Inspirations – Marty Robbins

A few years ago I wrote a bunch of short stories about a Stellar Ranger company stationed on a small, desert world named Ocherva. Those stories eventually culminated in book one of the Star Saga – Starforgers. The western style hero of my stories was a blonde woman named Devon Ardel. Devon went on to become the central character in the first three Star Saga novels and a huge reader favorite.

But she was born from a long and masculine tradition of the American cowboy and more specifically the Texas Rangers. Pictured above are some actual Rangers posing with their weapons. Pretty much the quintessential western bad asses. So I created the Stellar Rangers in their image. But in my research about the west and lawmen I came across a 1950’s album called Gunfighter Ballads by Marty Robbins.

I loved the gunslinger pose Robbins did for the album cover and specifically I liked the flat brimmed hat he wore. That became the look of my my Stellar Rangers. As I listened to the album I quickly became a fan of Marty’s music. Some of my short stories make references to songs on that album that probably only a Marty Robbins fan would pick up on.

I’m not a fan of today’s Country music but I really enjoy these Western songs from the 1950’s. If you’ve never listened to this album you owe it to yourself to give it a spin. Great stuff and great musical story telling by Marty Robbins.

 

Analog Man – Joe Walsh

Joe Walsh’s new album is his first in something like twenty years. What a come back! Analog Man is chock full of straight ahead rock songs with real guitar riffs and Joe’s famous attitude.

For those of you under the age of say, forty, Joe Walsh used to be in a band your parents listened to called The Eagles. The Joe Walsh song you’ve probably heard but never knew who played it, was “Life’s Been Good”. Joe does a great answer to that rock classic in “Lucky That Way” on this new album. Worth the price of admission, right there.

As I get closer to a half century old, I’m starting to really relate to songs like “Analog Man” and “Family” on this new album. But least you think this is a lame album by some old, tired rocker; know that this man can still cut a tune.

Also, Joe’s a well known Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) enthusiast with the call sign of WB6ACU. You can check out Joe on the Ham Nation podcast where he composed the theme song for the show.