I attended a fun performance by Hot Club of Cowtown at OK Mozart today. Living this close to Tulsa, Bob Wills style Western Swing is pretty classic, if not classical.

I loved hearing some of my favorite Bob Wills tunes, such as Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer), and it was an unexpected treat to hear Roly Poly as an encore. Elana James was burning the horsehair strings off her bow, Jake Erwin was slapping that bass, and Whit Smith was great on the guitar. They harmonized well to boot.

Their rendition of Oklahoma Hills reminded me of one of the great songs about the Sooner State. The music is by Woody Guthrie, the lyrics are by Jack Guthrie, and my favorite recording of it is by Gentleman Jim Reeves.

I’d say there’s no better song for life here in the Osage Hills.

Oklahoma Hills

Many a month has come and gone
Since I’ve wandered from my home
In those Oklahoma Hills
Where I was born
Many a page of life has turned
Many a lesson I have learned
And I feel like in those hills
I still belong

Way down yonder in the Indian nation
Ridin’ my pony on the reservation
In the Oklahoma Hills where I was born
Way down yonder in the Indian nation
A cowboy’s life is my occupation
In the Oklahoma Hills where I was born

But as I sit here today
Many miles I am away
From the place I rode my pony
Through the draw
Where the oak and black-jack trees
Kiss the playful prairie breeze
And I feel back in those hills
Where I belong

Now as I turn life a page
To the land of the great Osage
In those Oklahoma hills
Where I was born
Where the black oil rolls and flows
And the snow white cotton grows
And I feel like in those hills
Where I belong

I also greatly admire an instrumental version of the song by Jim Hendricks.