The last day of October is more than just an excuse to put on a funny costume. As it turns out, the date has been quite an important one for country music. Here’s a list of some notable events that happened on Halloween, courtesy of RolandNote.com, the ultimate country music database! For more country music and Halloween, check out our Halloween section with pumpkin carving templates, fright night memories from the stars and more!

Oct 31, 1912 – Dale Evans born in Uvalde, Texas. In December 1947, she marries Roy Rogers, with whom she stars on radio and TV. She also writes their classic closing theme “Happy Trails”

Oct 31, 1921—Malissa Monroe dies at the family home near Rosine, Kentucky. No one bothers to tell her son, 10-year-old Bill Monroe, that she’s dead until after she’s already been buried

Oct 31, 1931 – Lester Flatt marries Gladys Stacy at the courthouse in Cookeville, Tennessee

Oct 31, 1934 – At a Halloween party in Halifax, Hank Snow meets his future wife, Minnie Aalders

Oct 31, 1947 — Promoter Connie B. Gay books Eddy Arnold for the first-ever country show at Washington, D.C.’s Constitution Hall. Also on the bill are comedians Minnie Pearl and Rod Brasfield

Oct 31, 1952 – Hank Williams checks into a Shreveport hospital with acute intoxication

Oct 31, 1954 – When Eddy Arnold plays Memphis’ Ellis Auditorium, a young Elvis Presley finds his way backstage. Presley meets Arnold and The Jordanaires, and spots–though he does not talk to–Colonel Tom Parker

Oct 31, 1960 – Elvis Presley records “Crying In The Chapel” at Nashville’s RCA Studio B. The single goes unreleased, however, for more than four years

Oct 31, 1964 – Darryl Worley born in Savannah, Tennessee. Noted for the strong traditional influence on his music, the lanky singer builds a solid career after his 2000 debut, striking a major chord for patriotism with his 2003 release “Have You Forgotten?”

Oct 31, 1966 – Decca releases Loretta Lynn‘s “Don’t Come Home A’Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)”

Oct 31, 1974 – Emmylou Harris records “If I Could Only Win Your Love” and her first single, “Too Far Gone”

Oct 31, 1983 – Lee Greenwood tapes the syndicated “Solid Gold” in Los Angeles, then visits the home of MCA chairman Irving Azoff to present him a tape of “God Bless The U.S.A.”

Oct 31, 1987 – Dolly Parton opens a restaurant in Honolulu, the Dockside Plantation

Oct 31, 1991 – Randy Travis accepts a unique Halloween treat: a gold album for “High Lonesome”

Oct 31, 1993 – Actor River Phoenix dies of a drug overdose outside the Viper Room in Los Angeles. His final picture was “The Thing Called Love,” based on Nashville’s famed listening room, The Bluebird Café

Oct 31, 1995 – Bryan White, Derek George and John Tirro write “So Much For Pretending” on Halloween, distracted periodically by trick-or-treaters

Oct 31, 1998 – Lari White blows out the speakers when she sings the national anthem before the Miami Hurricanes’ football game against Boston College

Oct 31, 2000 – “I Hope You Dance” becomes Lee Ann Womack‘s second platinum album

Oct 31, 2005 – “Inside TV” lists the Top 10 TV witches of all-time, ranking Lisa Hartman Black at #9 for her portrayal of Samantha Stevens’ grown-up daughter in the late-’70s series “Tabitha”

Oct 31, 2006 – During a Tuesday edition of the Grand Ole Opry, Jeff Bates gets down on one knee at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to propose to Kelly Vaughn. She nods yes

Oct 31, 2007 – Taylor Swift goes trick-or-treating in Hendersonville, Tennessee, disguised as the hairy “Star Wars” character Chewbacca

Oct 31, 2010 – Trace Adkins performs for U.S. soldiers in Basra, Iraq, near the outset of a USO tour

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Photo courtesy of the PRCA.

The American Cowboy is known all over the world as a symbol of America. The cowboy life might not have been quite as glamorous as the silver screen portrayed it, yet most of the men and women who lived their lives as cowboys or cowgirls wouldn’t have traded it for any big city job available to them at the time.

From that golden era came many familiar cowboy songs, some of them originating as folk tunes in other countries and adapted to their new situation by those Irish or Spanish cowboys who worked out west. Later, cowboy songs were big parts of movies during the singing cowboy era, with Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter, Rex Allen and Gene Autry gaining popularity not only as actors but singers too. Carl T. Sprague is considered the original singing cowboy, recording the first authentic cowboy song, “When the Work’s All Done this Fall,” which sold 900,000 copies.

