Saddle up for a trip through entertainment history with a weekly highlight from Santa Clarita’s Walk of Western Stars! This week, cowboy singer Don Edwards.

Edwards was born in the small town of Boonton, New Jersey, just 20 miles west of Newark.

While Edwards grew up in 1939 in Boonton as a boy, he became a man in Texas when he moved there at the age of 16 to work in the oil fields.

When he was in his 20s, he began working at Six Flags Over Texas as a singer, actor and stuntman when the park opened in 1961.

After five years of working at Six Flags, Edwards decided it was time for a change and moved to Nashville to pursue his dream of becoming a singer. Unfortunately, folks in Nashville did not gravitate to his Western style of music.

After an unsuccessful run in the music city, Edwards made his way back to Texas and settled in Fort Worth.

Even though he returned to Texas, he still had dreams of becoming a singer. In 1980, Edwards started to gain some momentum in his musical ventures when he met DJ Larry Scott, who was well-known in Los Angeles.

DJ Larry Scott helped Edwards get into the studio with members of Gene Autry’s band and the Sons of Pioneers to record the album Happy Cowboy.

Shortly after that, Edwards visited the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, which inspired him to release cassette tapes of cowboy songs that grew his fan base.

After signing with Michael Martin Murphey’s Warner Western label in 1992, Don Edwards had his career’s greatest break, releasing albums of cowboy and Western music on a regular basis. Edwards commemorated Gene Autry’s 90th birthday in 1998 with the release of My Hero, Gene Autry: A Tribute. In 2001, he collaborated with Waddie Mitchell and the Fort Worth Symphony to pay tribute to Marty Robbins. 

He continued to strive in the industry, releasing songs like Last of the Troubadour: Saddle Songs, High Lonesome Cowboy and Heaven on Horseback.

Due to his impact on Western music, Edwards was honored with a star on the Western Walk of Stars in 2000. For those who would like to pay homage to the late Edwards, his star can be found on the east side of Main Street near Market Street.

Click here to view last week’s celebrity on the Western Walk of Stars.

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