Named
Academy of Western Artists' (AWA)
Top Male Poet
2004
About
Andy Hedges
Poetry and Lyrics
Recordings
Contacting Andy Hedges
About Andy Hedges
Andy Hedges grew up on a small farm in Tokio, Texas, where his family paid rent by looking after a few head of cattle. When Andy was fifteen he began reciting cowboy poems for friends and family. In 1996 he was invited to perform at the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, Texas.
Since then Andy has traveled all over the West entertaining at cowboy poetry gatherings, ranch rodeos, chuckwagons, theaters, and schools in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming. For several years he worked at Bevers' Crossing, a barbecue restaurant and cowboy entertainment venue in Ropesville,Texas, where he booked, coordinated, emceed, and performed in the weekly cowboy concerts.
In 2004, Andy was named Top Male Poet by the Academy of Western Artists.
In 2001, Andy's album, Days and Nights in the Saddle was nominated by the AWA for the best cowboy poetry album of the year. Andy was also a top ten finalist for Cowboy Poet and Rising Star of the year.
In January 2000 he was a featured performer at the Millennial Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. As a twenty-one year old, Andy is one of the youngest performers involved in the cowboy poetry movement. He is dedicated to keeping the tradition alive and at the same time keeping it quality and keeping it cowboy. Andy was at Elko again in 2002, on the Friday night show with Don Edwards and on the Saturday Afternoon Special with Baxter Black.
Cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell says of Andy, "He embodies the future of the tradition."
Read about Andy Hedges' favorite poetry
in our Favorite Western and Cowboy Poems project.
Texas Braggin’
On a roundup in the spring way back in eighty-two,
A Texas man was ridin’ with some northern buckaroos.
Now this Lone star cowboy was just what you'd expect,
From any Texas puncher with a lick of self respect.
He’d say "In Texas everything’s a whole lot better and bigger,
The punchers all are punchier and as near as I can figure,
The horses all run faster, the cattle all are tougher,
The rivers all run wider and the work’s a whole lot rougher."
Well, he commenced to braggin’ everyday of every week
Till it riled them buckaroos just to hear him speak.
And after talkin’ it over they came to decide,
They’d have to somehow damage this braggin’ cowboy’s pride.
And since he’d said them Texans were so tough,
They’d have to pull a trick to call this puncher’s bluff.
So one day while they was fordin’ a river, they happened to come across
A bunch of snappin’ turtles a hidin’ in the moss.
Well, they put them turtles in his bedroll and thru it back in the wagon,
Figured that’d stop his never ending braggin’.
So that night when he got his bedroll out and laid it on the ground,
Them buckaroos all walked over and they kinda gathered ‘round
To watch him stick his feet down in that roll,
A thinkin’ it would be a pretty funny show.
And sure enough he stuck his feet in and he jerked ’em right back out,
And he kinda had a surprised look upon his snout,
When he flipped the bedroll open and he yelled out to the crew,
"Well, looky there boys... Bedbugs! And little bitty ones too!"
© 2001, Andy Hedges
This poem may not be reprinted or reposted without the author's written permission.
City Boys
On a big spread in Wyoming
Before the break of day
That's where you'll find him
Ridin' for his pay
He loves the life he's livin'
And he knows no other way
And, he'll be punchin' cattle
Until his dyin' daychorus:
I'll sing for the cowboy
Ridin' on the range
I'll sing for the traditions
That aint never gonna change
I'll sing for the top hands
Who've stood the test
And, I'll sing for the city boys
Who'd love to head out westIn a office down on main street
In his suit and tie
He works hard all week
Puttin' in his nine to fives
You know he loves them cowboy movies
It's all that gets him by
Cause he longs to be a cowboy
And leave that city life behindchorus
Tonight I'm up here singin'
An old cowboy tune
But I wish I was out there ridin'
Underneath that prairie moon
But I play this guitar
Day after day
Singin' songs and tellin' stories
About the old time wayschorus
© 2004, Andy Hedges from City Boys
This poem may not be reprinted or reposted without the author's written permission.
City Boys
From the liner notes by Andy Wilkinson:
A dozen or so years ago, through the graces of Buck Ramsey--who was never averse to strays or mavericks--I was first drawn into the cowpunch culture of the American West. There was at that time much discussion of exactly who belonged to the cowboy tribe, and of what constituted the music and poetry of the clan. As influenced by Mel Torme and Albert Camus as by Slim Critchlow and Gene Rhodes, Buck chose to err on the side of inclusiveness, for her understand, in ways that none of the rest of us ever could, that it was the spirit that made the cowboy, not the other way around.
Buck Ramsey is gone, too soon and,, now it seems, too long, but that same question lingers. And like so much of contemporary American discourse, the sides have grown hardened and unyielding. Traditionalists have beaten their swords from the scholarship of ethnomusicology, while Nashville wannabes have armed themselves with ambition and glitz. Between the two camps is a tricky minefield, littered with the remains of those who'd like to have it both ways.
That is why the music of Andy Hedges is so refreshing. Claiming to be neither cowboy nor cowboy singer, his work plainly shows the heritage of each. His voice is honest and unpretentious, his guitar work and effortless and unconscious blend of folk and modern styles, both set to work on material that crosses the turns of two centuries.
