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The Western Music Association Awards show will be held at the Marriot Hotel in Albuquerque next week. We sure do encourage you to join the hundreds of folks who show up for this wonderful cowboy shindig. You'll hear some of the best entertainers in the country performing traditional cowboy and Western swing music. I earned my masters degree there at the University of New Mexico. But I didn't spend all of my time studying, as Peggy and I began our family there sometime around January 1, 1966 and welcomed the little guy into the world on September 30th when we then lived down in Las Cruces. We still love New Mexico, with the beautiful deserts and mountains and the diverse cultures. Y'all come, ya hear?

Got a nice note from Jesse Mullins, Jr., the other day. Mullins served as Editor-In-Chief of The American Cowboy magazine for 15 years, and he was the voice behind the establishing of the "National Day of the Cowboy" signed into law by President George Bush. Awhile back he "married above his learnin'" when he wed the pretty and talented Kim Lawson. They now live in Abilene, Texas. Jesse is pursuing a variety of writing projects, not the least of which is a forthcoming book. Why don't you saddle up and ride on over to his brand-spanking new web site. It is filled with a wide range of topics written in his own unique style. His web site is called, strangely enough, www.jessemullins.com .

Nope, they are not Bonnie and Clyde.

Naw, they're not Frankie and Johnnie, either.

And they sure ain't Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.

Well, shucks, I confess. It is just Stan and Peggy Paregien all cleaned up right purty. This was taken in June of 1987, following a trip to the annual conference of the Western Writers of America (held that year at Sheridan, Wyoming). It was taken at a photography studio set up in the old saloon where Wild Bilk Hickok was shot and killed. That was in downtown Deadwood, South Dakota.

The Western Way is the magazine of the Western Music Association. It is a fine magazine and getting better all the time. The staff has now posted several back issue to their web site. There is no charge for viewing the archived editions, so mosey over and take a look. Right now they go back to the summer of 2008. And as Lindalee Green would say, that's "One MORE reason to advertise in the Western Way!!! " You may contact Lindalee for questions regarding advertising at lindaleegreen@earthlink.net. You'll find the Western Way archives at http://www.westernmusic.com/western-way.html

*Elliott Barker was the father of "Smokey the Bear." It was he who found a fire-singed cub and promoted it as a symbol of the need to protect the forest. Cowboy musicologist Jim Bob Tinsley was a friend of Elliott and his brother, S. Omar Barker, and told me that story as being a true one. He told it to me at the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, Texas on June 1, 1991.

This poem copyrighted 1991. It may not be published in print or electronically without the express written permission of the author. Write to him at : cowboystan@live.com

Public Cowboy No. 1 is a facinating book about the life and times of Western mega-star Gene Autry. It was written by Ms. Holly George-Warren, an award-winning writer, editor and frequent commmentator on Western films, music, and fashion.This 406 page book was published in 2007 by Oxford University Press.

The author points out, though Gene himself had worked in blackface with a traveling medicine show and minstrel-style characters sometimes showed up in his early films, Autry's later work had no such acts. She points out that Autry's films were very popular with black audiences in black theaters, right along with white audiences. And, just as many white musicians credit Autry's music with having an impact on their own, she points out that such black heavy-weights as Aaron Neville, Solomon Burke, B.B. King and Huddie Ledbetter ( "Lead Belly") also said Autry influenced their own careers.
Public Cowboy

As pointed out in the first installment, Gene Autry was quite the ladies' man off the screen. He was the equivalent of today's "rock stars" and he took full advantage of the sexual perks that came his way. And early on in his movies he planted some lusty kisses on his pretty leading ladies. However, it soon became apparent that the large number of young boys buying tickets to Gene's movies did not like his romancing. So increasingly he was portrayed as a real cowboy who was painfully shy around pretty women.

On December 5, 1935, Gene recorded "You're the Only Star In My Blue Heaven" at a studio in Chicago. He wrote that song, which became one of his all-time favorites, after receiving a love letter from a woman someplace in Iowa. She told him in the letter how one night she listened to him singing on the radio and then went outside and stood looking dreamily at the millions of stars. "But," she assured him in her letter, "you're the only star in my blue heaven." Gene took that thought and created his own love song. He recorded "Mexicali Rose" in the same studio on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1935.

He said of his experiences in creating and recording music, that: "Music has been the better part of my career. Movies are wonderful fun and they give you a famous face. But how the words and melody are joined, how they come together out of air and enter the mind, this is art. Songs are forever" (quoted by George-Warren, p. 149).

Along the way, Gene and wife Ida had taken his two sisters, Veda Autry and Wilma Autry (whom Gene affectionately called "Bill"), and much younger brother Dudley into their home in California. The girls soon found husbands and moved out. But 15-year-old Dudley looked like he might become a permanent fixture. He wanted to become a star himself. Gene soon demanded that he earn his own spending money, with the press reporting that young Dudley Autry was seen selling newspapers on the street.

Meanwhile, Gene's father was doing what he did best. And that was to drift in and out of jails as he wandered throughout Oklahoma and Texas, gambling and trading horses. Gene kept up with Delbert Autry and sent him money from time to time. Then, very much against Gene's wishes, ol' Delbert married a New Mexico girl who was the same age as his daughter Wilma. This was his third wife. They soon had three kids -- half-siblings to Gene. And Gene reluctantly but faithfully sent money to his father every month.

The fact is, by then ol' Gene was making a pile of money. He was raking in money from every direction -- movies, recordings, radio, personal appearances and rodeos. He was not only a talented and hard-working entertainer, he was an excellent businessman with an ever present awareness that fame is often fleeting and he needed to get every dollar he could as quickly as he could.

Gene Autry was really riding high toward that goal in 1937. The November release of his movie, "Springtime in the Rockies," was well-received by fans and critics alike. And late that year he finished filming another Western called "The Old Barn Dance". That had a young fella in it called Dick Weston, better known at that time as Leonard Sly and later as Roy Rogers. On December 21, 1937, newspapers across the country carried the story that Gene Autry ranked Number 1 in the "action melodrama" category of the industry poll. The "Oklahoma Yodeling Kid" was at the top of the Hollywood pecking order.

Extra note: Rope Burns magazine in the Sept.-Oct., 2009 edition reported the death of 82 year old Mel Autry. They wrote, "Mel autry, old rodeo rider and distant cousin of Gene Autry, passed away at his home in Thackerville, Ok., recently. Mel was an avid spur collector and formerly had a saddle shop in Gainesville, TX, before retiring to Thackerville. Mel was a rough stock rider with the Gene Autry Rodeo and had many colorful stories about Gene. One story he related was when Gene was in Madison Square Gardens with his rodeo. Gene always rode into the arena and shot his gun in the air. The night before [the rodeo] some of the cowboys went out and found some dead pigeons and took them to the top of the Gardens and when Gene rode in [and fired his gun], they threw the dead pigeons down from the roof. Gene didn't have much of a sense of humor, but the cowboys thought it was hilarious."

More later.

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