Best of Tracy Lawrence is a 2007 compilation album by country music artist Tracy Lawrence. It is his third greatest-hits album. This compilation comprises 21 of his Top Ten singles, arranged in chronological order, from his 1991 debut "Sticks and Stones" to 2003's "Paint Me a Birmingham". Of the songs on this album, only the 1994 single "Renegades, Rebels and Rogues" was not previously included on one of Lawrence's studio releases. The album has sold 348,900 copies in the United States as of April 2017.
Live at Billy Bob's Texas is the twenty-sixth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, and his second live album. The album was recorded live at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth, Texas.
Cowboy Classics: Playing Favorites II is the twenty-fourth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. This is Murphey's followup to his successful 2001 compilation Playing Favorites and contains rerecorded versions of many of his cowboy songs. Murphey's attraction to the cowboy's way of life is an attempt to preserve his own cultural heritage, breathing new life into classics like "I Ride an Old Paint", "Red River Valley", and "Yellow Rose of Texas". Among the highlights of the album is a stately six-minute version of "Streets of Laredo", arranged for fiddle and piano. In the liner notes, Murphey includes a short note concerning each of the song's origins.
Playing Favorites is the twenty-third album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. Released August 21, 2001, the album features completely new recordings of eleven of the artist's country, cowboy, and popular crossover classics, as well as one new song. In his liner notes, Murphey writes that "songs are like children; they grow, evolve, change with time." The concept behind Playing Favorites was to document the growth and evolution of his best-loved tunes, using many new musicians and modern recording techniques not available when the original recordings were done.
Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir is the second album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. Recorded at Ray Stevens Sound Laboratory in Nashville, Tennessee, the album consists of songs that are "borderline romantic" without being too intricate or too commercial sounding, and "manages to keep its simplicity and rustic charm intact." Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir peaked at number 196 on the Billboard 200.
Michael Murphey is the third album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey and his first for Epic Records.
Swans Against the Sun is the fifth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. The album features performances by John Denver, Charlie Daniels, and Willie Nelson, and peaked at number 44 on the Billboard 200.
Cowboy Songs Four is the twenty-first album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, his fourth album of cowboy songs, and his first album produced by his son, Ryan Murphey. The album features a guest performance by Lyle Lovett on "Farther Down the Line".
The Horse Legends is the twentieth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. This is Murphey's tribute to the horse and contains a duet with Johnny Cash on "Tennessee Stud", cover versions of Dan Fogelberg's "Run for the Roses" and Gordon Lightfoot's "The Pony Man", and re-recordings of Murphey's "Wildfire" and "The Running Blood". The Horse Legends was the last album Murphey recorded for Warner Bros. Records.
Sagebrush Symphony is the nineteenth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, his second live album since his 1979 live/studio album Peaks,Valleys,Honkytonks and Alleys, and his first album with a symphony orchestra. Recorded live with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, this ambitious album, which presents cowboy songs and poems in a symphonic setting, contains a selection of Murphey's most popular songs, as well as traditional cowboy music. Murphey turns in "an impassioned performance" and the inclusion of guest artists Sons of the San Joaquin, Ric Orozco, Herb Jeffries, and Robert Mirabal "adds to the musical diversity and richness of the album."
Cowboy Songs III – Rhymes of the Renegades is the eighteenth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey and his third album of cowboy songs. The album is devoted to cowboy folklore and true tales of the West and focuses on real-life outlaws, from Jesse James to Billy The Kid to Belle Starr. Murphey performs these songs "with a scholar's eye and a fan's heart."
Cowboy Christmas: Cowboy Songs II is the seventeenth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, his second album of cowboy songs, and his first album of Christmas music.
Land of Enchantment is the fifteenth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. The album reached number 33 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
River of Time is the fourteenth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. The album contains a newly recorded version of "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?" and a duet with his son, Ryan Murphey, on "Talkin' to the Wrong Man" which reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in July 1988 and number 1 on the RPM Country Singles chart in Canada. River of Time peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
Tonight We Ride is the twelfth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey and his first for Warner Bros. Records. Released in 1986, the album was produced by Jim Ed Norman and contains guest performances by Pam Tillis, Reggie Young, Mark O'Connor, Charlie McCoy, and J.D. Souther. The album's title track was also its first single. The album peaked at number 46 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
Flowing Free Forever is the sixth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. The album establishes Murphey's love of wide open spaces and his "desire to let his soul roam freely." The album was not as commercially successful as a few of his earlier releases, but "Murphey's visions and persona remain intact." The album contains the song "Cherokee Fiddle", which was later recorded by Johnny Lee for the film soundtrack for Urban Cowboy. Flowing Free Forever peaked at number 130 on the Billboard 200.
Lone Wolf is the seventh album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. The album peaked at number 99 on the Billboard 200.
Peaks, Valleys, Honky Tonks & Alleys is the eighth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey and his first live album. The first five tracks were recorded at the legendary Palomino Club in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, an important West Coast country music venue. The remaining five tracks are studio recordings. The live tracks showcase Murphey's early work with some interesting twists. His "Cosmic Cowboy" turns into a breakdown, while "Another Cheap Western" is coupled with The Olympics' 1958 hit, "Western Movies". The album produced the singles "Backslider's Wine" and "Chain Gang" that peaked at numbers 92 and 93 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart respectively.
Wind in the Wire is the eighth studio album released by American country music artist Randy Travis. Released in 1993 on Warner Bros. Records, the album was made to accompany a television series also entitled Wind in the Wire. Two of the album's singles — "Cowboy Boogie" and the title track — entered the Billboard country music charts, peaking at #46 and #65, respectively, making this the first album of Travis's career not to produce any Top 40 hits in the United States. "Cowboy Boogie", however, was a #10 on the RPM Country Tracks charts in Canada.
Milestones: Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American country music artist Holly Dunn. It was released by Warner Bros. Records in July 1991. Two singles were released from the album, "Maybe I Mean Yes" and "No One Takes the Train Anymore". The former peaked at #48 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. The album peaked at #25 on the Top Country Albums chart and #162 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Gold by the RIAA.