"This Ain't My First Rodeo" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Vern Gosdin

Vern Gosdin

Vern Gosdin was an American country music singer. He idolized The Louvin Brothers and The Blue Sky Boys as a young man and sang in a gospel quartet called The Gosdin Brothers. An inheritor of the soulful honky tonk style of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard, Gosdin was nicknamed "The Voice" by his...

. It was released in July 1990 as the lead single from his album, 10 Years of Greatest Hits

10 Years of Greatest Hits

10 Years of Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American country music artist Vern Gosdin. It was released in 1990 via Columbia Records. The album peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.-Track listing:...

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Background

Gosdin credited the genesis of the song to workman who use thed idiomatic expression which became the song's title:

"I was wanting an addition put on my house, an extra room over my garage. I met with the carpenters one morning, then left my house and drove to Nashville for the day. When I got home, they had almost finished the addition. I complimented them on their work, and one guy said, 'This ain't our first rodeo.' I went into the house and jotted that down, then wrote the song later with Hank [Cochran] and Max [D. Barnes]."

Content

The lyrics explain a tale of experience, including these repeated lines:

This ain't the first time this old cowboy's been throwed

This ain't the first I've seen this dog and pony show

Honey,This ain't my first rodeo

Chart performance

The song was number 10 in Radio and Records during the week of November 26, 1990.

Chart (1990)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	14
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	19