Country: Various artists sing cowboy songs

Boots, Buckles & Spurs: 50 Songs Celebrate 50 Years of Cowboy Tradition ***1/2

The cowboy image has been a mainstay of country music since the 1930s, when Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Bob Wills and others sang in the saddle during Hollywood's Western movie craze. More recently, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Marty Robbins, Chris LeDoux and Riders in the Sky are among those who have championed the cowboy in dress (the ubiquitous two-gallon hat) and in song.

"Boots, Buckles & Spurs" (Sony/BMG Legacy) is a three-disc, 50-song collection that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, which originated at the Dallas State Fairgrounds in 1959.

The songs cover more than 50 years, beginning with Autry's 1939 standard, "Back in the Saddle Again" and Patsy Montana's million-seller from 1935, "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart," through such modern classics as Michael Murphy's "Wildfire" and Waylon and Willie's "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys."

While true rodeo fans might lament the absence of such favorites as Strait's "Amarillo by Morning" and Brooks' "Much Too Young to Feel this Damn Old," they should delight in the set's alluring mix of the familiar and obscure.

Highlights include "The Cattle Call" ( Eddy Arnold), "Leavin' Cheyenne" (Ian Tyson), "Someday Soon" (Suzy Bogguss), "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" (Sons of the Pioneers) "I Can Still Make Cheyenne" (George Strait), "Dusty Skies" (Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys), and "(We Are) the Cowboys" (Billy Joe Shaver).