Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Tumbling Tumbleweeds - written my Bob Nolan


Gene Autry


Sons of the Pioneers

*****


From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumbling_Tumbleweeds

The Sons of the Pioneers and Gene Autry were two of my Dad's favorites. "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" is a song composed by Bob Nolan. Although one of the most famous songs associated with the Sons of the Pioneers, the song was composed by Nolan in the 1930s, while working as a caddy and living in Los Angeles. Originally titled "Tumbling Tumble Leaves", the song was reworked into the title "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and into fame with the 1935 Gene Autry film of the same name. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

From the Bob Nolan biography website: http://bobnolan-sop.net/


Singer, songwriter, actor and poet, Bob Nolan was instrumental in creating "Western" music, a uniquely North American art form. Cool Water andTumbling Tumbleweeds are two of his best-known songs but they are only the tip of the iceberg. (Check out the hundreds of recordings of these two songs.)
     Most of his songs were not derived from European folk music as were a large number of traditional "Cowboy" songs. They were not "Country" songs, either. Bob's were entirely original - often pure poetry set to unusual and difficult melodies.
     An admirer once told Bob that he painted the West - and his brush was music. The new sound caught the imagination of the public in the early 1930s. Contemporary musicians began to imitate, western movies picked it up and the genre was popular for thirty years.

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