What fun to pick five favorite cowboy heroes . . . particularly
with so many tantalizing choices. Now, it’s been a tough, hard, sweat-inducing
job, but I got it
done and here are the final results.
1. Trace Adkins. Oh my, can that
guy sing . . . and look like a cowboy hero while he’s doing it. I fell
head-over-heels when I saw
this cowboy-musician-actor perform live in the intimate outdoor theater at the
Choctaw
Nation Labor Day Festival. Twenty-plus of his singles have charted on the
Billboard country
music charts, including his Number One hits: “This Ain’t No thinkin’ Thing,”
“Ladies Love
Country Boys,” and “You’re Gonna Miss This.” He also recorded a duet with
country legend
Ronnie Milsap called “My First Ride” to benefit firefighters and police
officers. Now I listen to
this bass-baritone, Grand Ole Opry inductee most days while I write my cowboy
firefighter
hero novels. He sets love-inspiring, life-affirming stories to music in the best
country tradition
that warms my storyteller’s heart.
2. Virgil Cole. Nothing is simple for
a cowboy hero, but he also lets nothing get him down in his quest to make things
right. Ed
Harris directs, co-writes, and stars in this recent film based on The
Appaloosa, a novel by crime
writer Robert B. Parker. In 1882, lawman and peacekeeper Virgil Cole and his
deputy Everett
Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) are hired to protect and regain control of Appaloosa,
New Mexico,
the small town terrorized by a local rancher. Renée Zellweger plays the role of
Allison (Allie)
French, a young widow who develops a relationship with Virgil. This
inspirational story proves
once more that cowboy heroes, and their sweethearts, are needed as much today as
they
were in the past.
3. Raylan Givens. I do love a cowboy hero
with more than a little spunk that he puts to good use by helping friends and
community.
Justified is a series based on Elmore Leonard’s short story, “Fire in
the Hole,” that aired over six
seasons on FX network for a total of seventy-eight episodes. Timothy Olyphant
brings to
vibrant life tough deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens delivering justice in his
hometown of
Harlan, Kentucky, located in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky.
Raylan is pitted
against a strong cast of secondary characters such as family matriarch Mags
Bennet with her
sons, Dickie, Coover, and Doyle. Boyd Crowder is unforgettable as a two-faced
powerhouse.
Not surprisingly, Justified received critical acclaim and won two
Primetime Emmy Awards.
Even when beset on all sides by forces beyond his control or tempted to forgo
his code of
honor, Raylan holds fast to justice for all.
4. Hondo Lane. Louis L’Amour is my own personal cowboy hero
because his
western novels will live forever, educating us, intriguing us, inspiring us.
Hondo, the classic
western film, is based on his short story, “The Gift of Cochise.” L’amour also
wrote the
novelization of the movie. Hondo
features US Army Cavalryman John Wayne as Hondo Lane
and Arizona homesteader Geraldine Page as Angie Lowe. Angie and Johnny, her
six-year-old
son, run across Hondo on foot, carrying his saddle and rifle. She learns he lost
his horse to
Apaches. He learns she is trying to run her ranch alone. Hondo and Angie are
both vulnerable
and carry secrets they dare not reveal, but they still join forces to survive
the dangerous
western frontier. Like Hondo, no matter his personal scars or burdens, a cowboy
hero always
comes through for those who need his special strengths.
5. Will Kane. Cowboy heroes are brave and true in the
tradition of
High Noon,
the classic western film from a screenplay by Carl Foreman and directed by Fred
Zinnermann.
High Noon won four Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. In
Hadleyville, a small town
in New Mexico Territory, Gary Cooper plays the role of Marshal Will Kane,
recently married to
Amy Flower, acted by Grace Kelly. As Will prepares to retire, he learns that a
vicious killer he
sent to jail is out and on his way to exact revenge. When the town folks refuse
to support him,
he must face a gang of ruthless killers—alone—to protect his new bride and the
town. His
bravery and determination to do the right thing for others against overwhelming
odds inspires
my stories about first-responder, heroic cowboy firefighters.
***
Smokin' Hot Cowboys
#4
Two flames burn way hotter than one...
Eden Rafferty
has lost
it all: big time career, high-profile
marriage, and just about everything she owns. Coming back to
Wildcat Bluff with her tail between her legs, the only
person who can help her heal is cowboy firefighter Shane
Taggart. But nothing is simple, and their high-octane past
is just the beginning of their current problems...
Romance Western [Sourcebooks Casablanca,
On Sale: February 26, 2019, Mass Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781492671589
/ eISBN:
9781492671596]
Kim Redford is the bestselling author of Western romance novels. She grew up
in Texas
with cowboys, cowgirls, horses, cattle, and rodeos for inspiration. She divides
her time
between homes in Texas and Oklahoma, where she’s a rescue cat wrangler and
horseback
rider—when she takes a break from her keyboard.
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