Today’s singer/songwriters have not forgotten the cowboy way. Folks like Ian Tyson, Michael Martin Murphey, Riders in the Sky, Don Edwards, Ed Bruce and the late Chris LeDoux have given us newer songs and also revived some of the older tunes. Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, the late Marty Robbins and the late Johnny Cash were also more than happy to sing the new western songs and keep the cowboy tradition alive in country music.

In no particular order, here are our picks for the Top 20 Cowboy & Cowgirl Songs. Leave us a comment below and let us know your favorite! And don’t forget to enter our Wrangler National Finals Rodeo Sweepstakes for your chance to win a trip for two to the rodeo in Las Vegas! Enter now >>

“Amarillo By Morning” – George Strait

Although Chris LeDoux recorded this song first, most people remember George Strait’s version, which begins with a beautiful intro played by fiddle great Buddy Spicher. Here’s a clip of George singing “Amarillo By Morning” live. The song is about a cowboy’s love for the sport of rodeo, no matter what happens to him and no matter what he loses, saddles and girlfriends included. George, as most of his fans know, sponsors his own Team Roping Classic in San Antonio each year. He is no slouch as a roper either!

“Good Ride Cowboy” – Garth Brooks

This song, written by Jerrod Niemann (performing it in the clip above), Richie Brown, Bryan Kennedy and Bob Doyle, became Garth Brooks‘ tribute to his friend Chris LeDoux after the rodeo champ and singer passed away in 2005. It chronicles Chris’ rise to fame in the rodeo world and as a singer, as well as his down-to-earth ways as a father and husband. Chris and Garth became friends after the Oklahoma singer named the rodeo cowboy in his first single, “Too Young to Feel This Damn Old.” They also recorded a duet in 1992, “What’cha Gonna Do With A Cowboy.”

“Night Rider’s Lament” – Suzy Bogguss

Upon hearing this song, one would assume it was written in the heyday of the cowboy. A little research finds it was written by real-life cowboy Michael Burton, but in a much more recent setting, circa 1975. It describes how one cowboy chose career over true love and how he sometimes thinks about what might have been. Those thoughts don’t linger long, however, as he quickly remembers why he chose the life of a cowboy on the range. The tune has been recorded by everyone from Chris LeDoux to Garth Brooks and Nanci Griffith, but Suzy has one of the great versions of the tune. Here she is singing it with Jerry Jeff Walker.

“Should’ve Been A Cowboy” – Toby Keith

Despite the fact that he is as much at home on a horse as he is on a stage, Toby Keith laments in this song that he should have been a cowboy. The Oklahoma native thinks he should have learned to rope and ride in a cattle drive, because he thinks as a cowboy he could have stolen the young girls’ hearts like his heroes, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. Who among us hasn’t thought how glamorous it would be to be a cowboy on a big ranch somewhere out west, or at the very least, in a movie?

“Someday Soon” – Ian Tyson

Written by Ian Tyson, “Someday Soon” has been recorded by Judy Collins, Suzy Bogguss and many others and has charted in pop, folk and country. This 2009 video features Ian singing it – and you can see Suzy’s version HERE. Continue Reading

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Reba McEntire photo by Russ Harrington, courtesy of the Valory Music Co.

“Let the blubbering begin!”

Gerry House, who’s been the morning man to the stars as a fixture on Nashville’s morning radio for most of the last three decades, signed off Wednesday on his very last shift for WSIX-FM. It’s a retirement from regular morning shows, but not a retirement from his life’s work as a writer and comedic talent.

Gerry announced his departure some three months ago, and the stars have either called in or come by the studio in droves over the last week to wish him well. Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban have had funny and/or sentimental moments. On Wednesday’s shift, the well-wishers included Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire.

WSIX Vice President Tom English announced the station was renaming the studio as “The House,” in honor of Gerry and his House Foundation show.

“It’s a very, very sad day for Nashville, but a great day for you,” Brad said.

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Roy Rogers and Trigger. Photo courtsey of royrogers.com.

A horse that has been dead for nearly 45 years sold for more than $250,000 this week in an auction of items and memorabilia connected to a singing cowboy and member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Trigger, the trusty steed that Roy Rogers rode during his storied, silver-screen career, died in 1965 at age 33, and Roy subsequently had the horse stuffed and mounted. Trigger was kept on display for years at the Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Museum in Southern California and later in Branson, Mo. But the museum is being dismantled, and Roy Rogers Jr. put much of the remains up for sale in New York. Trigger brought in $266,500, the Associated Press reported. The winning bid came from RFD-TV, a rural-themed cable network.

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