Don’t let the costumes fool you! None of the Texas Rangers hailed from Texas nor is there any documentation to suggest any of them cowboys or Westerners by any stretch of the imagination. Paul Sells came from Lima, Ohio, and several of the earliest members including both Gomer Cool and Bob Crawford were natives of northwestern Missouri.
As mentioned in the Texas Rangers book, none of the original Rangers musicians were actually country – or hillbilly, as the genre was frequently called at the time – musicians. Accordianist Paul Sells had had his own nightclub orchestra and fiddler Gomer Cool was classically trained. They practiced a lot to get a more Western sound but their repertoire over the years was very diverse, with ballads, spirituals, hymns, folk, and even patriotic tunes finding a spot in their recorded catalog.
Wistful Vistas 