The Sun Is Setting on the Old West

When Dale Evans was buried Saturday, many saw the service as representing not just the death of an American icon but also a reminder that a pop culture was coming to an end.

In the past several years, most of the actors known as singing cowboys, who graced the silver screen through the 1950s, have died: “Queen of the West” Evans last Wednesday, her husband, Roy Rogers, and Gene Autry in 1998, and Rex Allen in 1999.

With them go many of the last reminders of a time when Western music and movies dotted American culture.

“Western music used to be mainstream; they used to be superstars. Now it’s a niche,” said Jon Grimson, president of CounterPoint Music, a Nashville-based radio promotion company.

“I kind of wonder if people still identify with cowboys; it’s become more and more removed from our culture, which is a sad thing,” he added.

During the hourlong memorial service Saturday, a mourner read a letter Evans had written to fans shortly before her death. She urged friends and fans alike “to be happy for me! I am now with my beloved Roy.”

Her words, however, did not stop many in the crowded Church of the Valley from shedding tears.

“It’s appropriate that it’s raining,” Mickey Dawes, president of the Western Music Assn., said after the service.

Through the 1950s, Western movies and television were fixtures on the American scene. Movies such as the “The Yellow Rose of Texas” could be filmed in a week or less and then quickly shipped to theaters, where they were shown for a quarter.

“You could see three or four movies a day like that. When you got out of the theater, of course you wanted to be a cowboy,” Grimson said.

However, singing cowboys’ influence waned as movies became more expensive and Western music morphed into the country and western sound.

Although country artists such as Garth Brooks and Faith Hill have dominated the charts, many say their records are pop music dressed in hats and boots.

“All kinda sounds the same after a while,” said Hank Sheffer, an executive director of the Western Music Assn.

While some Western musicians, such as the Grammy-nominated group Riders in the Sky, have had commercial success, most are lesser known these days.

Don Edwards, one of the best known Western singers today, had a small role as a singing cowboy in “The Horse Whisperer,” and most of his albums sell between 10,000 and 20,000 copies.

Even Edwards, who regularly plays the annual Santa Clarita Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival, said he doesn’t see himself filling the shoes of Autry and Evans.

“It leaves a void, an empty place. This was your entire childhood, and now your heroes are passing on,” the 62-year-old said.

By most accounts, there are only one or two singing cowboys left.

“It gets kind of lonely; you miss the people you love and work with,” said Monte Hale, who made 19 Westerns with singing cowboys but might be best known for playing Rock Hudson’s lawyer in “Giant.”

Hale’s townhouse in Studio City overflows with memorabilia, ranging from John Wayne’s rifle to pictures of Evans, whom Hale described as “just the sweetest lady.”

“Our house is full of memories,” said Hale’s wife, Joanne.

While Monte Hale sports a big grin most of the time and greets visitors with a firm handshake, his wife said the death of so many of his co-workers has taken its toll.

“Dale and Roy--they’re all gone, and it all gets to him sometimes. Every time we open the paper, another one of our friends has died,” she said.

Hale said he would have liked to go to Evans’ service Saturday, but decided the nearly 100-mile trip to Apple Valley was too long. Instead, he grieved--and remembered--from home.

“It’s all changed, but I’ve stayed the same,” he said.