Chris has been gone for a few years now.

Did the Cowboy singer die with him?

Where are they?
Not on radio. Not in the press. Not anywhere I've seen.

I'm sure they exist. I hear rumors that they're still out there.

Surely Chris wasn't alone in his desire to share real western tales to a starved audience that stretches far beyond those who actually grab the reigns and ride.

The word "Western" was removed from the old term "Country & Western" years ago.

"Western" music continued to live on thanks to artists like Chris, Michael Martin Murphy and numerous others.

But today, Is the Western life-style dead in music?

Does anyone care?

Yes.

In the time I've talked with fans from Washington State to Florida, Maryland to San Diego, a similar comment keeps coming around.

"What happened to Country music? It used to be about (fill in the blank)".

The blanks are filled with every common stereotype of "Western" Country music.

It's cool to make Country contemporary by including pop-culture, current events and stories from today's life. But there's a fantasy out there that still exists for a huge number of music fans.
And fantasy is still a driving force in music.
Like movies, music can take us somewhere we've never been.

It doesn't just have to be about everyday life.
Everyday life gone-by isn't so bad either.
Everyday life we've never lived is liberating.

Chris represented - as Jeffrey Steele wrote about and Tim McGraw sings- "The Cowboy in us all."

Someone PLEASE step up and take the reigns.

George Strait is the king. He's got the credentials. He rides, he runs a ranch, he sings about it- rather, he used to.

Who's next?

It's time for someone to step up to the plate.

And please.....radio.....welcome him or her with wide open arms the size of the western sky itself.

I keep waiting for that song, that moment, that magical merging of the audio and the visual it creates in my mind to bring me back to a place i've never been- a lifestyle I've never lived.

It's Hard to say I miss something I've never experienced. But I do.

I want it back again.

storme