We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The Last Cowboy in Hutchinson County

from 100 Summers by James Lee Baker

/

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    CD comes as a hardcover-style book with a 48-page, full-color perfect-bound booklet etched in gold leaf. The booklet contains stories about the songs, artwork, and descriptions of the artwork.

    Includes unlimited streaming of 100 Summers via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days

      $15 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

This is a story about the relationship between my father – a machinist in Texas – and my great-grandfather – a cowboy who herded cattle in Hutchinson County, Texas. After my grandfather stopped his profession, he moved in with my family until he passed. Family is a beautiful thing but change has its way and will always.

lyrics

A corporate chain of grocery stores
Settled into town
Ran specials every week
drove the meat prices down

The feed lots came next
then the processing plants
They offered better pay
so the workers left the ranch

This was one fence
the herdsman couldn’t mend
it seemed his time on the range
Was coming to an end

How could he bear to ride in a stockyard pin
Confined by steel bars and concrete?
Or raise a sharp young man to do the same
then waller in old age and defeat?
There are those who can never be tamed
Like the stubborn last cowboy in Hutchinson county

The machinist builds the gear drives
That turns the water pumps around
To pull the moisture from the earth
from the outskirts of town

That quench the fields of white corn
For the harvest ahead
To fatten the Longhorn steers
And make a damn good loaf of bread

Wrapped in a burlap rag
Cut from the sack that held the corn
Tucked in the satchel of the herdsman
From whom the machinist was born

These are changing times for a dying breed
And for the only son of a simple man
Who cut the teeth of his dreams on books and magazines
And a world wide web in his hand
Such a future is too bright for him to see
He's the son of the last cowboy in Hutchinson county

At 6am the shift bell rings
the machinist leaves the shop
Hangs his safety hat on the rack
and punches the time clock

Rolls the windows down
of his four-door sedan
at the edge of the parking lot
to let some fresh air in

In the patience of the twilight
A restlessness ensues
That the hum of the power lines
and the street lights can’t subdue

It's a three mile drive through suburban streets
The smell of feedlots fill the air
And everyone at home is sound asleep
Except an old weathered man in his chair
The machinist pours some coffee to drink
and sits with the last cowboy from Hutchinson county

credits

from 100 Summers, released September 4, 2020

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

James Lee Baker image

James Lee Baker Denver, Colorado

contact / help

Contact James Lee Baker

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like James Lee Baker, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring Riley Pinkerton (aka The Rat Queen) from the theatrical NYC rockers, Castle Rat.
listen now