I started my week out in New York and I am finishing it back in {unusually} rainy Kansas.
But this week my heart is far away from either of those places.
It’s currently back home at the Umatilla County Fair and Farm City Pro Rodeo.
Sure, the county fair and rodeo is a good time for all. But if you were like me, a kid whose earliest memories include getting up early to clean pens in irrigation boots and basketball shorts, spending more time getting your animal ready for a show than yourself, sweating buckets in the ring {literally and figuratively,} the competition and hard work paying off, tagging along with the older kids until you grew up to fill their shoes, elephant ears and sno-cones, and kickin’ back at the end of the day to a good cowboy show, then you understand what I am talking about. And no matter how much one argues, your own hometown fair and rodeo will always be the best one out there.
{But seriously though, mine really is.}
With everyone back home posting picture left and right on Facebook, it’s hard not to get a little homesick. One of my favorite weeks out of the whole year, the UCF and Farm City is where I grew up and where some of my best memories come from. What I would give to spend tomorrow helping my parents out with the sale, catching up with folks I have known my whole life and rounding it out sharing a Umatilla Booster Club elephant ear with my family sitting in our east-end box at Farm City.
Have a good time y’all! I sure am missing it.
County Fair – Chris Ledoux
A list on county fair and rodeo music is not worth creating unless one takes the time to recognize Mr. Chris Ledoux. This sorely missed country music artist spent his career singing about the cowboy way of life and a good majority of this songs could have found its way onto this list. This one though, encompasses so many of my favorite things about the fair. A few of my other favorites from Mr. Ledoux include: This Cowboys Hat, Whatcha Going To Do With A Cowboy and 8 Second Ride.
Sold – John Michael Montgomery
When I was a kid I thought I was so cool because I could sing this whole song without missing a beat. Nowadays, with rappers like Macklemore setting the standard, my skills are probably laughable. But let’s be serious now, how many others are now watching this music video for the very first time!? Dance-off between average joe cattlemen {maybe} and….the Amish? Is this really happening? A girl can’t just make this stuff up.
Rodeo – Garth Brooks
Mr Ledoux’s music protege who has, among other things, made Wal-Mart cool and Las Vegas, not so cool. That may be a tad bit disrespectful, and while I don’t take it back, I will say without any reservation that the man is a legend. He is the face of 90’s country music and helps defines the meaning of a great country power ballad. And, if the sport and lifestyle of rodeo had a universal theme song, this would be it.
I Can Still Make Cheyenne – George Strait
I know this is probably going to kill the great mood we have going on today. But this will always be one of my favorite rodeo-related songs. I can’t even give you a well thought answer, it just is.
40 Hour Week – Alabama
Only if you have attended the Farm City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston, Oregon, are you going to understand my last song. This one is what plays every evening during the opening ceremonies. It’s the kind of song that will always take me to a very specific place and when Alabama sings “Hello, America…” and the last horse and rider bearing the American flag races into the arena, well that just about gets me every time. Gosh, I love traditions.
There are SO MANY others that I could have featured on here this week. What are some of your favorite songs about the fair and rodeo?
The Good Stuff 