What's Ahead and a little Texas Music History

I'm planning some of the future podcasts and book readings.

One thing that might be fun is to survey some of the Texas related vinyl 78 rpm recordings on the Internet Archive. We could do several podcasts on that topic alone.

I love many of these old recordings and I especially love the western and cowboy tunes. From Gene Autry to Woody Herman and Bing Crosby.

Many songs are tall tales 

Here's a quick taste from 1942 called "The Texas Song (A Cowboy Lament)" by "Texas" Jim Robertson with Orchestra; Bob Miller and Vasca Suede.

As we start out, I intend to cover all kinds of historical media (books, recordings, stories, narratives, poems, art, etc) that is freely available online and related to Texas history.

Over time, we may focus more on specific works, but for now, let's take it all in and see where it leads us.

Let me know if you'd like more of these recordings and some discussion around the songs and the performers.

Here are the lyrics:

I'm going to leave old Texas now
They've got no use for the long-horn cow
They've plowed and fenced my cattle range
And the people there are all so strange

I'll take my horse and I'll take my rope
And hit the trail upon a lope
Say adios to the Alamo
And turn my head toward Mexico

The hard, hard ground shall be my bed
And my saddle seat shall hold my head
And when my ride on Earth is done
I'll take my chances with the Holy One

I'll tell Saint Peter that I know
A cowboy's soul ain't white as snow
Yet in that far-off cattle land
He sometimes acted like a man

Tall Texan Tales Episode 1 - Indianola

Hey y'all! Mark here down on the Texas Gulf Coast once again.

We were planning to start a project soon around producing audio books from old Texas history books, stories, narratives and poems that are available on-line.

But the events around Hurricane #harvey presented us with something special amidst all the wind, rain and the devastation that has affected so many.

While we were hunkered down during the evacuation, I saw a post on a Facebook history group about a book I was not familiar with titled "Indianola and other Poems".

As you may know, the story of Indianola, Texas is one of explosive growth, two devastating hurricanes and the eventual destruction and desertion of a vibrant town on the Texas Gulf Coast, about 12 miles into Matagorda Bay.

Today, what remains is often called a "ghost town", located near a favored fishing retreat enjoyed by many. While people live there today, it is a shadow of it's former self and a far cry from the town that competed with Galveston as the "Queen of Texas" from over 150 years ago.

I found a copy of the book on the Internet Archive and was moved by this poem about Texas, hurricanes and loss. So, I have decided to push it to the front of the line in our recording production schedule. I also think it's appropriate to take the project public at this time.

So here it comes. Our first production from Tall Texan Tales.

We offer this as a tribute to all those affected by Gulf Coast storms over the span of Texas history, especially those still recovering today.

This poem struck a chord in me. I hope it does for you too.

Hey Y'all. This is Mark down on the Texas Gulf Coast and I love finding great, out-of-print books, stories, narratives and poetry about Texas History and reading them aloud to create audio books. There are a lot of great works on the Internet Archive, The Library of Congress and The Portal to Texas History and we plan to record some and share them back out to you. We also plan to discuss these books in our podcast and in our forums. We hope you'll join us!

More info on our Patreon site.