The lure of the West -- The cowboy and song -- Western music in the air : record and radio to 1934 -- The Sons of the Pioneers and Billy Hill : painting the West in song -- Western music rides to the big screen -- Gene Autry : public cowboy #1 -- The next generation : Tex Ritter, Roy Rogers, Dick Foran, Ray Whitley, and the rest of the posse -- Roy Rogers : king of the cowboys -- High noon : the musical western at its zenith -- Riding into the celluloid sunset -- In the ether : radio, records, and television from 1935 -- The fallow years -- Revival.