A Horse Called Music ...

For years now, I've kept an eye out for popular music lyrics that mention Montana. Some of the songs I've found really feel like true reflections of the state, while others (perhaps the majority) could be written about almost anyplace ... but choose to take advantage of the evocative "hook" provided by our state's name.

A song that probably fits the latter category is "A Horse Called Music," recorded by Willie Nelson back in 1989 and used as the title of one of his albums. (A couple of other folks, including Randy Travis, have covered the song, as well.) The song does a good job of capturing the wistful lonesomeness many people associate with the work Montana, but is otherwise straight out of Tennessee, and was written by the prolific Nashville songwriter Wayne Carson.

High on a mountain in western Montana
A silhouette moves 'cross a cinnamon sky
Riding alone on a horse he called Music
With a song on his lips, and a tear in his eye

. . . .

He rode the Music from Boston to Bozeman
For not too much money, but way too much ride
But those were the days when a horse he called Music
Could jump through the moon and sail across the sky