A Travelling Legacy: HSU’s Cowboy Band welcome 2025 in London

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Whether it’s the West Texas Fair and Rodeo Parade or a Hardin Simmons football game, you have probably heard the whoops and chants of the World Famous Cowboy Band, and for 2025, they rang in the New Year across the pond in London’s New Year’s Eve parade.

The 2025 trip is only one of five made to London and dozens to other states and countries for the more than 100-year-old organization. Director of Bands Jay Lester says the band is getting back to its roots of traveling.

“We’ve taken probably a dozen overseas trips over the last 100 years. I haven’t counted that number, but we’ve been to 17 countries and 40 states. When I went to school here, music was a little bigger back then, and the band made international trips about every three or four years. We started that back up here three years ago.” Lester says.

The Cowboy Band offers something different than a traditional marching band, which drew sophomore Faith Gaines to join.

“The Cowboy Band has a lot of history. I mean, we’re over 100 years old now. We’re one of the last show bands, being a part of that and getting to add to that and getting to add to the joy and the whimsical aspects of doing that,” Gaines said.

The band has made a name for itself, stretching back generations in Katie Park’s family, a legacy she said she is glad to continue.

“My grandmother knew about it whenever she was growing up back in like the 50s. And then my sister ended up coming to school here in 2015, and she was in the Cowboy Band,” Park said. “It’s been cool to see the band grow back to [the size of] what it used to be. It’s really cool to be a part of something that you can tell is going to go somewhere.”

From Abilene, Texas, to London, England, Lester told KTAB/KRBC that one thing would remain the same about the Cowboy band: the performance.

“It doesn’t matter if we’re local or if we’re traveling abroad. I just like seeing people smile and engage during our performances, whether it be in a concert setting or on a parade route,” Lester said.

The band performed in the parade and two concerts on the London trip. The six White Horse riders also traveled to London with the Cowboy Band and marched in the parade without horses. 

The Cowboy Band annually performs in five through eight parades.