Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Otto Gray and his Oklahoma Cowboys were the first nationally-famous cowboy band in the United States, and the first cowboy band to appear on the cover of The Billboard (June 6, 1931). Formed in Ripley, Oklahoma in the early 1920s, the band was first known as McGinty's Oklahoma Cowboy Band, for the leader, Billy McGinty, a well-known cowboy, former Rough Rider, and world champion rider with Buffalo Bill's show. The band members were authentic cowboys from ranches in and around Ripley. Their first promoter, George Youngblood, introduced them saying, "I wish to say of this bunch of cowboys that they are not only good fiddlers, but can ride or rope anything that has horns, hide or hair."