Cowboys and Their Music
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| www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com |
I recently attended a Garth Brooks concert. I’d attended his
concerts in the past, and knew we were in for a great show. He didn’t disappoint,
and our entire group had very hoarse voices the next morning—which is what happens when
you sing along with 20,000 other people for three hours. Two of the people in
our group had so much fun, they went online early the next morning and snagged
tickets to go again that night. They weren’t disappointed. The concert was just
as top notch and the night before.
I enjoy music of all kinds, but admit country is my favorite.
I love storytelling and set to music, it’s the best.
Music has always been part of a cowboy’s life, and played a
major role in winning the west.
Shortly before the Santa Fe Railroad arrived, Dodge City, Kansas
was incorporated. The booming business was buffalo bones and hides and the town
provided a social gathering place for the soldiers from nearby Fort Dodge. In 1875 its cattle days were born
and for the next ten years it was known as the “Cowboy Capital” as well as
“Queen of Cowtowns”. Well known lawmen and gunfighters took their turn in
Dodge- Wyatt Earp; Bat, Ed, and Jim Masterson; Doc Holliday; William Tilghman;
Clay Allison; Ben and Billy Thompson; Lake Short; and many others. In fact, it was
often hard to tell the good guys from the bad in Dodge City.
A highly attractive event for Dodge City that became
extremely popular was the performances of The Dodge City Cowboy Band. Their
musical abilities were high quality; however it was said it was their manner of
dress that attracted fans by the hundreds. The members wore flannel shirts,
gray cowboy hats, leather chaps, spurs and pearl-handled revolvers, and the
band leader used a revolver to keep time instead of a baton.
The Cowboy Band also played in Denver, Chicago and
Minneapolis, and in Washington, D.C., at the inaugural celebration of President
Benjamin Harrison.
Though known as the “Dodge City Cowboy Band” not one of the
‘cowboys’ was from Dodge.
My latest release isn’t set in Dodge, nor does it have music,
but it does have a cowboy, just the wrong one.
What a fun post, Lauri! Thank you for sharing (and glad to meet a fellow Garth Brooks fan).
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