photo by Melissa Stamey
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Dave Stamey's Web Site and Contact Information
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About Dave Stamey
Cowboys & Indians Magazine has called him “the Charley Russell of Western Music.” Dave Stamey has been a cowboy, a mule packer, a dude wrangler, and is now one of the most popular Western entertainers working today. He was named Best Living Western Solo Musician by True West; three times been voted Entertainer of the Year, three times Male Performer of the Year and twice Songwriter of the Year by the Western Music Association; and received the Will Rogers Award from the Academy of Western Artists. He’s delighted audiences in fourteen states, and finds that he prefers this to being stomped by angry horses.
Dave Stamey has been bucked off and stomped by many horses. He has been stepped on by mules and dragged around branding pens by cattle of many sizes. He’s ridden in the rain, in the snow, in the rain some more, in pretty nasty heat, and in feedlot pens where the air was thick and decidedly fragrant. He’s even wrangled dudes.
He is an entertainer now, and makes his living inflicting himself upon innocent people at music festivals, agricultural banquets and backyard barbecues. He finds he prefers this.
He lives in Nipomo, California. He bets you don’t know where that is.
Selected Lyrics
Come Ride With Me
The Circle
Sharon Littlehawk
Come Ride With Me
Come ride with me,
It’s time to saddle up and ride away
There’s so much to see,
Don’t worry, I know the trails, I know the way
I caught a gentle horse, his eyes are big and brown
He’s ready to carry you the whole world ‘round
Come ride with me,
Let’s ride awayCome take a chance
I’ll show you where the mountains touch the sky
It’s a horseback dance
We can ride forever if we try
A dream’s in the distance, it’s there for you to face
Out in the sunrise with the wind on your face
Come ride with me
Let’s ride awayThe smell of the leather, the sunlight in your skin
They’ve got us aching to begin
The smell of the hoofbeats, much stronger than wine
The dust in your hair,
The light in your eyesCome ride with me,
We’ll run the hills and watch the eagle soar
It’s where you want to be
Tell me just what you’re waiting for
We’ll camp near the meadow and we’ll love the night away
And saddle up again when the dawn is turning gray
Come ride with me
Come ride with me today© 2006, Dave Stamey, HorseCamp Music BMI, from Come Ride with Me
These lyrics may not be reprinted or reposted without the author's written permission.
The Circle
The horse I ride is old but he has served me well
Coat like old tobacco rich and warm
He is old but he is sound
My rein chains ring like bells
We fit well together as we glide above the stormThe boots I wear are old but they have served me well
Leather like old tobacco cracked and brown
Their tops are scuffed and broken
But my spur chains ring like bells
My rowels gleam like silver
And up here we spurn the groundAnd the trails I ride are new
Even though I’ve made this circle many times before
For they change with every season and with every shift of light
From the summit where the clouds fall
To the sweep of valley floorThe saddle I ride is old but it has served me well
Leather like old tobacco buffed and smooth
It fits me like a friend
With no secrets left to tell
Astride I make the circle
And I ride where I chooseAnd the trails I ride are new
Even though I’ve made this circle many times before
For they change with every season and with every shift of light
From the summit where the clouds fall
To the sweep of valley floorThe life I live goes on it fits me oh, so well
Old and new together evergreen
I mount my horse at dawning
My heart rings like a bell
And we ride through the canyons
Where the air is fresh and clean© 1999, Dave Stamey, HorseCamp Music BMI, from Tonopah
These lyrics may not be reprinted or reposted without the author's written permission.
Sharon Littlehawk
Sharon Littlehawk, where did you go?
Tom-boy girl with coal black eyes
I see you in that schoolyard walking through the snow
Underneath a Montana skyYou were a foster kid off the rez
They taught you what the Good Book says
You lived with a family up on Shepherd RoadYou told me your people were the Crow
You’re Granddad a chief who was so wise
I blushed when you said you loved me so
I couldn’t even look you in the eyesBut, oh, I was proud
I wanted to shout out loud
Luckiest kid in the whole seventh gradeThere is truth in these prairie winds
Truth in the way the mystery begins
Truth in the way the world can open wide
And tonight I remember you, Sharon LittlehawkYou know I never even held your hand
A bashful kid just off the ranch
I wanted to, I just didn’t know how
Too scared to take the chanceBut, oh, I was proud
I wanted to shout out loud
Luckiest kid in the whole seventh gradeSharon Littlehawk, where did we go?
Thirty-five years in the blink of an eye
I hope life took you where you needed to go
Do I ever cross your mind?You were a foster kid off the rez
They taught you what the Good Book says
You lived with a family up on Shepherd RoadThere is truth in these prairie winds
Truth in the way the mystery begins
All at once the world seemed to open wide
And tonight I remember you, Sharon Littlehawk© 2006, Dave Stamey, HorseCamp Music BMI, from Come Ride with Me
These lyrics may not be reprinted or reposted without the author's written permission.
See our article here about the collaboration of Dave Stamey and Les Buffham on "Spin That Pony"
The Spring, 2008 issue of
An April, 2009 article by Bill Reynolds in
The Winter, 2009 issue of the 
