Can a man call himself a cowboy and still maintain a half gigabyte archive of music from bands such as Rush, Yes, ELP, King Crimson, and Van der Graaf Generator on his I-Pod (We will discuss the cowboy/Ipod relationship in a later installment)? It is questions like this that keep me awake at night. One part of me thinks that a cowboy should have no interest in the finesse and trickery of prog-rock, but on the other hand, a cowboy should like what he likes and not give a horse’s fart why he happens to like it or what anybody thinks. Luckily, we have put together a panel of experts to delve into today’s quandary. We have asked this question to two well known musicians with opposing views on the topic, and posted their responses below.
Neil Peart, drummer for the band “Rush” the energizer bunnies of Prog Rock, writes the following: “Wow, that is a very interesting question. I often struggled with such riddles while bicycling through West Africa in the summer of 1988. As a master of rythms and philosophical thoughts, I feel that a true cowboy cannot be defined by the type of music the he prefers. A true cowboy is defined by his lifestyle and his passion for adventure. I do not claim to be a cowboy and would never label myself as anything other than a “searcher,” but do not see how a love for meticulous 7/8 time signatures with heavy classical influence has to be mutually exclusive of a life on the open range. So my answer is yes, a man can call himself a cowboy and still have a love for the prog rock composers of the past several decades. ”
Thank you to Neil for this enlightened response. We will be certain to ask for Neil’s input on our upcoming article on “What is consciousness?”
We were also able to get ahold of true cowboy and contributor to High Times Magazine, Willie Nelson – who’s 2006 release, Songbird is worth the ten bucks. Willie had the following to say when asked the question of the day: “In the name of wandering freight trains, that’s about the dumbest question I’ve ever heard. Hell no he’s not a cowboy. What is all this Ipod crap and stuff about gigabits? Man, I have to tell you, there is just no place for that kind of music on the open range. I need a song that is sweet and tells a story. You know, music for the soul. Not too fancy, you know what I’m saying. I’d love to talk about this all day, but just got some sweet purple cush and gotta check up on it, you dig..”
So there you have it, Willie Nelson does not dig prog rock. I am not all that surprised. Lost Cowboy is going to need to think about what these gentlemen had to say, and hopefully no more sleep will be lost over this topic.
In addition to Nick, our old buddy APR (Andrew Parker-Renga) has recently entered the studio to work on the follow up to his 2006 debut “Issue:1 Thomas and the Man in the Chair.” APR is currently living in Burlington, VT and playing shows all around New England. He recently completed a month-long residency at Nectar’s (for all you Phish fans out there). APR has promised to keep us updated on his progress, and we should have an interview with APR some time in the next month. 
