Album Notes

Saddle up and ride along to cowboy and traditional western duo Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue’s new release for 2008. This new release is truly ‘the good old stuff.’ The songs we’ve recorded range from traditional tunes sung by the western pioneers as they migrated and adjusted to their new lives, to a couple of the best of the early Sons of the Pioneers. Lyrics for many of the older songs are from the anthologies of Alta S. and Austin Fife, renowned folklorists of the mid-twentieth century, who found that cowboys and other westerners originally sang songs passed down by their families, adjusting lyrics and melodies to suit life in the rugged American west. The couple researched hundreds of songs, building on the work done by the first western “songcatcher” N. Howard “Jack” Thorpe; Thorpe’s own composition “Little Joe the Wrangler” is represented in the “Home Ranch Tales” song list. (The Fife collections are now, sadly, long out of print) On a personal note, a great number of the songs selected for “Home Ranch Tales” were part of Nevada Slim’s childhood on the home ranch in Reno, NV. Slim’s Dad, the late Wayne C. Matley, himself recorded many cowboy songs; his 1946 recording of “Carry Me Back to the Lone Prairie” (along with Slim and Sue’s version) is included on the new CD. The project is dedicated to the duo’s parents, Wayne C. and Alouise Matley and Glenn and Marge Abraham, for “giving us a love of music and raising us in the west.” Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue’s musical mission is, as always, to keep western heritage alive. We perform year around, throughout the western states. For the current schedule visit the “schedule” page. We’ll see you on the road. Be sure to say “howdy” next time you’re in an audience.