Yee Haw-liday: manger/barn

Do cowboys believe? Ask them 12/25.

Ridin’ Trails with Jesus” compares the wandering cowpoke to the life of man. David Shook compels some gospel from some half-baked country.

Mary Kaye’s “It All Began in a Barn” compares some old farm outbuilding to the beginning of forgiveness. Farmer’s Xmas song?

Cathy Jones ponders the possibility with “If There had been Cowboys” the first Christmas night in a song that reaches farther than its manure roots can support. Now, what if there had been face-recognition software in Herod’s kingdom?

Most fun with the contrast, Three Day Threshold and Summer Villains lean into the genre with “The Ballad of Baby Jesus.” I like it when they drawl ‘King of the Jews’ with a Texan accent like he’s some gunslinger to contend with.