Rawhide's Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites [Amber LP]

by Clint Eastwood

Overview

With the rusty door-hinge of a voice he possesses today, it's hard to imagine a time when Clint Eastwood could have been groomed as a singing star, but in the early '60s, when he came to fame as the rebellious Rowdy in the hit Western TV series Rawhide, it wasn't such a crazy idea. In 1963, playing off the popularity of the show, Cameo-Parkway released an album featuring Eastwood's versions of classic cowboy-style tunes. While Eastwood is admittedly not an exceptional vocalist, he's not at all bad; this is by no means some Golden Throats-style celebrity train wreck. At the time, there were plenty of equally photogenic young men with no greater vocal ability than Eastwood being promoted as country singers, many with less of an actual musical background than the jazz-schooled actor. Eastwood's soft, somewhat laconic croon might not possess the commanding quality that was de rigueur for the era's country stars, but he never strays off-key, and his style is a kind of cross between legendary cowboy singer Roy Rogers and Dean Martin. Most of the tunes he tackles here were already well-known in hit versions by other artists -- the Sons of the Pioneers' "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," Bob Wills' "San Antonio Rose," Gene Autry's "Mexicali Rose," etc. The loping rhythms, lonesome harmonica, lazy guitar licks, and male backing-vocal choruses are all in keeping with the production conventions of the day for cowboy artists. A couple of non-LP singles sweeten the pot, including the written-to-order "Rowdy," intended as a sort of theme song for Eastwood's Rawhide character. While Cowboy Favorites didn't make Eastwood a C&W star, it wasn't his country music swan song -- years later he would record with Merle Haggard and sing in the films Paint Your Wagon and Honky Tonk Man. ~ J. Allen

Product Details

Release Date:	05/26/2023
Label:	Abkco Records / Umr
UPC:	0018771210016
Rank:	48969

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Clint Eastwood   Primary Artist
Dave Stephens   Conductor

Technical Credits

Sheb Wooley   Composer
Sidney Mitchell   Composer
Bob Hilliard   Composer
Bob Wills   Composer
Cole Porter   Composer
Jack Tenney   Composer
Ben Raleigh   Composer
Delaney Bramlett   Composer
Teri Landi   Tape Research,Tape Transfer,Reissue Producer,Session Research
Artie Wayne   Composer
Joe Yannece   Mastering
Hillard   Composer
Bob Nolan   Composer
Al Dubin   Composer
Billy Hill   Composer
James Ritz   Liner Notes
Joel Herron   Composer
Louis Alter   Composer
Gordon Anderson   Executive Producer
Will Grosz   Composer
Art Wayne   Composer
Edwina Coolidge   Composer
Claire Morales   Design
Bob Hillard   Composer
Rafael Ventura   Assistant Engineer
Helen Stone   Composer
Tom Psipsikas   Assistant Engineer
Dave Edelman   Producer
Jack B. Tenney   Composer
Dave Stephens   Arranger
Vernon Bradley Ingles   Composer
Homer Escamella   Composer
Jesse Turner   Composer
Oren Hannah   Composer
Will Gross   Composer
Ingles   Composer