Cheyenne Cowboy

The deep, croaking voice of Tex Williams is unique in country music. He's best known for his talk-singing on songs like Smoke, Smoke, Smoke, but he could sing a beautiful ballad too and his timing was perfect. He always had a hot western swing band, too, having gotten his start with Spade Cooley and then going solo. During his most popular period, the later 40s, he starred in a number of western musical shorts at Universal. This one, CHEYENNE COWBOY, is typical of what's good about the series (and, by the way, contrary to the credits, Tex does not play "Tex" in the film). There's a condensed version of a b-western plot involving cattle rustling, the members of Tex's band (playing ranch hands) are good at comedy themselves, and everything moves steadily. While one song about the nature of women was quite witty and smart, a few of the songs, though well sung and played, were not first-rate compositions, though Tex could sing a restaurant menu and if it had a beat I'd listen. Other than that, this was a fun experience and my family, who do not share my enthusiasm for b-westerns or this kind of music, also had to admit that the 20 minutes they spent watching CHEYENNE COWBOY were well-spent. As I said in a recent review of a Ray Whitley musical western short, our best bet to see this may well be if the German "Bear Family" record label, which has gotten into DVD's recently, would do a region-free DVD of Tex Williams musical shorts. Why not write them and suggest it. There are also some excellent Tex William reissues on the German "Bronco Buster" label--any serious Western Swing fan should check them out.