real west

I am a sucker for TV westerns. The Wagon Train . The music from Rawhide gives me "move 'em out" courage.  Have Gun — Will Travel and I'm ready to roam, the theme from Bonanza and  millions of others, I have that burning map imprinted on my brain about where the west is and what it was. But the truth was well different.et an American magazine I used to get an AMerican magazine called True West, it benefited from the early television era: as shows such as Bonanza, The Lone Ranger and Gunsmoke were aired, many fans became interested in finding out about the lives of real cowboys and cowgirls. True West sold, by the 1960s, in approximately 200,000 newsstands.




After that, the early era of television faded out and so did its interest in westerns. The Vietnam War, Disco and other interests of the era took over. True West began to have financial trouble. Many of the magazine's original buyers had started to search for new interests, and Mr. Small fell ill. In 1974, Small sold the magazine.



By 1984, the magazine was being produced from Stillwater, Oklahoma. However, with the surge of competitor magazines such as Cowboys and Indians and American Cowboy, the magazine could not get out of its economic troubles.



In 1999, the magazine was bought by current owners, Rick Baish, Bob Boze Bell and Bob McCubbin.



Some of the magazine's most popular subjects, cowboys and cowgirls, include Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane, Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickok and Annie Oakley, among others.



With the help of new investors, Bob and Trish Brink and Dave Daiss, the magazine has expanded its format to include travel, books, Western movies and most importantly, preservation.



The launching of The Top Ten True Western Towns (Sheridan, Wyoming was named number one, 2006) has brought national recognition to the magazine.