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News   2/8

        
Newest: Pendleton Round-up at 100; Ramblin' Jack wins Grammy;26th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering; Don Edwards to receive Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award; The Poetry of Larry McWhorter CDs; Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum; Announcing the 2010 Cowboy Poetry Week poster artist: Bill Owen; CowboyPoetry.com information cards; Mourning the loss of Curly Musgrave updated 1/18; Joel Nelson in National Heritage Fellowship Concert; The Guitar: Art, Artists and Artisans at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum; and more...


Features   2/8

 
Newest: Picture the West; Jeri Dobrowski's Cowboy Jam Session; BAR-D poetry and song column; Rick Huff's Western Air; Rick Huff's "Best of the West" reviews; Art Spur; Dave Stamey;  and more ...



BAR-D News
2/8

 
Newest
: BAR-D Supporters; The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four; Cowboy Poetry Week; CowboyPoetry.com information cards; poets/songwriters and poems/lyrics talley; and Twitter



Western and Cowboy Poems and Songs: New, Old, and Classic  
2/8



Newest: S. Omar Barker, Stephanie Davis, and Tom Nichols


 
Previously: 
 Sunny Hancock, Brenn Hill, Joel Nelson, Rhoda Sivell, Wallace McRae,  Sam Jackson, anonymous and Randy Rieman, the late Larry McWhorter, Mike Puhallo, John Yaws, Bob Coker, S. Omar Barker, the late Colen Sweeten, Jay Snider, Bill Toti, Allen McCandless, Jay Snider
, Del Gustafson, Richard Martin, Glenn Martin, Jack Thorp, Rod Nichols, S. Omar Barker, Janice Gilbertson, Doris Daley,  New Year toasts, Badger Clark, Virginia Bennett, Cynthia Short, and many more ...

About permissions and copyrights       
 


Join with Others: Support CowboyPoetry.com and
the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry

 

Be a Part of it All     2/8

  You are an essential part of it all.  All of our programs—CowboyPoetry.com, Cowboy Poetry Week, the Rural Library Project, and all of the activities of the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetryare made possible by the support of generous people like you. 

Read more here.

Get the Cowboy Poetry Week poster, available exclusively to supporters, and other benefits. Read about support levels and benefits.  Visit the Wall of Support, read comments from other supporters, and read about the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry...

 

Cowboy Poetry Week, April 18-24, 2010  

  Celebrate the ninth annual Cowboy Poetry Week April 18-24, 2010.

Read about the 2010 poster artist Bill Owen, find information about the Rural Library Project, get involved with your community.

Read more here.

 

The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four  news and radio play updated  2/4

 
The BAR-D Roundup News and radio play:  

   Newest: Charley Engel's Calling All Cowboys; Totsie Slover's Real West from the Old West; Dallas and PJ McCord's Cowboy Culture Corner; Graham Lees' Western Hour; Volume One sold out; Andy and Jim Nelson's Clear Out West (C.O.W.); Around the Campfire with Ed and Terry;  and more ...

The 2009, fourth-annual compilation CD  includes tracks by recited by J.B. Allen, Jerry A. Brooks, Allen Clark, Ken Cook, Doris Daley, Elizabeth Ebert, Gail I. Gardner, DW Groethe, Yvonne Hollenbeck, Linda Kirkpatrick, Jo Lynne Kirkwood, Slim McNaught, Larry McWhorter, Rod Miller, Dick Morton, Jane Morton, Andy Nelson, Joel Nelson, Rodney Nelson, Ray Owens, Buck Ramsey, Pat Richardson, Randy Rieman, Georgie Sicking, Jesse Smith, Jay Snider, Gail Steiger, and Diane Tribitt, with a PSA by Baxter Black. Read about The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four here.

