Ghost Riders in the Sky: The Life of Stan Jones, the Singing Ranger - Softcover

Ward, Michael K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1933855991 ISBN 13: 9781933855998

Publisher: Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2014

Synopsis

Winner of the 2015 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards for Arizona Biography!
In Death Valley National Monument, 1947, a handsome young park ranger idly plucks his guitar, writes a cowboy song, and strikes gold. This is the true story of Stan Jones, now told in full for the first time. His great song "Ghost Riders in the Sky," continues to have a life of its own, performed all around the world in ever-changing musical modes, still casting an eerie spell over listeners today.

About this title

About the Author:

After living and working in Death Valley for both the Fred Harvey Company and the National Park Service from 1977 through 1991, Michael K. Ward decided it was time for a move to Tucson to cool off a bit. He has worked as a field technician at Saguaro National Park since 1992.

Review:

...Jones liked to tell a tall tale about himself and his songs, once in a while, so the author faced a big challenge in separating the myths from the true stories. But he has done an outstanding job! And sometimes, the truth has turned out to be more interesting than the tall tales!... And his research on Stan's personality is very revealing, e.g. his relationship with John Ford (for whose movies Jones wrote numerous songs), who his friends were before and after he became involved with Hollywood, how his personality made it hard for him to become a good actor, etc. The book is fascinating; hard to put down once you start reading. Highly recommended! --O.J. Sikes, The Western Way, official publication of the Western Music Association

Bringing forth what would have to be the definitive work on a songwriter not well defined, Michael K. Ward has tackled the elusively contradictory subject of Stan Jones. What emerges is a portrait of a man who both reaped the vast rewards and labored under the terrible tonnage of his one monster success. Stan Jones was not one to hold anywhere near the facts when it came to biographical details. The creator of Ghost Riders In The Sky didn t much care for his actual story and so he made up much of it as he went along, making it rugged going for anyone trying to track him. Author Ward had the help of many who were closest to Jones, but sometimes even they were in the dark. In a tour de force of detection, Ward has finally put the dominoes in order...mostly! Some may find the book s first part (detailing who was what to whom) a bit dizzying, but once under way it s a fascinating portrait of a loving, giving but very complex man. Fans of Westerns should get it, fans of the song should get it, creators and writers should get it. And probably just about everybody else would like it too! --Rick Huff, Rope Burns

Michael Ward's biography of Stan Jones and his remarkable emergence as a nationally renowned songwriter is a very enjoyable slice of informative and entertaining reading. --Michael McGarrity, NY Times best-selling author of the Kevin Kerney crime/suspense novels

About this edition

• Publisher: Rio Nuevo Publishers
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1933855991
• ISBN 13: 9781933855998
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208