Tex Ritter's penultimate Western for Monogram -- and his second-to-last as a solo star -- Ridin' the Cherokee Trail featured no less than 13 musical numbers, several composed by Ritter and his sidekick Arkansas Slim Andrews. Surrounding all this warbling, screenwriter Edmond Kelso and director Spencer Gordon Bennet crafted a fine little story of a couple of Texas Rangers crossing into the lawless Cherokee Strip despite the fact that they lack jurisdiction. The area is terrorized by a gang of outlaws lead by Bradley Craven (Forrest Taylor, who consistently prevents the citizenry to hold an election to join the Union. Tex and Slim join the forces of rancher Wyatt (Fred Burns and his daughter Ruth (Betty Miles) and after several skirmishes -- during which Tex briefly goes undercover as an outlaw -- Craven and his gang are defeated. In gratitude, the citizenry elects Tex to hoist the first Union flag. In the music numbers, Ritter and Andrews were accompanied by The Tennessee Ramblers, a hayseed singing group popular with rural audiences. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
