Cody Criswell-Badillo

Leaving Cheyenne (2022)

version for orchestra (10')

program note:

                  In rain or shine, sleet or snow,

Me and my Doney Gal are bound to go.

                                                      -Doney Gal

With my feet in the stirrups, my bridle in my hand,

Goodbye, Old Paint, I'm leaving Cheyenne.

                                                                        -Goodbye, Old Paint

                   Leaving Cheyenne comes from of a powerful memory of my great aunt Doris and my great uncle Bascom. Doris cooked for a ranching outfit in West Texas, and Bascom was a wrangler who broke horses.  Cowboying has always played a central role in the identity of my family, and I remember Bascom teaching me how to throw the lasso long before I ever picked up a baseball. While I have many fond memories of the two of them, it was Doris's collection of wind chimes that I remember the most. 

                  Years after they passed away, I drove by their abandoned home and saw aunt Doris's wind chimes, still billowing in the Western Oklahoma breeze. There they remained frozen in time, a stark reminder that I was witnessing the dying breaths of my cowboy culture and that the American cowboy was making his final descent into the realm of mythology.

                  While it's tempting to get sentimental when writing about the American Frontier, I always remind myself that the Old West, as it was relayed to me by my grandfather, was dangerous, desolate, and cruel. For this piece, I blended melodies from two of my favorite cowboy folk songs with aunt Doris's wind chimes in an honest attempt to capture the music of the Old West.

-- Cody Criswell-Badillo