The History of Western Music

The development of the western music genre was also influenced by the American Southwest Mexican music. Country music is related to western music however, even though it shares similar origins, it was developed in the Appalachians and reflected upon the life of the people within that region. Fiddles, guitars and the accordion are all labeled as the most common instruments that are used in this genre of music.

Origins of Western Music:
Western music’s origins can be followed all the way back to the traditions of folk music of Scotland, England, and Ireland. During the middle of the nineteenth century, western music was brought to North America by ranchers and pioneers that settled within the western plains, the American Southwest and the Rocky Mountains. The mix of ethnic Scottish, English, German, Irish, Mexican, and Eastern European residents that had settled within these regions and gave western music its unique qualities.

The Nineteen Hundreds and Western Music:
In the beginning of the twentieth century, N. Howard Thorp was able to publish the very first book that pertained to western music - it was entitled “Songs of the Cowboys”. West of the Mississippi, this book was extremely popular. The book included many different songs where the authors were unknown - however, it did contain the very first popular cowboy song, which was entitled “Little Joe, the Wrangler”. This song was written by Thorp - however, it didn’t include musical notation.

Then John Lomax compiled a book known as “Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, and was able to gain national attention first for western music. This book contained a lot of the same exact songs that were included in Thorp’s book, although, the compilation in Lomax’s book included several musical scores. With the invention of recording and radio devices, the music was able to find an audience that was previously ignored by Tin Pan Alley and music schools. There were many westerners that actually preferred to listen to familiar music that was about their environment or themselves.

The Oklahoma Cowboys:
Otto Gray’s Oklahoma Cowboys was the very first successful cowboy band that toured the east and it was put together by a former Rough Rider and Oklahoma pioneer by the name of William McGinty. From the twenties to the thirties, the band appeared on the radio and toured the well known vaudeville circuit. However, they only recorded very few songs so they were overlooked by many of the western music scholars.

Rediscovery of Western Music:
To this day, there are many westerners out there that prefer to hear music that relates to them. Since western music was relegated to the western and country genre by all of the marketing agencies, the recording stars were only able to release albums to moderate success.