One of the many things I learned when researching Stories from the Road is that there is more than a little truth to many of the old local legends. That goes for the old songs as well. The lyrics to two songs are featured in the book. The first one is The Old Chisholm Trail and the second is Little Joe the Wrangler. Sometimes when I was writing, I would play my favorite versions of these songs, just to keep me authentic. There are many covers of these ditties but I am fond of Gene Autry’s yodels about the Chisholm Trail and Marty Robbins’ tearjerker about Little Joe, a wet-behind-the-ears Texas cowpuncher come to Indian Territory to drove them longhorns. I have posted both videos below.
