CLINT EASTWOOD
Sings Cowboy Favourites
With the rusty door-hinge of a voice he possesses today, it's hard to imagine a time when Clint Eastwood
could have been groomed as a singing star, but in the early ‘60s, when
he came to fame as the rebellious Rowdy in the hit Western TV series
Rawhide, it wasn't such a crazy idea. In 1963, playing off the
popularity of the show, Cameo-Parkway released an album featuring Eastwood's versions of classic cowboy-style tunes. While Eastwood is admittedly not an exceptional vocalist, he's not at all bad; this is by no means some Golden Throats-style celebrity train wreck. At the time, there were plenty of equally photogenic young men with no greater vocal ability than Eastwood being promoted as country singers, many with less of an actual musical background than the jazz-schooled actor. Eastwood's
soft, somewhat laconic croon might not possess the commanding quality
that was de rigueur for the era's country stars, but he never strays
off-key, and his style is a kind of cross between legendary cowboy
singer Roy Rogers and Dean Martin. Most of the tunes he tackles here were already well-known in hit versions by other artists -- the Sons of the Pioneers' "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," Bob Wills' "San Antonio Rose," Gene Autry's
"Mexicali Rose," etc. The loping rhythms, lonesome harmonica, lazy
guitar licks, and male backing-vocal choruses are all in keeping with
the production conventions of the day for cowboy artists. A couple of
non-LP singles sweeten the pot, including the written-to-order "Rowdy,"
intended as a sort of theme song for Eastwood's Rawhide character. While Cowboy Favorites didn't make Eastwood a C&W star, it wasn't his country music swan song -- years later he would record with Merle Haggard and sing in the films Paint Your Wagon and Honky Tonk Man. [allmusic] 
Hmmm, well, this certainly ain't garage or surf record but a purebred country/western Lp. Now, you wonder why ?!? Because I like it. Growing up on Spaghetti Western movies, Dirty Harrys, Kelly's Heroes... Mr. Eastwood became one of my childhood heroes [next to John Wayne, Bruce Lee...] When I spoted this stuff on the net I got to check it out. And quess what, it's pretty fine. It was recorded on Cameo-Parkway label like Question Mark & The Mysterians stuff, so it got to be cool. Dig dirty doggy!
Bouquet Of Roses
Are You Satisfied
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