Luis Roberto Costa
(A Brazilian western music collector, Ipameri - Goias, Brazil)
The first time I heard the Sons of
the Pioneers was in the early 80's when I bought my first album, "The Best of
the Sons of the Pioneers". Wow! What beautiful vocal harmony, and I loved the
songs like Chant of the Wanderer, Ghost Riders in the Sky.
After a long time searching, I started buying all the albums recorded by the SOP
available. It's hard work because most of his albums are out of print and the
only way to find them was in the old record stores and on the EBAY or MUSICSTACK
sites, where I found most of the albums and old 78's that I have in my personal
collection today.
The songs I like most are those sung by Bob Nolan. He had a special style of
voice, baritone. I like his voice as much as I appreciate his own peculiar way
of writing the songs with triple rhymes like in Tumbling Tumbleweeds or
Chant of the Wanderer.
Some time later, when I watched one episode of a TV series called THE FALL GUY
with guest star Roy & SOP, I realized that they were different from the singers
I heard before on my lp. At the time I didn't know the recording date of the
songs from the album, "The Best of the Sons of the Pioneers". Then I started to
search the SOP history and I bought the Ken Griffis book, HEAR MY SONG which
helped me to understand and to appreciate in a deep way the songs of the boys.
Today, now that I know all the Pioneers' songs, I prefer the songs recorded from
1934-36 like Blue Prairie, Ridin' Home, Hills of Old Wyoming.
These wonderful songs had wonderful lyrics, too. And nobody in the world could
capture the image of the American west like Bob Nolan. Listen to his songs like
Tumbling Tumbleweeds, Wind, Ridin' Home, Tumbleweed Trails and a lot
more. When I hear a Bob Nolan song, his lyrics paint in my mind an image of the
west. It seems I hear the songs of the waterfall, or the wind blowing, or the
picture of a lone cowboy drivin' cattle along the trails.
Today I have all pioneers Recordings from 1945 to 1969 and most of the 1934 to 1943. Nowadays all my efforts is to complete my collection of SOP recordings from this date. I would like to express my special thanks to Elizabeth Drake McDonald and OJ Sikes for sharing with me some rare Pioneers' tracks from 78's which I didn't have"
Roberto "Bob" Costa has a huge collection of western music and all but a few of the Sons of the Pioneers' recordings. The Pioneers are his all-time favorites. He has generously given of his time and expertise in "cleaning" old recordings for us and providing us with cuts we hadn't been aware existed. Bob lives in Brazil and welcomes emails from other western music aficionados. robert4591@gmail.com
Bob is also a silversmith and has created belt buckles, earrings, key chains, etc, in silver in the western theme.
The song on this page is dedicated to Sr Costa, Roberto's father, who passed away on July 13, 2002.
