Harry Jackson "The Cowboy: His Songs, Ballads And Brag Talk" (Folkways Records, 1959) (LP)
Classic cowboy folklore from Harry Jackson (ne Harry Aaron Shapiro Jr., 1924-2011) was a Jewish kid from Chicago who headed out west to Wyoming when he was just fourteen and devoted himself to the cowboy life. On this double-LP set Jackson, who prided himself on performing old-school western music without the adornments of the commercialized "singing cowboy" scene, delivers a few dozen brisk renditions of classics such as "Blood On The Saddle," "Strawberry Roan," "Tying A Knot In The Devil's Tail" and "When The Work's All Done This Fall," as well as numerous more obscure tunes, along with jokes and other recitations. This album was released well after Jackson pursued a career as a highly successful painter and sculptor, working notably as a postwar abstract expressionist, and later as a realist, producing numerous western-themed paintings and statues. Harry Jackson also had some bit roles in Hollywood and, following the release of this album, was "discovered" by the folk revival scene and shared the stage with young'uns like Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. Although this album was reissued in the wake of that recognition, it seems to be the only full album he released.

Merrick Jarrett "Songs Of The Old West" (Washington Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Bill Grauer)

Merrick Jarrett "The Old Chisholm Trail: Traditional Songs Of The Old West" (Riverside Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Bill Grauer)
This is the same album as above; not sure which edition came out first.

Herb Jeffries "The Bronze Buckaroo Rides Again" (Warner Reprise, 1995)
In 1937, up-and-coming jazz vocalist Herb Jeffries starred in the first of several all-black western movies which earned him the nickname of "the Bronze Buckaroo." Apparently Jeffries was the first African-American singing cowboy star, and headlined several movies in the 'Thirties, including Harlem on the Prairie, The Bronze Buckaroo, Harlem Rides the Range and Two-Gun Man from Harlem. Jazz music was his main gig, singing with Earl Hines in the mid-1930s, the Duke Ellington Orchestra from 1940-42, and as a solo star for years to come, but he did enjoy the cowboy stuff, too, and came back to it in later years, as heard on this nostalgic album which he recorded when he was 84 years old(!). The repertoire includes standards such as "Cow Cow Boogie," "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," and "Back In The Saddle Again," as well as songs he originally recorded in his old films.

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Hick Music Index

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