Back In The Saddle Again

Buck Norris sings "Back In The Saddle Again" by Gene Autry.
During the early years of his career, Autry took a number of important collaborators and musicians aboard. Among them were Fred Rose, the songwriter (later responsible for "Your Cheatin' Heart") with whom he collaborated on many of his hits, and fiddle player Carl Cotner (who also played sax, clarinet, and piano), who became his arranger. Autry had a knack for knowing a good song when he heard it (though he almost passed on the biggest hit of his career), and for knowing when a song needed something extra in its arrangement, but it was Cotner who was able to translate his sensibilities into musical notes and arrangements. Mary Ford, later of Les Paul fame, was in Autry's band at one time, and in 1936 Autry signed up a 17-year-old guitar player named Merle Travis, the future country star and songwriter.

By the early '30s, Autry became one of the most beloved singers in country & western music. By 1933, he was getting fan letters by the hundreds every week, and his record sales were only going up. Autry's career might've been made right there, but fate intervened again that year, in the form of the movie business. The Western -- especially the B Western, the bottom-of-the-bill, low-budget action oater -- had been hit very hard by the coming of sound in the years 1927 to 1929. Audiences expected dialogue in their movies, and most Western stars up to that time were a lot better at riding, roping, and shooting than reading lines. Not only did producers and directors need something to fill up the soundtracks of their movies, especially on the limited budgets of the B Westerns, but something to substitute for violent action, which was being increasingly criticized by citizen groups.

Cowboy star Ken Maynard, who was a great trick rider and stuntman but no singer, had tried singing songs in a few of his movies, and the producers noticed that the songs had gone over well despite his vocal limitations. Maynard was making another Western, In Old Santa Fe (1934), for Mascot Pictures, and producer Nat Levine decided to try an experiment, putting in a musical number sung by a professional. By sheer chance, the American Record Company and Mascot Pictures were locked together financially, though indirectly, and with the help from the president of ARC, Levine was steered toward Autry.

A phone call brought the young singer and another ARC performer -- multi-instrumentalist/comedian Smiley Burnette -- out to Hollywood, where, after a quick meeting and screen test, the two were put into In Old Santa Fe. Autry had only one scene, singing a song and calling a square dance, but that scene proved to be one of the most popular parts of the movie.

Levine next stuck Autry and Burnette into a Ken Maynard serial, Mystery Mountain, in minor supporting roles. But Autry's next appearance was much more important, as the star of the highly successful 12-chapter serial The Phantom Empire. Perhaps recognizing that Autry was no "actor," and that he had an audience of millions already, he, the writers, and the producer agreed that he should simply play "Gene Autry," a good-natured radio singer and sometime cowboy. The success of Autry's early films was not enough to save Mascot Pictures, which collapsed under the weight of debts held by Consolidated Film Laboratories, which did Mascot's film processing. In 1935, Consolidated forced a merger of Mascot and a handful of other small studios and formed Republic Pictures, with Consolidated's president, Herbert J. Yates, at the helm. Republic thrived in the B movie market, ultimately dominating the entire field for the next 20 years. And central to Republic's success were the Westerns of Gene Autry.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Buck
• Norris
• Classic
• Country
• Oklahoma
• Gene
• Autry

[TheCaptFlashback]

Hey Buck. Sorry I Got my comments mixed up with Old time Rock an Roll. I've met him and I know Gene would approve of your version! Back in the Saddle again.......thecaptflashback

[bucknorrismusic]

Thanks so much if that is al you mix up, your better off than me.

[WEIRDALROXMYSOX]

Great job, lol nice job with the green screen.

[bucknorrismusic]

Green Screen? What green screen? LOL

[IDIDieselJohn]

LOL!!! omg this is priceless! Great job on the song, I love this song. But wow LOL just to see you there aww thanks for the laugh Buck. You should do some of this stuff with BCBband.

[bucknorrismusic]

Thanks John, well I just got the green screen two days ago. Recorded 12 songs with Billo tonight so stay tuned.

[jpwarzinski]

LEAP INTO DARKNESS  NOWOSIELCE THE MUSICAL JOE VLAURUS

[WEIRDALROXMYSOX]

Oh forgive me, it's just not that usual that I see someone riding an inanimate horse backwards while playing a Tele.

~Josh

[sherrywine1941]

Ya got short legs there Buck !!! LOL

Oh I was a Gene Autry fan , always loved a good Western movie. Wanted to marry Roy Rogers, but I was to young and Dale beat me to it..LOL

Great job on this my friend..(5*) Hugs, Sherry

[bucknorrismusic]

Thanks much Marcus, yes Fred wrote some good ones.

[bucknorrismusic]

Thankjs much.