Cowboy Celtic

Western Music - Cowboy Songs

The music of David Wilkie and Cowboy Celtic has been called a "beautiful evocation of just how much Celtic music inspired the melodies played around the campfires in the wild, Wild West." Over the last ten years, David Wilkie has devoted much of his time to one of his favorite passions –the seeking out of Celtic origins of traditional cowboy music.
David Wilkie and Cowboy Celtic are becoming well-known for the connections they are making between western (traditional cowboy) music and the music of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. The ‘Celtic and cowboy’ musical marriage on their recordings has struck a chord with music lovers on both sides of the ocean. As one reviewer put it, "This is more than music. It’s theatre and imagery and history and storytelling and more, all wrapped up in sagebrush and tartan."
These musical and historical connections, and the influence of Celtic music on traditional cowboy songs, come to light in the group’s music, where they combine old world Celtic instrumentation and music with cowboy songs. One Celtic melody that has survived the centuries and the distance across the Atlantic is that of "The Cowboy’s Lament" (also called "The Streets of Laredo"), popular among cowboys and fans of western music. The melody is that of the old Scottish song "The Unfortunate Rake" and the Irish song "The Bard of Awmaagh." The cowboy song’s melody and theme are the same as the older Celtic songs, but the words differ in all three songs.
Many more of the old Celtic songs were refitted with new lyrics by Celtic men and women and their descendents who made their way west (some to be cowboys) and told the stories of their new lifestyle through song. Tunes from home were easier to remember than the words, and hence, the new lyrics.
And so, David Wilkie has taken many of these ‘cowboy’ songs, and a few of his own, and recorded them in the Celtic style. The result – Wilkie’s own brand of Cowboy Celtic music that ranges from hauntingly beautiful to foot-stompin’ lively. As one critic said, it’s "enough to make you shake the trail dust from your jeans and wash it down with a jug of Irish whiskey."

Click on photo for more Information and to listen to sound samples.	Hauntingly beautiful, it is easy to get lost in these rich and wonderful combinations of sounds. - Cowboy Magazine
Click on photo for more Information and to listen to sound samples.	Through the masterful use of fiddles, mandolins, harps, flutes, whistles, and guitars, a definite Celtic flavor has been applied to music that has become standard western fare. - Cowboy Magazine
Click on photo for more Information and to listen to sound samples.	"Many old Celtic tunes were set to modern lyrics, and nobody performs them better or blends them finer than Cowboy Celtic." - Cowboy Magazine
Click on photo for more Information and to listen to sound samples.	This 2005 CD release, "The Saloon Sessions," marks the 19th anniversary of the first Cowboy Celtic recording, released in the late 1995.

Western Music categories - listen to music samples!

Cowboy Guitars

Western Swing Guitar

Western Swing Fiddle

Twin Fiddling

Hog Heaven Music

Beginning Mandolin Solos