Most people consider Clint Eastwood to be one of the most successful actors of all time, a description that is absolutely accurate. But Eastwood is also a talented musician. Eastwood released four albums throughout his career, beginning with Rawhide‘s Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites, released in 1967.
Two songs, “Cowboy Wedding Song” and “Rowdy” from Rawhide’s Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites, were released as singles, although neither charted at radio. Other songs on the record include “Bouquet Of Roses”, “I’ll Love You More”, and “Twilight On The Trail”, among others.
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The record title came from Rawhide, a TV series starring Eastwood that ran from 1959 to 1965.
Interestingly, after Rawhide’s Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites, it took 30 years before Eastwood released another record. In 1997, Eastwood released Eastwood After Hours: Live At Carnegie Hall.
Clint Eastwood’s Other Country Music Endeavors
Rawhide’s Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites might be Eastwood’s only country album, but he did leave his mark on country music in other ways. In 1980, Eastwood released “Bar Room Buddies”, a collaboration with Merle Haggard. That song was part of the Bronco Billy soundtrack, a film starring Eastwood. “Bar Room Buddies” became Eastwood’s only No. 1 single.
“I think you can say that Merle Haggard had a hit and sort of dragged me along,” Eastwood later tells Rolling Stone.
Also in 1980, Eastwood teamed up with Ray Charles to sing “Beers To You”. That song is part of the soundtrack for Bronco Billy, also starring Eastwood. But his most notable contribution to country music was unintentional. Eastwood inspired Toby Keith to write his 2018 single, “Don’t Let The Old Man In”. That song, written solely by Keith, appears on Keith’s Greatest Hits: The Show Dog Years record. The song was also used in Eastwood’s film, The Mule.
Keith asked Eastwood, who was 88 years old at the time, how he manages to keep working so hard. Eastwood responded by saying, “I just get up every morning and go out. And I don’t let the old man in.”
The version used in The Mule is what Keith intended to be a demo, since he was sick the day he recorded it.
“I gave it the best vocal I could that day, and I sent it off,” Keith reveals. “It’s a real raspy, sleepy, tired, sick vocal. I said, ‘Well, now you’ve got a reference, and I’ll go back and put a vocal on it for you.’”
Surprisingly, Eastwood didn’t change anything. “He wanted it sick and tired and dark like that,” adds Keith.
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