Charlie Daniels’ Favorite L’Amour Novels

Some of the greatest conversations of my life have been the ones I was blessed to share with Louis L’Amour.

Mr. L’Amour’s knowledge of the Old West, cattle drives, outlaw gangs, fast draw gunmen and the lawmen who brought order to the chaotic railhead towns where the trail drives ended was vast, comprehensive and—due to his exhaustive research—meticulously accurate.

L’Amour wrote about the indomitable spirit of the special breed of men who crossed continents and fought Indians, outlaws and range wars to settle the vast lands west of the Mississippi.

Being such a big fan of Louis L’Amour and the fact that he published over 100 titles make it difficult to choose my favorites, but here goes..

1. The Sacketts (Nelson Doubleday): Mr. L’Amour wrote a series of books about the Sackett family, following them through several generations from Europe to the Old West. The Sackett men were an adventurous, never-give-an-inch breed, tall in the saddle, handy with the ladies and fast with a gun.

2. Milo Talon (Bantam Books): Being a gun for hire, if the cause was noble, and finding a missing girl was right down Milo’s alley, but things got complicated in a hurry, people started dying and it took some quick thinking and fancy shooting to keep Talon from being one of them.

3. Jubal Sackett (Bantam Books): Jubal Sackett was a restless soul, always anxious to see what was over the next hill. In the days before America was even a country, his wandering took him from the east coast as far west as Colorado, with some dangerous side trips along the way.

4. The Shadow Riders (Bantam Books): In the days following the Civil War, there was no shortage of men who knew how to use a gun. Some of them ended up on the wrong side of the law, and it took some tough hombres to go against them. The Traven brothers, Dal and Mac, fit the bill.

— Music legend Charlie Daniels, a personal friend of the late author Louis L’Amour