In 1990, after 25 years of performing folk and country-rock and a brief fling on the pop charts, Michael Martin Murphey returned to his cowboy pedigree. While such a move might be considered a commercial one designed to capture the "roots" audience following the O Brother, Where Art Thou? craze, at the time he was only helping to revive a niche that seemed to be going the way of the longhorn. Furthermore, Murphey's attraction to the cowboy's way of life had less to do with a romantic whim than an attempt to preserve his own heritage. In 2002, Murphey continued to mine Texas tradition with Cowboy Classics: Playing Favorites II. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of Western music will recognize classics like "I Ride an Old Paint," "Red River Valley," and "Yellow Rose of Texas." There's a stately six-minute version of "Streets of Laredo," adorned with fiddle and piano, and a fine two-stepping take on "Whoopie Ti-Ti-Yo."