Don't fence me in

This riff or mini chapter—beginning with Henry James’s enumeration of things absent in American culture—takes as its starting point the quintessentially American figure of the singing cowboy. The singing cowboy is meant to offer a somewhat lighthearted introduction to the general subject of wanderers and wandering. Three songs in particular call for attention: “Home on The Range” (1933), “Don’t Fence Me In” (1934), and “Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds” (1935). The 1930s Depression era context receives comment, as well as the new radio and film industries that prove basic to the creation and dissemination of the singing cowboy. The chapter—through its focus on a forgotten and almost comic musical performance—seeks to identify wanderers as key cultural figures enshrined not only in specific genres such as the western film or the cowboy song but also across much of Western culture in the variable act of wandering.