Stan Jones

about

An impressionable 12 year old rode to the top of an Arizona hill one afternoon with an old Cowboy friend to check a windmill. A big storm was building and they needed to lock the blades down before the wind hit. When finished, they paused to watch the clouds darken and spread across the sky. As lightning flashed, the Cowboy told the boy to watch closely and he would see the devil's herd, their eyes red and hooves flashing, stampede ahead of phantom horsemen. The Cowboy warned the youth that if he didn't watch himself, he would someday be up there with them, chasing steers for all eternity. The terrified boy jumped on his horse and took off for the the safety of home. Years later, he recalled that scary, dark afternoon and on his 34th birthday, Stan Jones sat outside his Death Valley home and wrote "(Ghost) riders in the Sky." Born in the southeastern Arizona town of Douglas in 1914, Stan grew up surrounded by cattle ranches, cowboys and the beauty of the desert. In later life he often went back to get away from the stresses of Los Angeles. As a boy, he told and wrote ghost stories for his classmates. One neighbor recalled, he would finish his stories along about the time she had to be home for dinner. And she would sometimes be too scared to walk the block or so to her house. She remembered him as a handsome boy with wavy blond hair and dimples. He had a lot of friends. He moved to California and lived with a sister while he went to college. His love of learning and advent

top songs

albums

Ghost Riders in the Sky

Creakin' Leather

Out Of The Shadows

▥

NoTruth

▥

Cowboy Party! Classic Western Songs for Your Wild West Cowboy Party!

▥

Blues Brothers 2000

▥

Songs to fly away to

▥

Pops Roundup

▥

Arizona State University Marching Band 25 Years of Pride Vol. I

▥

The Greatest Western Themes [1993]

▥

title

▥

The Songs We Sang: Favorite American Folk Songs

similar artists