We pick up the "Jingle Bells" trail with some singing Cowboys!
We start with the gentleman who put the idea of a singing cowboy on the map - Gene Autry!
Here he sings "Jingle Bells" on his "Melody Ranch" radio broadcast from December 22, 1946:
That is a very snappy version and I like the new Christmas verse a lot!
Flash-forward to 1959 when Gene cut a studio version of "Jingle Bells":
I think this version is OK, but not as good as the earlier radio version. This doesn't have enough of a western sound.
The flipside of that 45 is interesting, though:
"Santa's Comin' in a Whirlybird" has that real late 1950s novelty record sound. It's pretty fun and is over well before it wears out its welcome!
Both of these tracks have been reissued tons of times, including on this album that I had (still have) and loved (still do) as a kid:
Although it features re-recordings of some songs, the originals and Gene's linking narration make it must-have for any Christmas music collection!
Next up we have a singing cowboy by way of that being the stage name of one Lloyd Copas. Here's Cowboy Copas on King Records in 1947:
That's a really great version!
Cowboy Copas was a very popular performer, but he's probably best-remembered for being on the ill-fated plane with superstar Patsy Cline and fellow veteran singer Hawkshaw Hawkins.
Next we have Bill Boyd and his Cowboy Ramblers on RCA Victor in 1947:
The flipside is a nice version of the relatively under-recorded "Up on the Housetop":
Very catchy record from Bill Boyd, who is not the same William "Bill" Boyd who portrayed Hopalong Cassidy!
We're in for some time travel whiplash as we jump back to 1959 to meet up with former movie singing cowboy Jimmy Wakely with this single from his Christmas album on Shasta Records:
Pretty cool, and it shows Mr. Wakely was not behind the times!
The whole album is pretty fun!
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| The Jimmy Wakely Trio with Gene Autry. Left to right: Jimmy, Gene, Johnny Bond and Dick Reinhart |
Jimmy was a fine singer and starred in a series of B-Westerns for Monogram in the mid to late 1940s after having provided musical support with his trio (including Johnny Bond) for other cowboy stars earlier in the decade and performing on Gene Autry's "Melody Ranch" show.
Here's a great record from 1953, closer to Jimmy's heyday on Capitol Records:
Love it!
Next we jump all the way to 1967 and the King of the Cowboys, Roy Rogers with this mashup (before that phrase was a thing):
Very clever and great yodeling!
The label credits Roy and Dale Evans as the track was from their album "Christmas is Always," but I don't think Dale sings on this number.
At some point, Roy's separate "Jingle Bells" track was rescued from the Capitol vaults and released on its own. I ran into on this CD from 1995 (maybe the first release of that track?):
Awesome CD by the way!
So, some great tracks by moving picture and recording singing cowboys!
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