So I’m doing this whole thing on the Florida “cracker mythos” for my research (don’t ask unless you want the elevator pitch) and wanted to share one of the most important cultural texts of the twentieth century. No joke. Gene Autry absolutely FREAKED OUT Willie and Waylon and half the country music establishment who have provided the soundtrack to the American consensus since the 1950s. This wasn’t the original version–that was recorded by Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers in 1934 and later by Gene Autry in a film of the same name in 1935–but this version is one of the best. Just look at that landscape in the background!
Including this song in the Big Lebowski wasn’t just an ironic joke, either, but that’s probably a different discussion altogether.
C.B. Crenshaw 