Picture Butte Charlie

Words & Music by Tim Hus
Copyright Tim Hus Music 2010


Charlie was a bronc rider he hailed from Picture Butte
Made his payroll and his bedroll behind the buckin’ chute
Grew up with the Southwest wind blowin’ every day
Been leaning to the West so long he’s never stood up straight

He gets a-feelin’ restless every year about this time
As he watches a falcon circle in the sky
His Diamond City sweetheart keeps him holdin’ on
His wire stretches tight and she knows he’s almost gone

Chorus:
And he gives a wave as he rolls away
In a big old cloud of dust
With a camper heavy on the back
Of his old pick-up truck
And he never makes any money
But he doesn’t give a damn
He just likes his hand in the riggin’
And his riggin’ in his hand
She never heard a single word
All summer he was gone
He got off the bus at Fort Macloed
With a cast on his arm

Great grandpa rode the Redcoat trail in the Whoop-up whiskey trade
Na-ah’s been here all along she wore her hair in braids
Sable brush and canvas remembered every stroke
The Red Man’s Wireless and The White Man’s Buffalo

Charles Marion Russell that’s where he got his name
Like the painter of the West he was captured by the change
Still he hears his ancestors whisper in the wind
From the Porcupines to Grassy Lake
And the old Milk River Ridge

Chorus