This image is the cover for the book Tall Tales From Texas, Classics To Go

Tall Tales From Texas, Classics To Go

In 1934, Boatright published his first book, Tall Tales from Texas Cow Camps, which gathered stories from his childhood and from his many students who were also raised on ranches. Boatwright also recorded the folklore of the Texas oilfields, presenting the hardworking drillers and roughnecks as the mythical figures of a new age in American industry. Unlike other folklorists, who added literary flourishes to the tales they published, Boatright presented his stories in the unadorned voices of their original tellers.

Mody C. Boatright

Body Coggin Boatright, (1896–1970), Mody Boatright, folklorist and educator, the son of Eldon and Frances Ann (McAuley) Boatright, was born in Mitchell County, Texas, on October 16, 1896. He was the youngest of ten children in a ranching family and the grandnephew of pioneer cattlemen and merchants Mody and Sam Coggin of Brownwood. Unlike many of his contemporaries who embellished folk tales with literary touches, Boatright retold stories in an unadorned and concise style much closer to true folk narration and recognized that in oral performance these tales were very molded by the immediate situation of their telling.

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