Last night I went to the Phoenix Symphony to hear Rex Allen Jr. in an Arizona Tribute. It
was a great presentation that mixed movie and television Western scores with
cowboy songs by Rex Allen Jr. This was not a night for experimentation. The
symphony and Allen did the standards of Western music; Buckaroo Holiday, The Big
Country, William Tell Overture, Bonanza,
Ghost Riders in the Sky, Cool Water, Streets of Laredo, and several others.
The performance concluded with I love you
Arizona, which was written and sung by Allen and adopted last year as the
official theme song for the Arizona bicentennial. The audience insisted that
Allen sing the song again for an encore.
It was a full house and I hope the popularity of the
two-night performance will encourage other similar events.
