The Sons of the Pioneers are one of the United States' earliest Western singing groups. Known for their vocal performances, their musicianship, and their songwriting, they produced innovative recordings that have inspired many Western music performers and remained popular through the years. Since 1933, through many changes in membership, the Sons of the Pioneers have remained one of the longest-surviving country music vocal groups.
Riders in the Sky is an American Western music and comedy group which began performing in 1977. The band has released more than 40 full length albums, starred in a single-season self-titled television series on CBS, wrote and starred in an NPR syndicated radio drama Riders Radio Theater, and appeared in television series and films including as featured contributors to Ken Burns' Country Music. Their family-friendly style also appeals to children, exemplified in their recordings for Disney and Pixar. They have won two Grammy Awards and have written and performed music for major motion pictures, including "Woody's Roundup" from Toy Story 2 and Pixar's short film, For the Birds. The band also recorded full length companion albums for Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc.
Western music is a form of 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 range, along the Rocky Mountains, and among the prairies of Western North America. The genre grew from the mix of cultural influences in the American frontier and what became the Southwestern United States at the time, it came from the folk music traditions of those living the region, those being the hillbilly music from those that arrived from the Eastern U.S., the corrido and ranchera from Northern Mexico, and the New Mexico and Tejano endemic to the Southwest. The music industry of the mid-20th century grouped the western genre with that of similar folk origins, instrumentation and rural themes, to create the banner of country and western music, which was simplified in time to country music.
Lester Alvin Burnett, better known as Smiley Burnette, was an American country music performer and a comedic actor in Western films and on radio and TV, playing sidekick to Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and other B-movie cowboys. He was also a prolific singer-songwriter who is reported to have played proficiently over 100 musical instruments, sometimes more than one simultaneously. His career, beginning in 1934, spanned four decades, including a regular role on CBS-TV's Petticoat Junction in the 1960s.
"(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend" is a cowboy-styled country/western song written in 1948 by American songwriter Stan Jones.
A singing cowboy was a subtype of the archetypal cowboy hero of early Western films. It references real-world campfire side ballads in the American frontier. The original cowboys sang of life on the trail with all the challenges, hardships, and dangers encountered while pushing cattle for miles up the trails and across the prairies. This continues with modern vaquero traditions and within the genre of Western music, and its related New Mexico, Red Dirt, Tejano, and Texas country music styles. A number of songs have been written and made famous by groups like the Sons of the Pioneers and Riders in the Sky and individual performers such as Marty Robbins, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter, Bob Baker and other "singing cowboys". Singing in the wrangler style, these entertainers have served to preserve the cowboy as a unique American hero.
Three on the Trail is the debut studio album by the Western band Riders in the Sky, released in 1979 by Rounder Records Group.
Live is a live recording by the Western band Riders in the Sky released in 1984. It is available as a single CD. It was recorded at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, on March 5 and 6, 1983.
Yodel the Cowboy Way is a compilation recording released by the Western band Riders in the Sky on January 13, 1998. It is available as a single CD.
Live from the Golden Age of Riders Radio Theater is a compilation album by the Western band Riders in the Sky in 2006. The album is a collection of songs featured on the Riders' weekly radio show: Riders Radio Theater. It is available as a single CD.
Best of the West Rides Again is a compilation recording by the Western band Riders in the Sky in 1989.
Best of the West is a compilation recording by the Western band Riders in the Sky, released in 1987. It is available as a single CD and contains highlights from their first five albums on the Rounder label.
Frederick Owen LaBour, better known by his stage name Too Slim, is a Grammy award-winning American musician, best known for his work with the Western swing musical and comedy group Riders in the Sky.
Willie's Roadhouse is a channel on the Sirius XM Radio that specializes in playing traditional country music, as well as some older country hit songs. It is available on channel 61 and Dish Network 6061, until No Shoes Radio took Willie's Roadhouse's former spot.
America was a Commercial-free Music channel on XM Satellite Radio that specialized in playing Classic country music. It was available on channel 10 on XM and channel 808 on DirecTV. America was scrapped as part of the Sirius/XM merger on November 12, 2008, replaced by Sirius's similar channel that is also devoted to Classic Country music, The Roadhouse.
Bill Mack Smith Jr. was an American country music songwriter, singer, and radio host. While at WBAP Radio, Mack initiated the Bill Mack Million Mile Club for truckers achieving one million miles of accident-free over-the-road driving.
Dallas Wayne is a singer, songwriter, voice-over artist and on-air radio personality for SiriusXM Satellite Radio. A native of Springfield, Missouri, he grew up in Branson, Missouri and Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Dallas began performing professionally while in high school.
Riders Radio Theater was an ongoing radio show performed live by the Western band Riders in the Sky. The series was initially recorded in at the Johnson Theater at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, with WPLN-FM as the presenting station, but moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. These half-hour radio shows can be heard on Tuesdays at 11am (EST) on WMKV 89.3 FM, out of the Cincinnati, Ohio area and on Wednesday Nights at 7:00 PM (CST) on KPMI 1300 AM, out of the Bemidji, Minnesota area. It has recently been picked up by Bluegrass Country Radio on Tuesdays midnight to 1:00am and Fridays 9 until 10:00pm. page It can also be heard on the official Riders In The Sky iTunes page and SoundCloud for free at any time.
Tumbleweed Theater is an American anthology television series starring western/comedy band Riders in the Sky which ran from 1983 to 1988. The premise of the show was each week, the Riders would present a B-Western/Singing Cowboy movie from the 1930s and 40s and perform songs and sketches between the film.
"Squaws Along the Yukon" is a song written by Cam Smith, popularized in 1958 by Hank Thompson, and released in July 1958 on the Capitol label. An earlier version of the song, released in the 1940s, was recorded by Texas Jim Lewis and His Lone Star Cowboys.