 

Events 

 

Event Announcements   2/8
                       See the complete Events calendar here

           
Newest: 24th Annual Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering
(Texas-February); Heritage of the American West (South Dakota-February);  Moab's Western Stars (Utah-February); Western Music Association California Chapter (California-2010 dates); Mavericks (California-March through August); 17th annual Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival updated 2/3 (California-April)...;

....4th Annual Cowboy Poetry Hootenanny (Nevada-February); 7th Annual Southeastern Cowboy Gathering (Georgia-March); NV of the West (Nevada-May); 7th Annual Columbia River Cowboy Gathering update (Washington-April 2010); 6th Annual Lee Earl Memorial Scholarship Cowboy Gathering update (Idaho-March 2010); Fifth Annual Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West (Arizona-March through May); Ranch Day at the National Ranching Heritage Center ~ Celebrating Cowboy Poetry Week ( Texas-April);  24th Annual Vinton Cowboy Poetry Show (California-March);  4th Annual Columbia Gorge Cowboy Gathering (Oregon-November); 1st Annual Genoa Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival Genoa (Nevada-April)...

...Green Forest Cowboy Poet Gathering and Trade Show (Arkansas-May); 23rd annual Salinas Rodeo Cowboy Entertainment Gathering, "Cowboys & Cabernet" (California-July); Heritage of the American West updated 12/21 (South Dakota-February); Eighth Annual Motherin' Up...Gathering of Poets and Pickers (Montana-May); Dollar Watch Cowboy Jamboree (Washington-May); 5th Annual White Mountains Roundup of Cowboy Poetry, Music and Art (Arizona-July)...

... 1st Annual Wild West Days at Rough Cut ~Celebrating Cowboy Poetry Week (Tennessee-April); Spirit of the West updated (Washington-February;  2nd Annual Prairie Rose Western Days (Kansas-April/May); Third Annual Tyrone Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering ~ Celebrating Cowboy Poetry Week (New Mexico-April);  and more ...



Gathering and Event Reports  2/3             

Newest: 21st Annual Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering; Heritage of the American West; 3rd Annual Columbia Gorge Cowboy Gathering; Lincoln County Sheriff Posse's 5th Annual Cowboy Ball; Kansas Cowboy Christmas Ball;  1st annual Whistle Stop Ranch Fall Cowboy Roundup; 3rd Annual Grand Union Gathering ; 1st Annual Cat Spring Cowboy Poetry Gathering; 22nd Annual Alzada Cowboy Poetry, Art & Music Show; 22nd Annual Rhymers Rodeer; Diamond Mountain Casino Cowboy Poetry and Music; and many more..

 

More Features

 

Picture the West   (Send your photos)  2/8

Your photos, old and new, of the ranching, cowboy, and rural and working life of the West.

   Tom Nichols' photos of Oregon's Rogue Valley

Previous postings: A Colorado ranch history from Peggy Malone (updated 2/8); A view of cowboy Bob Kinford's West Texas; Cowboy and songwriter Paul Harris' New Mexico photos; South Dakota's Robert Dennis's photos of his winter pasture; Yvonne Hollenbeck's photos of the recent South Dakota blizzard; New Mexico cowboys, c. 1940; Winter news from Stephanie Davis' Trail's End; Rodney Nelson and rodeo; Three generations of Texan Bill Ramsel's family; Kent Rollins' Oklahoma chuckwagon boot camp, Heidi M. Thomas' photos of her Montana cowgirl grandmother; Photos of Montana cowboys, c.1940; Mark L. Gardner's photos of two interesting New Mexico gravesites; Jay Snider shares photos from the Chisholm Trail; Photos from Andy Nelson's family album, of his father: Linda Kirkpatrick shares photos of Garner State Park in the Texas Hill Country; and many, many more...

Index of all Picture the West postings

 

Art Spur     

Art inspires poetry...

 A painting by Tim Cox (www.TimCox.com) "Hicks' Hereford Heifers" in a special winter / Christmas Art Spur. Submissions are now closed.  Selected poems are posted here.

New Art Spur subject coming soon...

Previously: A photograph by Lori Faith Merritt (www.photographybyfaith.com) of Georgie Sicking and Sam Scott "Heading Out," in a special National Day of the Cowboy Art Spur.  Selected poems here by Diane Tribitt, Janice Gilbertson, Ken Cook, Al Mehl, and William Merritt. Submissions are closed for this Art Spur.