For if the spirit makes the cowboy--as Buck Ramsey demonstrated--then surely it is that same spirit that makes cowboy music, for cowboy music was always like the cowboy: unsuitable for fencing, impossible to corral, unwilling to go any way but its own. Which pretty well describes the music of Andy Hedges.
Andy Wilkinson
Lubbock, Texas
August, 2004
Andy Hedges describes his recording: City Boys is a collection of both traditional and contemporary cowboy and folk tunes. It includes my original song "City Boys," new songs by Andy Wilkinson (who also produced the album!), a Rod Taylor song, obscure cowboy tunes, Celtic songs, old folk tunes, Sacred Harp Shape Note music, and songs by Bob Dylan and Don McLean.
You can order the album directly from me by sending a check or money order for $17 (postpaid) to:by email or you can contact Andy at: 5707 90th St., Lubbock, TX 79424 806-790-5555
City Boys includes:
1. The Tribe of the Forty and Found by Andy Wilkinson
2. Wild Buckeroo by Curley Fletcher
3. City Boys by Andy Hedges
4. Jamie Raeborn's Farewell traditional
5. Mustang Gray traditional
6. Dreams Drive the Brazos by Andy Wilkinson
7. Bronco Bill's Lament by Don McLean
8. More Pretty Girls traditional
9. Dust and Horns by Rod Taylor
10 Ye Objects of Sense/Song of Texas traditional
11. Jody by Andy Wilkinson
12. Girl From the North Country by Bob Dylan
13. Roving Gambler traditionalAndy Hedges: vocals, acoustic guitar
Kyle Abernathie: harmonium
Cary Banks: piano, bottleneck guitar
Joe Carr: mandolin
Steve Cooper: penny whistle, wooden flute
Sean Frankenhouser: double-bass
Rusty Huddleson: accordion
Kenny Maines: harmony vocals
Brian McRae: wood blocks, electric guitar, harmony vocals, tambourine, congas
Alan Munde: banjo
John Perrin: bodhran
Amanda Shires: fiddle
Rod Taylor: harmony vocals
Andy Wilkinson: harmony vocals
Sacred Harp Shape Note Singers: Joe Taylor, Tom Taylor, Kathy Taylor, and Mary Alice Latimer
Andy Hedges manages to be both pioneering and traditional in City Boys.
He approaches these eclectic folk tunes with a purity and a venerable
wisdom. His music is straightforward, his voice fresh and confident, and
there is an unassailable integrity and intelligence in the choices and the
arrangements. Some tunes have been around for a hundred years, and some are modern. His interpretations make this collection burst with the excitement of something that's never been done before. Like the people he writes and sings about, Andy Hedges straddles an old world and a new. He is comfortably and deeply seated in the tradition, and at the same time, he soars into the bright future with this remarkable recording. I hope everyone takes the opportunity to hear his music.Margo Metegrano, CowboyPoetry.com
Don Edwards comments, "Andy Hedges makes no claim to being a cowboy but he has the Cowboy Spirit, integrity, and the heart that makes his music so undeniably Real. Andy could very well carry on the traditions when all us old guys are gone. I'd feel assured in knowing the music of our great American West was in good hands."
O. J. Sikes, in Rope Burns, writes, "From the very first notes you know you are in for a real treat..."
See a review here by Brad Carter of Yellowhouse Music, who calls City Boys "one of the most refreshing pieces of work I have heard in a long time." (See more about Yellowhouse Music here)
Read a review by Linda Kirkpatrick here.
Read a review by Lauralee Northcott here.
And read many more comments from others at Andy Hedges' web site
Days and Nights in the Saddle
Days and Nights in the Saddle includes:
Introduction by Bruce Kiskaddon (from Rhymes of the Ranges)
The Riders by S. Omar Barker
The Red Cow by Larry McWhorter
Purt Near by S. Omar Barker
The Hell Bound Train anonymous
The Broncho Twister's Prayer by Bruce Kiskaddon
The Return of the Bronco Twister by Mike Querner
Boomer Johnson by Henry Herbert Knibbs
Texas Braggin'' by Andy Hedges
Charlie and the Calumet Can by Charley Hendren
Bruin Wooin' by S. Omar Barker
An Old Western Town by Bruce Kiskaddon
Jack Potter's Courtin' by S. Omar Barker
When They've Finished Shipping Cattle in the Fall by Bruce Kiskaddon
Andy Hedges is a master of the classics and his Days and Nights in the Saddle includes classic poems by Bruce Kiskaddon, S. Omar Barker, and Henry Herbert Knibbs. The recording also includes Andy's own "Texas Braggin'" and contemporary poems by Larry McWhorter, Mike Querner, and Charley Hendren.
Some traditional tunes accompany the poetry, including "Zebra Dunn," "The Little Black Bull," Sweet Betsey from Pike," "Mustang Gray," and "When the Work's All Done This Fall." Andy did all the guitar work on the album and also wrote some of the other background tunes.
Days and Nights in the Saddle is one of the most-often played CDs here at the BAR-D.
You can order Days and Nights in the Saddle on CD or tape (CDs are $17 and tapes are $12, including postage) by email or you can contact Andy at: 5707 90th St., Lubbock, TX 79424 806-790-5555
Contacting Andy HedgesVisit Andy's web site
Andy invites people to contact him by emailand:
Andy Hedges
5707 90th St.
Lubbock, TX 79424
806-790-5555
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