Ken Curtis started his career as a songwriter and singer, and although he is best known for his role as Festus on Gunsmoke, he has quite a few songs to his credit. Here are at least some of them:
- Adios Amigo
- Are You
- As I Place This Ring Upon Your Finger
- The Ballad of Hawg Haggen
- Be Brave My Heart
- Be What You Want to Be
- Buffalo (w. Curtis, Stan Jones, m. Curtis)
- Butterfly
- Catfish
- Cheyenne
- Cornbread and Buttermilk
- Dakota Polka
- Dodge City
- Don't Count On Me
- Empty Arms*
- Festus in Vegas
- Giddy Yip Yip Yip Yi Addy
- Git Along Old Mule
- Golly Bill
- Great to Be Back (w/ Dink Rogers)
- Guess I Was Born To Be a Cowboy
- Gunsmoke BG cues
- Hawk He's In the Pine Tree
- Headin' Home
- Heart of Stone*
- Hills of Utah
- Hi Yo Hi Yo Wyomin'
- Horizon Fever
- Idaho Ho
- Lemme Outta Here (w/ Lee Penny)
- Little Cowgirl
- Lonestar Moonlight (w/ Dink Rogers)
- Lonely Old Cowboy
- Loreen
- A Lot of Elbow Room
- Love and Joy*
- Maybe There's a Chance
- Mohave (w/ Lee Penny)
- My Home Town
- Never Tangle With Old John Law
- Nothing But An It
- Ode to a Mule (w/ --- Vaughn)
- An Old Attic Trunk
- Old Music Box
- Prairie Serenade (w/ Lee Penny)
- Ridin' Ropin' Rarin'
- Rooty Toot Galoot
- Ship Me Out By Saddle (To Cheyenne)
- Singing My Song On the Trail (w/ Fleming Allen)
- Six Shiny Black Horses
- Soft Breeze (w/ Dink Rogers)
- Streets of Dodge City
- Too Good To Be True
- When the Prairie Flowers Are in Bloom
- Wranglin' Blues
* These are songs Ken wrote for college productions while he was attending Colorado College in the late 1930s.
Thanks to Charles Mann, Sharon Marie, and Frances Stewart Stevens, and all the others who helped with this list!
Note: This list is a work in progress, so if you know of any ways to update it, especially if you see any errors, please let me know. If you have the titles to more songs written by Ken, please let me know the source as well.