 

Looking for: Poets and Poetry, Musicians, Artists, and...  2/4       


Newest: Families of Gil Traveller and Frank Burns
; Apply for the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering; Columbia River Cowboy Gathering Cowboy Poetry and Music Contest; 1st Annual Genoa Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival Juried Art Show; Wyoming Writers poetry and fiction contest open to all; Ralph's Back Porch Western music and poetry Community; Third Annual Tyrone Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering ~ Celebrating Cowboy Poetry Week

 

More News
 

Poets, Musicians, & Others in the News in Print, on the Web, & Beyond  2/8

             
Newest: Lori Faith Merritt
; BC Cowboy Heritage Society newsletter; CowboyLegacy; Clark Crouch; Wylie Gustafson; Baxter Black; Rodney Nelson; Wylie & the Wild West; CowboyLegacy; Dave P. Fisher; Linda Kirkpatrick; Sue "Cimarron Sue" Matley The Western Way; Rope Burns; Cowboy Artists of America and Cowboy Poetry Week; Liz Masterson; Cowboy Legacy; Don Edwards; Cora Wood; Hal Swift; Baxter Black; Jerry Schleicher; and more...


News from Western Radio, Podcasts, Video, and More    

Newest: Backforty Bunkhouse newsletter; Ralph's Back Porch; Cow Trails now on Heartland Public Radio; Clear Out West (C.O.W.) radio stay-at-home benefit in tribute to Curly Musgrave, 1943-2010; Backforty Roundup; Corb Lund on NPR; Buck Helton; Joel Nelson on NEA ArtsWhat's in a Song; Marvin O'Dell's updated Western DJ list; Ray Doyle and more ...


New Cowboy and Western Poetry & Music Releases   2/4

             
Newest: The Gypsy Cowman...A Vanishing Breed DVD, story of Owen Badgett
; Mark Gardner's To Hell on a Fast Horse; Liz Adair's Counting the Cost; Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue's Westerners; The Poetry of Larry McWhorter CDs; Fred Hargrove's My Sacred Ground; DW Groethe's The Night Ol' Flukie Foundered chapbook; Janice Gilbertson's Riding In chapbook; Michael Martin Murphey's Lone Cowboy; Linda Kandelin Chambers' The Littlest Bull; Poems of the Trail by Steve Deming; Riding Catalina Again by the California Cowboys; Unwired by Wylie & the Wild West; Carver Country Christmas; Baxter Black's The Back Page; Gary McMahan's Goin' My Way?; and more ...


Other Books, Recordings, Publications of Western Interest
  2/8           


  Newest:  Pendleton Round-up at 100; Taking it to the Limit by Verlena Orr; Wind Songs from Turtle's Back by Jack Goodman; Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls; The Masterworks of Charles M. Russell from University of Oklahoma Press; Eugene C. Vories' Return to the Arrowhead; Wild Places—Wide Apart by Mel Anderson; Western Horseman 2010 Cowboy Calendar; Heidi M. Thomas' Cowgirl Dreams; and more...


Good News   

Weddings, anniversaries, babies, awards ... news of families and communities...send us yours...

Newest: Ruth and Harry Hanson celebrate 72 years of marriage; Peter Kern and Kortney Carter engaged; Glen Hollenbeck receives AQHA recognition; and more...


In Our Thoughts
   2/8

Never Forgotten: Marie Smith, 1927-2010;  William E. Jacobson, 1957-2010; Teresa Dobrowski, 1912-2010 updated 1/21; Curly Musgrave, 1943-2009, updated 1/18; Larry J. Pawlowski 1934-2009; Gene Semingson; and others...

In Our Thoughts: Rusty McCall; Briggs Hill; Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns updated 1/18

  Ongoing Benefits Musgrave family; Briggs Hill


Awards News  2/
2          

Newest:  Ramblin' Jack wins Grammy; "Living Legends" Western Swing Award; 2010 Grammy awards; True West's 2010 Best of the West awards Western Music Association Awards; National Day of the Cowboy, Cowboy Keeper Awards; Academy of Western Artists' Will Rogers Cowboy Awards; Will Rogers Medallion Awards; Academy of Western Artists' web site; Academy of Western Artists' cowboy poetry categories awards;  Western Heritage Wrangler Award winners; Cowtown Society of Western Music... and more...


And ...


