Streets of Laredo, traditional, arr. Norman Luboff
Riders in the Sky, Stan Jones, arr. Norman Luboff
Poor Lonesome Cowboy, traditional, arr. Norman Luboff
Home on the Range, traditional, arr. Norman Luboff
Colorado Trail, traditional, arr. Norman Luboff
The Old Chisholm Trail, traditional, arr. Norman Luboff

From Aaron Copland: Old American Songs
    The Boatmen’s Dance, arr. Irving Fine
    At the River, arr. R. Wilding-White
    Ching-A-Ring-Chaw, arr. Irving Fine
    Zion’s Walls, arr. Glenn Koponen

PROGRAM NOTES

Cowboy and Western Songs

Western music is a form of folk music originally composed by and about the people who settled and worked throughout the American West. Directly related musically to old English, Scottish and Irish folk ballads brought to North America during the mid-19th century by pioneers and ranchers who settled the western plains, the Rocky Mountains and the American Southwest, western music celebrates the life of the cowboy on the open ranges and prairies of western North America.

Streets of Laredo was originally titled The Cowboy’s Lament, known also as The Dying Cowboy. It is a plainsman’s adaptation of An Unfortunate Rake, current in Ireland as early as 1790. Its origin is reflected in the absurd request for a military funeral retained in the chorus: Ó beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly, play the Dead March as you carry me along; Take me to the graveyard, there lay the sod o’er me, For I’m a young cowboy, and I know I’ve done wrong.

(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend is a country and cowboy-style song. It was written on June 5, 1948, by Stan Jones. A number of versions were crossover hits on the pop charts in 1949. It has been called by many the “best country/western song ever.” The song is about a cowboy who has a vision of red-eyed, fire-breathing cattle thundering across the sky, being chased by the ghosts of damned cowboys. One warns him that if he does not change his ways, he will be doomed to join them, forever “trying to catch the Devil’s herd across the endless skies.” The song’s story seems to have a marked resemblance to the northern European mythic Wild Hunt. More than 50 different artists have recorded versions of this classic.

With its origin in the Irish pub song tradition, Poor Lonesome Cowboy is a ballad describing the solitude of living on the trail, missing family back home.

Home on the Range is the state song of Kansas. Dr. Brewster M. Higley originally wrote the words in a poem called “My Western Home.” He wrote it in the early 1870s in Smith County, Kan. The poem was first published in a December 1873 issue of the Smith County Pioneer under the title Oh, Give Me a Home Where the Buffalo Roam. The music was written by a friend of Higley’s named Daniel E. Kelley. The song was picked up by settlers, cowboys and others and spread across the nation in various forms. In the early 20th century, it was arranged by Texas composer David Guion who is often credited as the composer. It was officially adopted as the state song of Kansas on June 30, 1947. It was also used as the theme song of the 1980 film Where the Buffalo Roam and is commonly regarded as the unofficial anthem of the American West.

Similar to Poor Lonesome Cowboy, Colorado Trail is about longing for the loved ones left behind. All that remains in this song for the lonesome cowboy is the memory of his beloved at day break.

The Chisholm Trail was a dirt trail used in the latter 19th century to drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas railheads. The trail is named for Jesse Chisholm, who had built several trading posts in what is now western Oklahoma before the American Civil War. It is the subject of the country song, The Old Chisholm Trail. Among those who have covered the song are Gene Autry, Girls of the Golden West, Michael Martin Murphey, Tex Ritter and Roy Rogers.

Aaron Copland: Old American Songs

Aaron Copland (1900–1990) was an American composer known for forging a distinctly American style of composition. His music achieved a difficult balance between modern music and American folk styles, and the open, slowly changing harmonies of many of his works are said to evoke the vast American landscape.

Old American Songs is a set of songs by Copland originally scored for voice and piano and reworked for baritone with orchestral accompaniment. It is divided into two sets composed in 1950 and 1952 respectively. Set I (from which comes The Boatmen’s Dance) was first performed in 1955, and Set II (from which comes At the River, Ching-A-Ring-Chaw and Zion’s Walls) was first performed in 1958. The Boatmen’s Dance and Ching-A-Ring-Chaw are American minstrel songs dating back to the 19th century. At the River was originally a hymn, and Zion’s Walls is a revivalist song. Copland’s penchant for depicting the American sound is clearly painted in these works. These songs have been arranged for both mixed and men’s chorus.