When George Strait released “I Can Still Make Cheyenne” in 1996, it wasn’t just another rodeo heartbreak song — it was a choice. The cowboy valued the hope of his next eight-second ride over his relationship. And his partner chose herself over him and his love of the sport.
Written by Aaron Barker and George Strait‘s manager Erv Woolsey, “I Can Still Make Cheyenne” is from Strait’s triple-platinum 1996 album Blue Clear Sky. It topped country radio airplay charts on November 15, 1996, and was the No. 4 country song of the year.
For some cowboys, it might be their song of a lifetime.
“It kind of became an anthem for them out at the National Finals Rodeo,” Barker told NSAI’s Bart Herbison. “It might still be. I haven’t been back.”
Barker was with Strait and Woolsey in Las Vegas years ago. Woolsey managed Clay Walker at the time, and the men went to see Walker perform before Strait’s show. Walker invited Barker on stage to sing. Given the rodeo audience, he chose “I Can Still Make Cheyenne.” When he started singing, the room went silent.
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“Shut Up or I’ll Knock Your Head Off”
“All these hats were still,” Barker said, meaning everyone was wearing cowboy hats and no one was talking or moving. “It was kind of spooky. But about halfway through the song, I heard mumbling, and then I heard a voice go, ‘Shut up, or I’ll knock your head off.’ Nobody was allowed to speak during that song.”
It’s high praise from the rodeo world –and Barker earned it. He and Woosley spent years working on the song.
The idea was Woosley’s. The men were Texans working out of Nashville and spent a lot of time together. Woosley, who managed Strait for 45 years, died on March 20, 2024. He was 80 and passed away following complications from surgery. But when Woosley was healthy, Barker said he couldn’t keep up with him. They spent a lot of their free time together. Sometimes, late at night, Woosley would just start talking.
“He told me he had this (song) idea about this cowboy who calls home and says, ‘I’m gonna come home,’” Barker said. “His wife or girlfriend or whatever just says, ‘Don’t even come home. You’re gone all the time. I’m out of here.’”
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As the story unfolded, Woosley thought the cowboy should say, “Well, fine then! I’ll just move on to the next rodeo.” The next rodeo would have been Cheyenne Frontier Days.
The song’s lyrics include: She said, don’t bother comin’ home/ By time you get here I’ll be long gone/There’s somebody new and he sure ain’t no rodeo man/ He said, I’m sorry it’s come down to this/There’s so much about you that I’m gonna miss/ But it’s alright baby/ If I hurry I can still make Cheyenne
Barker isn’t a cowboy and didn’t understand the rodeo lifestyle. But the more time he spent with Strait and Woosley, it started to make sense to him.
“When you look at it on TV, it’s one thing,” he said. “But boy, when you get up (there). I also realized the connection between the roper and the horse. It’s unbelievable.”
The more Barker talked to the cowboys, the more he saw the parallels between the rodeo circuit and the life he lived in the rock music world.
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“Being on the road, you’re never home,” he said. “And there’s this tremendous toll you pay for that.”
Barker started putting it all together one night in a Nashville hotel room. He said he wrote the song on his own, but that Woosley went back through it and corrected a few things he messed up.
“For example, in the song it says, ‘Didn’t make the short go again,’” he said. “I didn’t know what a ‘short go’ was. I had the word ‘finals’ in there. That made sense to me. He corrected some of that technical language, so it was a collaboration.”
Then, it was up to Strait to bring the song to life. And, he did.
Pollstar wrote that Strait “understands the complicated underpinnings and steadfast emotions that come with being a man in full” and that he evoked “real rodeo emotions with ‘Cheyenne.’”
In addition to “I Can Still Make Cheyenne,” Barker also wrote Strait’s hits “Baby Blue”, “Love Without End, Amen”, and “Easy Come, Easy Go.”
(Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
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