Singing in the Saddle: Saturday's Heroes

The songs of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Sons of the Pioneers and Tex Ritter put the "Western" in Country and Western Music. Much of this music was written for and presented to the American public through the widely popular cowboy films of the 30's and 40's.

Roy Rogers (Leonard Slye, b. 11/5/1911): Roy was a western movie star from 1938 to 1953. He began playing at local functions during the 1920s. After stints with such groups as the Rocky Mountaineers and the Hollywood Hillbillies, he formed his own band, the International Cowboys. Roy began playing bit parts in films, first under the name of Dick Weston, and then assuming his guise as Roy Rogers. He eventually won a starring role in "Under Western Skies" (1938).

With his horse Trigger and frequent female partner, Dale Evans (whom he married in 1947) and occasional help from such people as the Sons of the Pioneers and Spade Cooley, Roy became Gene Autry's only real rival. Roy appeared in over 100 movies and had his own TV show in the mid-1950s. Rogers, who recorded for RCA-Victor for many years, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988.

Gene Autry: Gene, the most successful of all singing cowboys was born in Tioga, Texas (9/29/1907~10/2/1998). Fresh out of high school, he became a railroad telegrapher with the Frisco Railway in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. Autry then took a radio job on KVOO, Tulsa (1930), billing himself as "Oklahoma's Singing Cowboy" and adapting the singing style of Jimmie Rodgers (9/8/1897~5/26/1933).

In 1929, he began recording with labels such as Victor, Okeh and Columbia. Circa 1931, Gene began broadcasting on Chicago's WLS Barn Dance program. Autry's popularity gained further momentum with the 1931 release of "Silver Haired Daddy of Mine."

Autry moved to Hollywood where he appeared in several B movies, usually with his horse, Champion. With a cache of records during the '30s and '40s, that included; "Back In The Saddle Again" (1939), "South Of The Border" (1940), "You Are My Sunshine" (1941), Autry was easily the most popular cowboy singer of the time. Gene recorded the multi-million-selling songs, "Here Comes Santa Claus" (1947), "Peter Cottontail" (1949) and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" (1948).

Autry was the majority owner of the California Angels baseball team (1961~1997) and had an Oklahoma town named after him. Gene was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1969.

Tex Ritter (1/12/1905~1/2/1974): Ritter who was born in Murvaul, Texas, was a country and western music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s and the father of actor John Ritter. An early pioneer of C&W music, Ritter sang cowboy songs on KPRC-AM in Houston (1938). That same year, he moved to New York City and landed a job in the men's chorus of the Broadway show The New Moon (1928). He appeared as cowboy Cord Elam in the Broadway production Green Grow the Lilacs (1930), the basis for the musical Oklahoma.

Ritter also played the part of Sagebrush Charlie in The Round Up (1932) and Mother Lode (1934). In 1932, he starred in New York City's first broadcast western, The Lone Star Rangers on WOR-AM, where he sang and told tales of the Old West. In 1936, Ritter moved to Los Angeles where he starred in several motion pictures during the next decade. Tex recorded for American Record Company (1933) and Decca (1935). His biggest chart song, "I'm Wasting My Tears on You" peaked at No. 1 in 1944. Ritter was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1964.

Rex Allen (12/31/1920 ~12/17/1999) Rex was a film actor, singer and songwriter. He starred in 19 movies for Republic Pictures between 1950 and 1954. Allen became known as the "Last of the Silver Screen Cowboys." Rex and his horse, Koko were popular stars performing regularly on rodeo circuits. Allen wrote and recorded many songs, a number of which were featured in his own films.

Late in coming to the industry, his film career was relatively short as the popularity of westerns faded by the mid 1950s. As other cowboy stars made the transition to television, Allen tried too, cast as Dr. Bill Baxter for a half-hour weekly series called Frontier Doctor. There were 39 episodes produced from 1955 to 1956. Allen narrated many of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color nature shows and other productions. He provided the voice for 150 different cartoon characters created for Disney. Rex acquired the nickname, The Arizona Cowboy.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------Written by: Richard Bell, Country Music Historian: Nashville,Tennessee,USA. Sep., 2011