As the 12th of January nears, I like to play a song by Michael Smith (http://www.artistsofnote.com/michael/) called “The Ballad of Dan Moody.” Some know it as “Roving Cowboy.” Three cowboys rob a train on the 12th of January, which is described as “such a cold and a bitter time.” This is a song as dramatic, and cinematic, as any folk song I can think of. Chuck Mitchell (www.mitchellsong.com) has done a riveting version of it in concert, calling it a song about doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. A rodeo chum of the three cowboys tries to keep them on the straight and narrow, but ultimately there is a terrible tragedy. Accompanying the sheet music for this song, in Michael’s book “Songs from Bird Avenue,” where Michael has the song in F, but I play it in G, there’s a photo of a little kid playing cowboy and shooting a couple of toy six-guns. Been there!