Check this out, the song, a hit in 1949, is really a contemporary telling of the ancient tale of the wild hunt per Wikkipedia (see link below). The story is pretty much the same, wandering souls rounded up and herded into heaven by a band of outlaw angels.

The man who wrote the song, Stan Jones, heard about the ghost riders from a real cowboy: "...As lightning flashed, the Cowboy told the boy to watch closely and he would see the devil's herd, their eyes red and hooves flashing, stampede ahead of phantom horsemen. The Cowboy warned the youth that if he didn't watch himself, he would someday be up there with them, chasing steers for all eternity..." (Wikkipedia)

So, though a fairly new song, it is based on cowboy myth and may actually be rooted in much more ancient traditions.

What, you might be wondering, is the story of the wild hunt then? It is a myth first found in Germany and England. Details vary but at the core of each version of the myth we find ghostly hunters charging across the sky on horses, usually with hounds of heaven or hell on their heels. Seeing them never meant good news. Visions of the wild hunt were believed to portend horrible catastrophe. It was even possible to be kidnapped by the riders if you got in their way. Whoooosh! Off to the land of the dead.

What are they hunting for? Sometimes a woman, in other versions lost souls, kings, gods, villians.

In cultures where the myth was found it was also ritualized. Devotees of Wodan dressed themselves up as wolves before hunting, for example. Wodan evolved into Odin, who became a central figure in the mythology of the hunt. In the Middle Ages, the concept evolved further still. Historical figures were reported as participants, (St. Guthlac (683-714), and Hereward the Wake (died ca 1070) First-hand accounts even exist. For example, in the Peterborough Chronicle, 1132, an anonymous monk wrote:

"Tha huntes waeron swarte and micele and lardlice, and here hondes ealle swarte and bradegede and lardlice, and hi ridone on swarte hors and on swarte bucces...."

("The hunters were huge, black and terrifying. Their dogs were black, wide-eyed and terrifying and they rode on black horses and on black goats.")

The event was also associated with fairies and their world as the Middle Ages progressed.

Some purported leaders of the Wild Hunt:

Denmark - King Waldemar

England - Wild Edric, (a Saxon outlaw hero); Hereward the Wake; King Arthur; Herne the Hunter; Herla (a Rip-Van-Winkle like Kng of the Britons); St. Guthlac; Old Nick

France - Charlemagne; Roland

Scandinavia - Odin; Valdemar Atterdag; the witch Gurorysse

Germany - Dietrich of Berne; Woden; Wildes Gjait

Ireland - Finn Maccuill and the Fiana; Manannan

Netherlands - Wodan; Gait with his dogs; Derk with his dogs; Derk with his boar; the glowing horse; Henske with his dogs; Berend van Galen

Wales - Arawn or Gwyn ap Nudd, the Welsh god of the Underworld.

Visions of the Wild Hunt are said to happen most often in the winter, so beware!