Resistol’s Modern Cowboy: Buster Frierson

By all accounts, Buster Frierson is a working cowboy through and through.

He grew up in Roby, Texas, a town 65 miles from Abilene with a population of 416 people. His mom competed in rodeo queen contests and ran barrels, while his dad rode roughstock until retiring to train rope horses. Buster grew up living it everyday.

That early start led him into ranch rodeo, where real working cowboys test their everyday skills in the arena. Frierson has made nine trips to the Working Ranch Cowboys Association World Finals in Amarillo, earning accolades like Reserve World Champion Team in 2009, Top Horse in 2015 and 2020, and Reserve Top Hand in 2016, along the way.

Looking at the trinkets of buckles, trophy tack and photos that lined his walls, Buster counted out the years.

“We made it in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011….maybe? Skipped a year or two in there. And in 2016, we went back and I think we won the branding that year,” Buster recalled. With each pause, he scanned the room, looking at his collection of a life well-spent in the saddle.

Chris LeDoux once sang about cowboys making a living with a rope, but “you just can’t see him from the road.” For years, that was Buster Frierson, until he brought cowboy authenticity straight into Hollywood.

One day in Weatherford, Texas, Buster noticed a man wearing a Bison Union Coffee t-shirt. Buster co-founded the brand with friend and former Green Beret, Burt Koontz. The man was Ethan Lee, an actor working on Yellowstone. The two exchanged numbers, and not long after, Lee called.

The tv series, Fear of the Walking Dead, needed a few horses, and Buster was hired to help. That three-week job in Austin was his first taste of Hollywood.

From there, he was hired to work the cattle for 1883. He was responsible for preparing the cattle to be used on set.

“The stunt side turned a bunch of horses loose and wanted me to run them up this canyon and up the side of the canyon wall,” Buster explained. “ I said, ‘I can do that as long as we can get them to hit that trail.’ And sure enough, we did.”

That job opened the door to stunt work on 1923. Soon after, he was furnishing cattle, running about 750 to 800 head, for season two. He even spent time on the HBO series Righteous Gemstones.

“I got into it by word of mouth, then getting there, doing the job, and somebody seeing it and asking ‘Hey, would you like to do this? Or can you do this?’ You bet,” Buster explained.

It’s a philosophy he shares with younger cowboys.

“Keep your eyes open and be open to any possibility because you can shake somebody’s hand one day and the next day, they can be giving you a job,” he said. 

Guy Allen wearing the 20X Chase

Guy Allen wearing the 20X Chase

Guy Allen wearing the 20X Chase

Along the way, Buster found himself with a growing following on social media.

“I’m not going to dress in my closet and give a detailed description of my boots, my pants, my belt, my shirt and my hat,” he laughed. “I’m not that type of influence. I want to represent the cowboy world because I’m proud of it and I’m proud to be a part of it. I want to represent it in the best light that it can be represented. So I try to do that. If that influences somebody to be a better human, then I’m all about being an influencer.”

It was Burt, his business partner, who first pushed him into social media.  

“I said, ‘Man, I don't need all that stuff. I get up in the morning, catch a horse, punch cows, build fence—whatever I need to do that day,’” Buster remembered. “One day, we were building some fence, and Burt asked, ‘You got social media yet?’ I just handed him my phone and I said, ‘Here, put it on there.’”

His first post, on July 12, 2017, still sits on his feed. It’s five cowboy hats lined up on a table. When his crew finished working to go to lunch, they all took their hats off before eating. It’s a simple photo, but a clear statement of values.

Buster continues to share the unfiltered authenticity of the working cowboy.

As for the cowboy hat Buster wears, it’s a Resistol. For the man that truly lives it every day, he needs a hat that will live it every day also.

“The quality is unmatched,” he said matter-of-factly. “Today, I wore the first felt hat that I got four years ago when I started with Resistol. The body is still just as good. It is dirty as all get out, but it holds its shape. The crown is just like it was when I creased it. It’s phenomenal.”

“When you wear one every day, 14 hours a day, through the weather, from the heat to the cold, it'll eat a lesser hat,” he explained. “But Resistol? It’s like an energizer bunny. They just keep on going.”
No matter how far Hollywood takes him, Buster’s compass will always point back to the same place: the cowboy life. And he’ll never take it for granted.

“You either want to be in the military, you want to be a cowboy, or you want to be a first responder, when you're a kid,” he said. “That's what everybody wants to grow up to be. Not many of us get to do it, and the ones that do, we better not take it for granted because it doesn't last very long.”