“I only ever wanted to be a cowboy and play music,” says songwriter Ross Cooper. At this point, the former professional bareback bronc rider has settled into both. This spring, he’ll release I Rode The Wild Horses, a collection of old-school cowboy mantras, rodeo circuit anthems and lonesome barroom ballads.
The title track kicks off the album as a homage to those road-weary cowboys Cooper often looked up to growing up in plains of West Texas. He delivers an authentic perspective on the jangly number that finds a weathered cowboy reminiscing about his glorified heyday.
“In the surrounding towns of where I grew up, there were all these old cowboys who are now the last of a dying breed,” Cooper tells Wide Open Country. “These old cowboys, my dad included, they accomplished a lot in their lifetime. But sometimes, it feels as though the rest of the world just doesn’t care anymore about them.”
Cooper delivers lines like “I’m a patchwork of scars posted at the bar because the pain ain’t up and left. Well, these beers taste old and they’re rodeo cold, but they ain’t killed me yet,” with a tongue-in-cheek smirk. There’s a textured warmth to his vocals that add a velvety touch and a healthy dose of confident swagger. Still, Cooper’s not necessarily sitting on his high horse or yielding a condescending and arrogant tone on “I Rode The Wild Horses.” Rather, he’s full of tact and charm on the hypnotizing ode.
Even though Cooper’s determined to remain true to his cowboy ways, he does so on his own terms. He’s not bound by those traditional ways simply for the sake of tradition. Cooper’s “I Rode The Wild Horses” isn’t so wrapped up in itself that it’s detached or out of touch. It’s not a dated or campy trail song.