Cowboy Songs
A "cosmic cowboy" in the country-rocking '70s, Michael Martin Murphey revived his career as a cowboy traditionalist with this 1990 release. Mixing campfire chestnuts such as "Home on the Range, "I Ride an Old Paint," and "Happy Trails" with contemporary hokum such as "Cowboy Logic," the album returned thewesternto the music formerly known as country and western, and its success inspired a series of sequels on the Warner Western label. Though nothing here is as cloying as 1975's "Wildfire" ballad, Murphey's biggest hit, this smooth stylist emphasizes the romance rather than the grittier realities of the cowboy's life.--Don McLeese