Trisha Yearwood's "Power" play

Trisha Yearwood -- the subject a cover-story profile in the January issue of Cowboys & Indians magazine, on sale Dec. 12 at fine newsstands everywhere -- recently talked with CMT.com about her new CD, Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love. She's happy to report that, at this stage in her career, she's finally reached a "comfort level" while singing in the recording studio:

"I used to worry so much about it being pitch-perfect and over-thinking things. As a demo singer, you would go into a studio and you'd have a limited amount of time to sing your songs. You were getting paid $40 a song, you did your own harmonies, and you got work because you knew the song when you got there and you worked fast and cheap. And then when you go to make your album, and you've been waiting your entire life to make that first album, you think, 'Oh, my gosh. This is an album and it has to be perfect.' As time passes, you learn how to do a better job, just like anything. 'I know how to do this. This is what I do. Just go in and do what you do.' I think I've become less and less critical of my own work through the years. This album is my favorite, vocal-wise -- this one and the last one actually -- because I finally got to a place where I thought, 'You know what? I know what to do.'"

Them's fightin' words, pardner!

Brit film critic John Patterson argues: "[T]he Western per se -- the Western as a thriving movie genre -- is to all intents and purposes deader than Billy the Kid, Jesse James, John Ford and Sam Peckinpah put together."

Live from Australia: The Spaghetti Western Orchestra

A five-piece band in The Land Down Under has mastered the music of Ennio Morricone.

R.I.P: Porter Wagoner (1927-2007)

The country music legend famed for his rhinestone-studded suits passed away Sunday after losing his battle with lung cancer. But he leaves behind a lasting legacy. And, better still, he lived long enough, as the Associated Press notes, to enjoy "a remarkable late-career revival that won him a new generation of fans."

The Lone Ranger rides again?

After reviving the swashbuckler with his fabulously successful Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, producer Jerry Bruckheimer may be setting his sights on reintroducing a classic Western hero, The Lone Ranger. Does this mean Johnny Depp -- or Nicolas Cage, star of Bruckheimer's National Treasure franchise -- might be donning the mask? Or will they go with an unknown like they did back in 1981 when... oh, wait, maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea.

Jesse and Brad

Brad Pitt continues to promote The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford as it opens in foreign markets. In an interview with John Hiscock of the Telegraph of Great Britain, he notes that, of all the actors who have played the notorious outlaw on screen, he's the only one who, like Jesse, hails from Springfield, Missouri.

"I was surprised how much pride I found in the fact we're both from the same area," says Pitt. "He's a folk hero and there are tourist traps and museums dedicated to him, but I had never thought of portraying him until I read this script, which dissects the Jesse James myth and also the myth of Robert Ford, who killed him. I wasn't interested in doing a straightforward, shoot-'em-up Western because that's been done really well before – this is different.""

Yesterday, Times Square! Tomorrow, the world!

The cover of our December issue -- spotlighting the great Sam Elliott -- looms large in Times Square. And next week, you can find the magazine at fine newsstands everywhere.