Who Knows?  
 2/4                           

Questions with and without answers.  Seeking poems, their authors, and more ...maybe you can help?


American Life in Poetry
  2/4

   Past United States Poet Laureate Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry column, updated weekly.


Western Memories
 2/8                         

Ranch histories and Western recollections.  Share your stories...

Newest: Peggy Malone's "The Ol' Gully Ranch" updated 2/8; Sam Jackson's "Sheepherder Tents"; Smoke Wade's "The Crossing," a part of his Snake River ranch history; Bette Wolf Duncan's "Memories of Alvin Wolf," Bette Wolf Duncan's "Goin' for Broke"; Paul Kern's "A Little Perspective on Losing Target"; Janice Lee Weiss Truitt's Christmas at the Community Hall"; and more.


 


 

See a complete list of features at the BAR-D here.

 

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News


Thank you to all who responded to our year-end letter with your generous donations.

Community support lets us continue to bring you CowboyPoetry.com with its continual updates; April's ninth annual Cowboy Poetry Week; the fifth volume of The BAR-D Roundup; the year's Western art poster; and the important Rural Library Project, which provides the annual CD and poster to libraries across the West.

Support is welcome (and needed) year round.

Thanks to all who share in the belief that these programs matter, thanks to all who help support them, and welcome all to the eleventh year of CowboyPoetry.com!

  Oregon's Pendleton Round-up celebrates its hundredth anniversary this year (September 15-18, 2010) and an expansive, lavishly illustrated book by Ann Terry Hill and Michael Bales, Pendleton Round-up at 100, honors the venerable event and those who have participated.

Many of the 900-plus photos and illustrations in the book are collected and published for the first time. The wide diversity of the rodeo's participants—the 1911 Round-up included the still-controversial "Last Go Round" showdown between black cowboy George Fletcher, Indian cowboy Jackson Sundown, and white cowboy John Spainincluding cowgirls, Native American tribes, black cowboys, and others are represented in the well-research text and images.

Among the chapters that pull readers into the action and excitement of the rodeo are "The Great Bucking Contests": "Old-Time Cowgirls"; "The Risks"; and "Clowns and Bullfighters." Behind-the-scenes topics such as "Ranch and Rodeo," "Behind the Mike," and "The Arena" give an even deeper look at the event. There is a focus on families and tradition in "Families Are the Backbone," "From Generation to Generation: Tribal Participation"; and "Pendleton Traditions."

Appendices include complete lists with many family-supplied photos of one hundred years of Round-up Presidents; Round-up Chiefs and Prominent Tribal Headmen; Round-up Queens and Princesses; Happy Canyon (Indian) Presidents and Princesses; and Saddle Bronc, Buldogging, Steer Roping, Calf Roping, Team Roping, Bull Riding, and Bareback Champions; All-Around Cowboy Winners; and other categories.

Read more about Pendleton Round-up at 100 and see a short video here at the University of Oklahoma Press site. Find information about the Pendleton Round-up's 100th celebration here at the Pendleton Round-up site.

Posted 2/8


 Ramblin' Jack Elliott received a GRAMMY award for his traditional blues album, A Stranger Here, at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY awards show on January 31, 2010. He left the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering a bit early—after several outstanding performances—to attend the GRAMMY show. See a photo of Ramblin' Jack accepting the award here (by Matt Sayles of the Associated Press.)

A short documentary about the making of A Stranger Here is available here on YouTube. Find more at Ramblin' Jack's web site, ramblinjack.com.

The awards are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievements in the music industry. "Traditional Blues" was included in this year's new GRAMMY division, "American Roots," which also encompassed other categories of Western interest, including Michael Martin Murphey's Buckaroo Blue Grass in the Bluegrass category and Willie Nelson & Asleep At The Wheel's Willie And The Wheel in the Americana category. Find all of the American Roots nominees here. The winners in all categories are listed here.

Posted 2/2


The Western Folklife Center's 26th Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering took place January 23-30, 2010, in Elko, Nevada. This year's event included a focus on Seminole and “Cracker” cowboys from Florida and swamp cowboys from Louisiana.

We'll have reports and photos from the event in coming days.

