Although some modern movies have gotten more realistic in some aspects, there's another facet that they've neglected. Think about it — you no longer see much evidence of music in Western movies. And I'm not talking about soundtrack albums and/or background music. Simply put, I'm asking: whatever happened to singing cowboys?

I'm not asking for moviemakers to go back to the days of Gene Autry and others, wearing those frilly shirts and warbling to their horse. There have been countless numbers of those kinds of movies made in the past, and I really don't miss them. After all, watching a young John Wayne trying to sing is painful.

But it's been pretty well determined that music was often part of cowboy life, and even though I'm not sure they really sang to the cattle to calm them down as legend suggests, it's probably a safe bet they spent some time singing around the campfire. They had time on their hands and it wasn't that uncommon in those days for someone to have a harmonica, or even a fiddle or guitar.

Many of the songs from those days have survived through the years, and have been recorded at various times by dedicated musicians. I think it would be a hoot to see more of the characters in Western movies break into song while sitting around the campfire. Hollywood, are you listening? Charlie Daniels - "Old Chisholm Trail"