Another Vern Gosdin Hit: “;This Ain’t My First Rodeo”

“This Ain’t My First Rodeo” is among many of Vern Gosdin’s hits. Gosdin co-wrote this track with Hank Cochran and Max D. Barnes. In July 1990, they released “This Ain’t My First Rodeo” as the lead single from his album 10 Years of Greatest Hits. During the week of November 26, 1990, the song occupied the 10^th spot in Radio and Records. In addition, it reached number 14 on Hot Country Songs.

How “This Ain’t My First Rodeo” Came to Life

In one of his stories, he shared that he wanted an addition in his house, an extra room over his garage. One morning, he met with the carpenters then drove off to Nashville for a day. When he got home, the workers had almost finished the addition. He praised them for a job well done, and one of the men said, “This ain’t our first rodeo”. Vern went inside his house and wrote the words down. Gosdin credited the workman who used the idiomatic expression for giving him the inspiration for the song. Eventually, he used it as a title. After some time, he completed the lyrics with two of the greatest names in the country music industry.

The lyrics explain a tale of experience, including these repeated lines:

This ain’t the first time this old cowboy’s been throwed

This ain’t the first I’ve seen this dog and pony show

Honey, This ain’t my first rodeo

Vern Gosdin worked with Country Music powerhouses Hank Cochran and Max D. Barnes to complete the lyrics of the song. Between 1962 and 1980, Cochran was also a recording artist who was scoring seven times on the Billboard country music charts. His greatest solo success was “Sally Was a Good Old Girl” which occupied number 20. In 2014, Cochran became an inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Barnes, on the other hand, composed many familiar songs of the 1980s and 1990s. His successes include 42 songwriter awards in his entire career. Barnes was a two-time winner of the Country Music Association’s prestigious Song of the Year prize. The first was in 1988 for “Chiseled in Stone”, which he co-penned with Gosdin. The second was in 1992 when he got for “Look At Us”, co-written with Gill. In the same year, Max became an inductee into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and American Old Time Country Music Hall Of Fame.