Songs of the West (Decca DL 4179, 1961) is one of several albums from the early 1960s that signalled Burl Ives's move away from folk music into country western and pop. In Ives's discography this album is immediately preceded by The Versatile Burl Ives! and followed by It's Just My Funny Way of Laughin', two Decca albums containing songs ("A Little Bitty Tear", "Call Mr. In-Between" and "Funny Way of Laughin'") that earned Ives his highest rankings on Billboard's pop, country, and easy-listening charts.