The Western Folklife Center describes the event as "a week-long celebration of life in the rural West, featuring the contemporary and traditional arts that arise from lives lived caring for land and livestock."

Activities included workshops, exhibits, and performances; some performances are broadcast live on the web (and archived). See the entire schedule here.

Among the invited poets and musicians in 2010 were:

Adrian, Mike Beck, Baxter Black, Marty Blocker, Dave Bourne, Jerry Brooks, Bimbo Cheney, Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans, Cowboy Celtic, Doris Daley, Stephanie Davis, John Dofflemyer, Ray Doyle, Elizabeth Ebert, Don Edwards, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Richard Elloyan, Leon Flick, Dennis Gaines, Dick Gibford, Janice Gilbertson, DW Groethe, R.W. Hampton, Andy Hedges and Andy Wilkinson, Brenn Hill, Yvonne Hollenbeck, Carol Huechan, Linda Hussa, Linda Kirkpatrick, Ross Knox, Ed Littlefield and Marley's Ghost, Liz Masterson, Wally McRae, Denise McRea, Waddie Mitchell, Jane Morton, Michael Martin Murphey, Andy Nelson, Rodney Nelson, Joel Nelson, Rich and Valerie O'Brien, Glenn Ohrlin, Mike Puhallo, Vess Quinlan, Henry Real Bird, John Reedy, Pat Richardson, Riders in the Sky, Randy Rieman, Bob Schild, Sandy Seaton, Georgie Sicking, Jay Snider, Sons of the San Joaquin, Dave Stamey, Red Steagall, Gail Steiger, Milton Taylor, Diane Tribitt, Ian Tyson, Miss "V" The Gypsy Cowbelle, Cora Wood, Wylie & The Wild West, and Paul Zarzyski.

Find information about the gathering—including audio and video cybercasts from the auditorium showsat the official web site here.

[2010 poster image by Jim Harrison, Gainesville, Florida; www.meta-visual.com]

Updated 2/2


Respected cowboy troubadour Don Edwards will receive the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum on April 17, 2010. From the museum's media release:

With a career spanning more than four decades, Don Edwards is a guitarist, composer, recording artist and historian who has preserved and added value to the rich heritage of traditional Western music. Edwards will be honored with the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award during the annual Western Heritage Awards at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum® in Oklahoma City, April 17, 2010. The black-tie affair recognizes principal creators in 16 categories of Western music, literature, television and film. Inductees to the Hall of Great Westerners and Hall of Great Western Performers also will be honored.

In 1990, the Museum established the Chester A. Reynolds Award, named in honor of the founder of the Museum. This honor is bestowed upon a living person who embodies the traits depicted by Chester A. Reynolds himself...an individual, group or institution perpetuating the ideals, history and heritage of the American West, whether by a single remarkable achievement or a body of quality work over a period of years.


Born in New Jersey in 1938 as the son of a Vaudeville magician, Edwards was exposed at an early age to a vast array of music. He taught himself how to play the guitar at the age of 10 and moved to Texas when he was 16. Edwards was drawn to the cowboy way of life by the books of Will James and “B” Western movies that featured cowboys like Tom Mix and Ken Maynard. As a teenager, he worked ranches in Texas and New Mexico and chased rodeos before landing his first entertainment job as an actor, singer and stuntman at Six Flags Over Texas in 1961. Edwards made his first record in 1964. He has since recorded more than 15 albums, participated in numerous collaborations with other artists and has authored three song books. 
 

Edwards has contributed much to the preservation and celebration of traditional cowboy music. He has two albums, Guitars & Saddle Songs and Songs of the Cowboy, included in the Folklore Archives of the Library of Congress. As a result of 40 years of research, Edwards completed Saddle Songs, a compilation of classic cowboy ballads presented through two separate recordings and a book of the songs’ histories, lyrics and music. To add to his resume of talent, Edwards portrayed the role of “Smokey” in Robert Redford’s 1997 film The Horse Whisperer. He also was featured on the movie’s sound track. 


Edwards has many awards to show for his accomplishments as a Western music balladeer and historian. He has received the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Wrangler Award, along with numerous other awards from The Western Music Association, The Academy of Western Artists, the Will James Society, the National Association for Independent Music. He was selected Best Balladeer by True West magazine three years in a row. He also is an inductee in the Traditional Country Music Hall of Fame, the Western Walk of Stars, the Texas Trail of Fame, and the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.

