Who doesn’t like an old cowboy song? In 2019 AJ Leonard and David Billings decided to track down some of the cowboy classics and give them the ‘Songbook’ treatment, that is arrangement, instrumentation and vocal textures that had served them well for the American, Australian, English and Christmas Songbooks. As the research progressed they introduced some original material incorporating Australian outback poetry and began working with veteran American lyricist David Culver Wilson.

By 2022 there were enough original songs for three volumes, some about Cowboys and Cowgirls and some about Freedom and the Great Outdoors. Here is Volume 1, ‘Saddle Stories’, a global view of cowboy culture, both past and present, real and imagined. This is a masterfully produced collection of songs with a grand vision and fascinating storytelling at its eclectic best.

Volume 2, ‘Ride The Wild Wind’, has been completed and is in the final production stages, whilst Volume 3, ‘A Skyful Of Stars’, will be finalised this year for release in 2025.

1. Cowboy

2. Song Of The Gaucho

3. Señorita & The Vaquero

4. Havana Boyero

5. Kamehameha Cowboy

6. Dunolly Drover

7. Magdaleno

8. New Promised Land

9. Along The Old Canyon Trail

10. The Overlander

11. The Searchers

12. Gardens Of The Camargue

13. She Chose The Saddle

14. Tale Of The Tsikos

15. Until I Pass This Way Again

16. The Last Cowboy