What's With The Weird Crazy Cowboy Hat? (I'm Talkin' to You Billy Bob)

 January 28, 2026

   Let me be perfectly clear: I dig crazy, big hats, especially those aerodynamically designed Sugarloafs from south of the border, circa 1910-1930.

Sugarloafs Galore Down Mexico Way

   And, to be honest, I have been accused of exaggerating the style and scope of these broad brimmed chapos.

Daily Whip Outs: "The Sugarloaf Series"

      I get accused of making the brims too big. "You can't show me a sugarloaf with a brim as big as you are drawing them," my critics say. Okay, then, what do you make of this photograph?

A Doozy of a Sugarloaf in the Wild

   Yes, you can't get too large or too crazy for my tastes. That said, for the life of me, what in the hell is this?

Billy Bob's Current Headgear

      A Sugarloaf on acid? An homage to a tarot card reader? Here's another view:

Gypsy Rose Billy Bob Does Calipso?

   Did I miss a meeting of the Headgear Club? Okay, I am being snotty and if push comes to shove, I have to grant Thorton the priviledge and right to wear this, and, I admit I personally love Billy Bob in Landman and he's worn a lawman's hat, or two, quite well I might add.

Billy Bob portraying Big Jim Courtright

in the series "1883"

   So, I am going to lighten up and give the man his due. To each man, his own head gear and besides, I've been caught wearing headgear I wouldn't want published.

The executive editor of a certain magazine

on a certain day in October

"I can see by your outfit, you are not a cowboy."

—My Kingman Cowboy Kin when they see me coming down Beale Street