Chapter 9: Country Western Music
One of the most iconic figures in the history of country and western music was Gene Autry (1907–1998), known to millions as “America’s Favorite Singing Cowboy.” Unlike many country musicians who rose to fame through recordings and live performance, Autry became a household name primarily through his success in film, radio, and later television.
During the Depression era, many country musicians adopted the image of the cowboy as an alternative to the often stigmatized "hillbilly" stereotype. The romanticized figure of the Western cowboy, popularized after World War I through dime novels, cowboy song collections, and silent films starring actors like Tom Mix, offered a more heroic and aspirational model. In American cultural imagination, the South typically evoked religious tradition and moral conservatism, while the West symbolized freedom, movement, and the future. As country artists sought broader appeal from the 1930s through the 1950s, the term "western" increasingly replaced "hillbilly," and performers embraced cowboy hats, boots, and stage names like "Tex," or "Slim.” This cowboy image remains influential in country music today, visible in the branding of modern artists such as Garth Brooks or Blake Shelton.
Autry began his career in the early 1930s, recording music in New York and gaining popularity as a regular performer on the WLS National Barn Dance in Chicago, where he was billed as “Oklahoma’s Singing Cowboy.” His rising fame caught the attention of Sears, Roebuck and Company, which began promoting his records under its Silvertone label. Sears also marketed a wide array of Gene Autry-branded merchandise, including songbooks, guitar instruction manuals, and the famous “Round Up” guitar, through its mail-order catalog. This early fusion of music, marketing, and merchandise pioneered a model of cross-promotional branding that would later become standard in the entertainment industry.
In 1934, Autry traveled to Hollywood for a screen test, launching a film career that would make him the era’s most famous singing cowboy. He starred in nearly 100 films, including the science fiction western serial The Phantom Empire (1935), which blended frontier mythology with futuristic fantasy and helped cement his cowboy persona. These films celebrated the mythic West while showcasing Autry’s musical performances, reinforcing the "western" half of country and western music as a core part of the genre's identity.
Autry’s influence extended well beyond the movie screen. From 1940 to 1956, he hosted a popular weekly radio show on CBS, Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch. The show promoted his personal code of ethics, famously articulated in his “Ten Cowboy Commandments,” which encouraged honesty, patriotism, and respect. His cowboy image was not only adventurous but also morally upright. His horse, Champion, became so beloved that he starred in his own radio program.
Autry also embraced television, launching The Gene Autry Show in 1950 on CBS, which brought cowboy culture into millions of American homes. Beyond performance, Autry expanded into media ownership, acquiring multiple radio and television stations across Southern California. He thus evolved from entertainer to media entrepreneur, helping shape the infrastructure of country music’s postwar expansion.
Gene Autry’s unique blend of music, media savvy, and moral branding helped mainstream country and western music during the mid-twentieth century. He also paved the way for other singing cowboys, including Roy Rogers, and helped embed the cowboy as a mythic American figure.
His influence even extended into professional sports. From 1961 to 1997, Autry served as the founding owner of the California Angels baseball team, now known as the Los Angeles Angels. His success across entertainment, broadcasting, and business made him one of the most influential and diversified entertainers of his generation.