Music Notes: Pauline Reese - she is a cowboy

The young and pretty Miss Pauline Reese may give the first impression of a petite, sweet, fragile, delicate young thing. After you hear her speak in her refined, quiet, bell-like voice, that impression will take deeper root.

But don’t let any of that fool you for a minute. Pauline Reese is a cowboy trapped in a cowgirl’s body.

Listen to Pauline’s music and you might infer she enjoys ropin’, ridin’, drinkin’ and honky-tonkin’. See her live performance and you’ll tell yourself you were right. Have a chat with Pauline, and she’ll tell you you were right!

As she told Motorcycles: On The Road Again, “I like songs about western lifestyle and honky-tonkin’ and horses, you know, real western lifestyle. Not ‘I want to be a cowboy’s sweetheart’ type stuff, but hard core ropin’, ridin’, honky-tonkin’ stuff.”

Which is probably why she covers songs from an eclectic mix of artists including Lyle Lovett, Christopher Cross, Charlie Daniels and Bad Company on her latest CD – because each song tells a story about being a “Long Tall Texan” and wanting to “Ride Like The Wind” and running with “Bad Company” and a “Caballo Diablo” (devil horse). It’s also why she learned and recorded a song from the soundtrack of the old Steve McQueen movie, Junior Bonner – because it’s a song about a “Rodeo Man” and it reminds her of her retired professional bull-rider husband, John Burris. And it’s also why the songs she writes herself are about “One Last Honky Tonk” and “Yellow Wine” the “Trail to Monterrey” the “Lone Star Flag” and the “Cowboy Way”. You see the connection, right?

The fact is Pauline wanted to be a cowboy ever since she can remember, a result of hero-worshipping her cowboy grandfather. Her family history is cowboys, ranches and rodeos, and not just the movie versions either. She proudly talks about her grandparents: “My grandfather was the real deal, he and my grandmother never owned a house until 1998 and that was their one and only house. They moved around the U.S. so much, they lived in Mexico, and they lived in Argentina. When they lived in Mexico they would break broomtail horses and bring them up to the U.S. and sell them. So he was an all-out working cowboy. Not just in rodeo, but the rest of his life. He worked ranches – never had any money – eating beans and deviled ham… Ever since the time I was born I was wearing boots with my holster and my guns and my cowboy hat, and I told my grandfather I wanted to be...

We hope that you enjoyed reading this excerpt from "Pauline Reese - she is a cowboy". If you would like to read the entire article and more, you can order a back issue of Jul / Aug 2006 where this article was originally published.

availabilty: sold out