Cowboy Church #196

 Hello my friends and welcome back for another service of Cowboy Church.

Today's musical selection begins with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with a wonderful version of the classic hymn, How Great Thou Art. In the book, Happy Trails: Our Life Story, Roy tells of a story that had to do with this song. "I'll tell you about one time we nearly got into a real war with the promoters: at the World Championship Rodeo at Madison Square Garden in 1952. During the first rehearsal I started to practice 'How Great Thou Art,' a religious song I wanted to make the centerpiece of our musical act. There's a line in that song that goes, 'Then sings my soul my Savior God to Thee...' Someone in the front office heard the rehearsal and came to me that night to tell me I wasn't allowed to mention Christ at the rodeo. 'It might work for the kids in Houston, Texas' he told me, 'But this is New York. You can't preach to kids here.' I told him I wasn't preaching but that the Savior was a part of the song and I fully intended to sing that song in New York or anywhere else we performed. They suggested that I could change the words of the song so it didn't mention Him. I'm not one for grandstand plays but I told those fellas that if I couldn't sing 'How Great thou Art' just how it was written, Dale and I would pack up and leave town. The song stayed in the show. That year we did forty-three performances over twenty-six days and broke all Madison Square Garden attendance records."

This is followed by Anne Wilson with a live performance of God and Country. 

Then comes George Jones with Cup Loneliness. This self-penned gospel song was the title track of George's 1967 gospel album. 

Afterwards is Mainer's Mountaineers with their 1936 recording of What Would Give in Exchange for Your Soul. 

 When Bob Dylan made his 1962 debut album (simply titled Bob Dylan), he was not yet known as a songwriter or a poet. Instead, he was an interpreter of old folk songs. Though this first album featured two songs written by Bob Dylan, the majority of the album consisted of old folk and blues songs. One of these was the gospel-blues tinged In My Time of Dyin'. The liner notes for the album state, "Dylan had never sung In My Time of Dyin' prior to this recording session. He does not recall when he first heard it. The guitar is fretted with the lipstick holder he borrowed from his girl, Susie Rotolo, who sat devotedly and wide-eyed through the recording session." This is in my mind one of the highlights off the album and one of my all-time favorite vocal performances by Bob Dylan. Despite the many jokes about his voice, there are quite a few times, when he turned in a great vocal performance and this is one of those times.

Now for  The Sons of the Pioneers with their 1947 recording of The Sea Walker. This song was written by Tim Spencer, one of the group's founding members. Music was a major part of Tim's life from very early on. In fact when he was only 3 years old he was already singing at the church he grew up in. His love of things cowboy and western related also began very early as he had grown in awe of western movies and screen cowboys like Tom Mix, Hoot Gibson, William S. Hart and others were his boyhood heroes. With this it is no surprise that in 1931, he went to California to see how his talents could be used in Hollywood. Yet music always remained a major passion for him. As he worked in a warehouse, he would spend his weekends and time after working going around to all the country music radio shows, getting to know all the people he could. This is how he met fellow founding members of the Sons of the Pioneers, Bob Nolan and Leonard Slye (later Roy Rogers). The Sea Walker as well as being written by Tim also features him as the lead singer. The great Bass vocals in this song are courtesy of Hugh Farr.

Now for Willie Nelson and Bobbie Nelson with Revive Us Again. Bobbie Nelson was Willie's sister and is the piano player on this track. 

 

Now for the C.S. Lewis essay, Myth Became Fact. 

Now for an episode of Gene Autry's TV show.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3 

 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 1:3

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23

But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love. Psalms 33:18

Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another service of Cowboy Church. Happy trails to you until we meet again.