Many of the western songs began with settlers from the British Isles who brought  their fiddles and their music with them to the new land. Stories and songs told of their heritage. “The Streets of Laredo,” for example, carries an unchanged Irish melody.

The cowboy gave vent top his emotions by singing about troubles, exhaustion and loneliness. Around the campfire and the occasional ranch party, his spirits were lifted by music that was cheerful and animated. The fiddle splayed on into the early hours of the morning while friends and neighbors clapped, laughed, danced, drank and forgot their daily struggle for survival.

This is a wonderful selection of old time cowboy and other songs from the 1800s. This makes a great addition to anyone who is interested in authentic music.

A Big, Tall One, A Cow Town, A Letter From Dakota, A New Day, Another Irish Blessing, Arkansas Traveler, Backwards, Turn Backwards, Bassackward Talk, Bed Down Little Dogies, Bein' Nose, Black-Eyed Susie, Buffalo, Buffalo Gals, Cattle, Chopo, Civil War, Cotton, Gingham, Lace & Calico, Cowboy and Indians, Cowboy Basics,  Cowboy Dances, Cowboy's Code of Ethics, Cowboy's Way of Speaking, Cowboy, The, Depot Day In Wallace Town, Devil's Dream, Doney Gal, Durang, Eatin' Goober Peas, Four White Horses, French Philosophy, Git Along Home, Cindy, Git Aong Little Dogies, Goin' Home, Golden Slippers, Good-Bye, Ol' Paint, Gunfighters, Harvey Girls, Hats Off to the Cowboy, Health, Hell-Bound Freight, Hens 'n' Chickens, Her' Love Was a Buster, Home on High, Home on the Range, Horse, The/Riding, Howard "Chip" Culver, Hull's Victory, Hurrahin' Up the Town, I Wonder, I've Been Wukkin' on the Railroad, In Idaho, In the Palm of His Hand, Indians, Irish Prayer, Iron Horse, Johnny's Down the River, Judge Roy Bean, Just a Cowhand, Lamp Lighter, Language of the Old West, Limerick, Lloyd "Buckskin" Robinson, Lucinda, Mah Swiss Miss, Money, Mules, My Little Brown Mule, My Little Mohee, My Wish for You, Necktie Justice, No, No Never, Never, No More, O'Reilly is Dead, Ocean Waves, Ol' Joe Clark, Pat Malone Forgot That He Was Dead, Pigtown Hoe-Down, Pioneers, Polly Wolly Doodle, Press Along to the Big Corral, Red River Valley, Restin', Ridin' Ol' Paint, Rompin' Molly, Rye Waltz, Salvage, Recycle (Help Save A Song), See Ya' on Sunday, Settlin' In Fer Winter, She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain, Shekels of Shame, Sleep, Dogie, Sleep, Sleepin' In, Slick Advice, So-So Polka, Soldier's Joy, Success, Take Time, That Man in the Glass, That Was the Life of the Cowboy, The Banker and The Maid, The Big Brahama Bull, The Bottle Shack (Little Brown Jug), The Boys 'R' Back, The Colorado Trail, The Days of the Forty-Nine, The Foozle, The Gal I Left Behind Me, The Great Grandfolks, The Lovely Ohio, The Ol' Gray Mare, The Old Chisholm Trail, The Old Man and His Wife, The Piggybank, The Quiltin' Party, The Race, The Railroad Corral, The Saloon, The Stampede, The Stern Old Bachelor, The Streets of Laredo (The Cowboy's Lament), The Yellow rose of Texas, Thorpe, Nathan Howard "Jack", Tips for the Tenderfoot, To My Pardner, To Speak or Not to Speak, Travis "Nick" Merritt, Turkey in the Straw, Waggoner, Wash Down the Trail Dust, Way Out on the Cattle Range, Way Out West in Kansas, Way Up In Idaho, Western Expansion, White Cockade, Who's There?, Wildwood Flower, Women of the West