Gene Autry’s life story reads like a great American novel. Known as “America’s favorite singing cowboy,” the country star paired his entrepreneurial spirit with his love of entertaining audiences and became one of the country-western genre’s most unique and beloved figures.
After amassing an audience with a slew of performances throughout the 1920s, he signed with Columbia Records and made the “musical western” a cinematic staple. Autry went on to star in almost 100 films featuring him on horseback, serenading a love interest or saloon patrons, throughout adventurous plots.
Movie poster for the 1939 film, “Home on the Prairie,” starring Gene Autry. (Public Domain)
The television star was also no stranger to airwaves and hosted “Melody Ranch,” his variety show, on the CBS Radio Network throughout the 1940s and 1950s. The opening theme song featured one of his most popular hits, “Back in the Saddle Again,” a fiddle-laced tribute to traveling cowboys throughout the United States….