Gershwin or Copland

the other day, i was driving around with my roommate Tyler, and there was a song on the radio i was unfamiliar with.  Two composers came to mind, George Gershwin and Aaron Copland.  I couldnt tell who it was because on the one hand it had a lot of brass, it sounded like an American in Paris or Rhapsody in Blue, it was kind of peppy.  on the other hand though, it sounded very western (not western as in western world music, western like wild wild west western)... like we should be on horses riding through Moab driving a thousand head of cattle, whooping and hollering.  i said 'i think this is George Gershwin' and instantly i regretted it, you know that feeling when your taking a test and you fill in yet another circle with your #2 pencil thats labeled "b", but this time you know your wrong so you want to change your answer to "d".  so i said 'but it could be Aaron Copland'... and then bored him with the minutia of why. well Tyler being the competitive person that he is says 'Im going with Copeland'.  

turned out it was George Gershwin, and i was quite proud of myself for just a moment, feeling confidant in the knowledge that im such a music nerd.