How about them Cowboys?

[Hallermac@xxxxxxx]

I mean the hard riding cow punching cowboys of the 1880â??s and 1890â??s. How 
many of them played the harmonic around the campfire in the evening, after a 
long day in the saddle? 

If Hohner started shipping many more harmonicas to America starting in the 
1880â??s, we can imagine that many more cowboys were tooting on â??em than those 
Blues and Grays of the Civil War.

In one of his books, David Harp mentioned that there is documentation showing 
a few specific songs were played around those campfires. I donâ??t recall all 
of the songs on that short list, but Buffalo Gals, Old Paint and Taps were on 
the list. (Where did I put that book?)  

David suggested that Taps was a natural carry over from the War, as many of 
the cowboys had been soldiers.  Some of those cowboys had sailed the 
Atlantic. What European folk songs could they have brought with them? How 
about songs of the sea they may have learned from sailors as they sailed 
westward?

An interesting part of harmonica history that I have read very little about.

Joe Haller