Looking for a good read? Here is a recommendation. I have an unusual approach to reviewing books. I review books I feel merit a review. Each review is an opportunity to recommend a book. If I do not think a book is worth reading, I find another book to review. You do not have to agree with everything every author has written (I do not), but the fiction I review is entertaining (and often thought-provoking) and the non-fiction contain ideas worth reading.
Book Review
Music the Cowboy Way
Reviewed by Mark Lardas
June 1, 2025
“Riders In The Sky: Romancing the West with Music and Humor,” by Bobbie Malone and Bill C. Malone, Texas A&M University Press, May 2025, 264 pages, $30.00 (paperback), $12.95 (E-book)
The band Riders in the Sky first came together at a bar performance in Nashville in November 1978. They have been together ever since. Featuring “Ranger Doug” Green (America’s Favorite Cowboy), “Too Slim” Fred LaBour, “Woody Paul” Chrisman (King of the Cowboy Fiddlers) and since 1994, Joey (the Cowpolka King) Miskulin, they entertain audiences with a unique combination of cowboy music and humor.
“Riders In The Sky: Romancing the West with Music and Humor,” by Bobbie Malone and Bill C. Malone, tells their history.
The authors open by exploring the singing cowboy, a branch of western music largely moribund by 1977. They follow the history of the singing cowboy, introduce the genre’s stars, and explain America’s fascination with it. Those fascinated included Doug Green and Fred LaBour, two kids from Michigan born in the late1940s.
Two chapters relating early life of two follow. It presents what influenced them growing up and their education. Both attended the University of Michigan, obtaining degrees outside music. (LaBour wrote for the Michigan Daily, where he kicked off the “Paul is dead” craze.)
Succeeding chapters show how they became friends in Nashville, trying to break into Music Row, how they teamed up with Paul Chrisman to launch Riders in the Sky, and the band’s subsequent exploits.
Despite growing up in the East, all three were fascinated by the Old West. (Chrisman is from Tennessee.) All three possessed a wicked sense of humor. Despite their cornpone stage image, they are well-educated. (Chrisman has a Ph.D in plasma physics; Green, with an MA in literature, writes academic papers on the side.) Yet they were driven to follow a musical muse.
They developed a combination of homage and send-up of cowboy music, reviving it, calling it “the Cowboy Way.” Originally aiming for college audiences with risqué overtones (they were from the XXX Ranch), they toned this down, after noticing the band’s appeal to children. Yet humor remained paramount. While two are leftists, they are politically neutral onstage, performing at Presidential inaugurations for both Republicans and Democrats.
This book is not quite as entertaining as a Riders in the Sky performance, but it comes close to that standard. Well-researched and engagingly written, it tells the band’s story admirably. Fans of the group will want to read it. Those unfamiliar with the group will find “Riders In The Sky” captivating, and may find themselves seeking opportunities to catch the band in person.
Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is marklardas.com.