Being one of the most iconic stars in Hollywood history is a status that very few actors are blessed enough to attain, but based on nothing but his filmography and efforts both on and off-camera, it clearly wasn’t enough for Clint Eastwood.
His back catalogue of credits alone is enough to enshrine him in the halls of silver-screen fame as one of the most prominent legends to ever take on Tinseltown. Still, if anything, the evolution of his career brought him his greatest successes to date when Eastwood opted to take the plunge, expand his horizons, and try his hand at filmmaking.
Despite never having won an Academy Award for his acting prowess, Eastwood is nonetheless a four-time Oscar winner after both Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby took home the statues for ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’, with many of his directorial efforts having experienced box office glory and awards season recognition.
However, there is a third prong to Eastwood’s creative trident, even if it hasn’t proven to be anywhere near as prominent or popular as the other two. The veteran harboured dreams of making it as a singer and musician long before he made his on-screen debut as an actor, but the fact his singing voice was nothing to write home about – which is being generous – helped put paid to those notions.
That being said, he did score a number one single on the ‘Hot Country’ charts w hen he performed ‘Bar Room Buddies’ for the soundtrack of 1980’s comedy Bronco Billy, and he duetted with Ray Charles on ‘Beers to You’ from orangutan buddy caper sequel Any Which Way You Can. Long before that, and long before the infamous Paint Your Wagon, he released an entire album of ditties.
Eastwood scored the breakthrough role of his career on small screen Western series Rawhide, which had a memorable theme tune in and of itself. Somebody somewhere was clearly convinced the charismatic star had the chops to take centre stage on an entire record of tracks, which gave rise to the release of Rawhide’s Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites in 1963.
It even spawned three singles, but neither ‘Unknown Girl of My Dreams’, ‘Get Yourself Another Fool’, or bonus track ‘Cowboy Wedding Song/Rowdy’ managed to crack the country charts in the United States. A failure at the time before evolving into something of a cult curio given all that Eastwood would go on to achieve in the decades to follow, then, it stands tall as the one and only album he’s ever recorded where he sings the entire thing.
He’s released a multitude of albums thanks to his penchant for composing the score and occasionally contributing to the soundtrack of many films he’s directed, but Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites is the solitary instance of his pipes being positioned at the forefront of a musical endeavor.