Back to the Ranch
I genuinely thought cowboys were a thing of the past. And not just the recent past. Having studied bits and pieces of modern American history — I thought they were forever frozen in a world of 18th century cattle rustlers and skirmishes with Native Americans — except for John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.
I was shaken out of my ignorance recently through the Paramount TV show Yellowstone. The show is centred on the Dutton family who own the largest cattle ranch in Montana, their personal and political battles, and the lives of those who make the ranch what it is.
Through this, I learned that modern day cowboys are very much a thing. They work on some enormous ranches stretching across hundreds of thousands of acres of land, using a mixture of traditional horsemanship and modern technology. They make a modest living but work with a deep connection to the land and animals.
They also form a community where games and competitions within their craft (such as bull riding) offer opportunities for a lucrative payday. The show is enormously successful, and as someone who is fascinated by our modern culture, I wonder what that tells us. Why do so many of us, who wouldn't last a week on a working ranch, feel drawn into that world?
I think it taps into something primal — our longing for rootedness, to connect with the land we are placed in, and some sense of tradition that outlasts us.
I actually think this speaks to us for some of the same reasons the biblical narrative continues to make sense to people in our culture. The biblical narrative is overflowing with motifs of land, rootedness in place, pastures, livestock, adventure, the starry night sky and and seedtime and harvest.
And I think it goes deeper. Modernity often leaves us feeling detached, as we can be citizens of everywhere and nowhere through technology, writing emails, texting and sharing memes that are nothing if not transient and fleeting.
I think we can push this further. Picking up the good book at the beginning, we find that God placed us in a garden, and gave us a special relationship with a particular land:
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2:15 (NIV)
I've also been listening to a lot of Zach Bryan. He is easily my favourite artist right now, and I've been reflecting on why that is. Country music has always had a strong following in Scotland, (certainly growing up in Lewis it was revered), and I found this out with aplomb when I struggled to get tickets for his upcoming gig at Hampden.
Zach writes rooted, gutsy Americana.
He is like a Springsteen, a working class prophet for our generation. But in a sense, it is more profound. He writes about finding the sacredness in ordinary moments, ordinary places, as well as longing, regret and hometown ghosts.
He writes something real in an age of the over-polished and over-produced. His music arrives for my generation after a string of institution failures in politics, media and public life — where trust is fragile and we are trying to hold onto fragments of meaning where they can be found.
I think the longing for the ranch, the land, the open road, the small town, or the old songs and stories tells us something about who we really are. As creatures, we bear the mark of our Creator.
God plants humanity in a garden and ends the biblical story with a restored creation.
Perhaps that is why we feel the pull of rootedness so deeply.
We were not made to drift endlessly through a digital world of noise and distraction. We were made for creation, community, stewardship and sacrifice — for the place where heaven and earth meet again.
Dust and glory are united there.
Maybe that is why the story of the cowboy still makes us watch, lean in and pay attention. Beneath the dirt and dust lies a glory we still long for.
‘Take me back to somewhere I miss’,
Zach Bryan, Something in the Orange 2022
Yours in Christ,
David
The Brig - June 2026 Edition
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