FOR A COWBOY HAS TO SING <i> by Jim Bob Tinsley</i> ;<i> (University of Central Florida Press: $39.95; 314 pp.)</i> .

The 50-year heyday of cowboy and Western songs began in 1905, well after most of the range had been fenced in by sodbusters. Often written by folks who didn’t know one end of the horse from the other (“Hills of Old Wyoming,” for instance, was composed in Palm Springs by two gentlemen who’d never visited the state in question), these songs have their charms nevertheless. This handsome volume features original sheet music and arresting anecdotes on 60 songs, from well-known items such as “Back in the Saddle Again” to prickly obscurities like “When the Cactus Is in Bloom.”