 

When Edwards is not recording music he often gives workshops and lectures about Cowboy music heritage. He has taught seminars at Yale, Rice, Texas Christian and other universities. He also has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs and performed thousands of concerts throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, Europe and Asia.

Read the entire release here.

See our feature about Don Edwards here and visit his web site, www.donedwardsmusic.com.

[Photograph by Lori Faith Merritt (www.photographybyfaith.com]

Posted 1/20


  Popular songwriter and singer Jean Prescott has produced an important, impressive CD set, The Poetry of Larry McWhorter . The recording includes the works of Larry McWhorter (1957-2003), one of the most respected contemporary cowboy poets. The CDs include Larry McWhorter's recitations of his poetry, and eleven poems that were never recorded, recited by some of today's top performers.

Jean Prescott describes the release:

The Poetry of Larry McWhorter is the complete collection of Larry McWhorter's cowboy poems. There were eleven poems that Larry never recorded and that's where a number of his peers came into the picture. Red Steagall, Waddie Mitchell, Chris Isaacs, Andy Hedges, Gary McMahan, Dennis Flynn, Oscar Auker and Jesse Smith all eagerly agreed to help out with the project.

Larry had always wanted to recite two of his favorite poems with Waddie Mitchell, "The Retirement of Ashtola" and "Cowboy Count Yer Blessings." Thanks to Waddie, Hal Cannon, Rich O'Brien, and engineer, Aarom Meador, we were able to make that a reality. You can just see Larry and Waddie on stage reciting those poems.

After listening to both CDs for the first time, I came to an even greater realization of what a great poet Larry was and what we lost as a genre when he left us. I am thrilled to be able to present this double CD to the world of cowboy poetry knowing that young cowboy poets and fans alike will be able to enjoy and recite Larry's classic contemporary cowboy poems for years to come.

The CDs were be presented at a special public autograph session at the Western Folklife Center's 26th Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering on Saturday, January 30, 2010. Andy Hedges, Jean Prescott, Waddie Mitchell, and Red Steagall, and others were in attendance, along with Andrea McWhorter Waitley and Abi McWhorter (Larry's daughter).

Larry McWhorter is featured on the first volume of The BAR-D Roundup, The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four (2009), and his solo recitation of "Cowboy Count Yer Blessings" will be included on the forthcoming, fifth volume of The BAR-D Roundup.

Find more about Larry McWhorter and some of his poetry in our feature here, find more about The Poetry of Larry McWhorter and order information in the New Releases news here, and view the entire project and complete track list in a special feature here.

Updated 2/2
 


The Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, Arizona, presents the fifth annual Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West exhibition and sale, March 26-May 2, 2010.

From the museum's media release,

“We are very proud of the fact that Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West, in just four years, has become one of the most important show and sale for women artists in the country,” says Mary Ann Igna, interim director of the Museum. “With 56 artists in this year’s show, you would have to travel to at least three other states and to all the other major art towns in the West to see the breadth and depth of what we will have here at one time…and in one place.” ....

With more than 200 drawings, paintings and sculptures in this year’s show,
Cowgirl Up! offers a much broader landscape of works than are usually found at a Western art show. “This is what makes Cowgirl Up! so unique,” says Igna. “We have artists stretching beyond traditional Western art to embrace the West’s unique lifestyle and spirit. Of course, we also have our share of horses and steers, but even those are unusually dramatic.”

Find more information about the event at www.cowgirlupart.com.

Posted 1/11


  We're honored to have the work of premier Western artist Bill Owen—his painting "Born to This Land " featured as the ninth annual Cowboy Poetry Week poster. The painting's title is from an outstanding poem by past Texas Poet Laureate, singer, songwriter, radio and television host, and entertainer Red Steagall (a poem that was included on the first edition of The BAR-D Roundup). 


"
Born to This Land" © 1992, by Bill Owen, www.BillOwenCA.com

Bill Owen (www.billowenca.com), son of a cowboy, is celebrated for his realistic portrayals of contemporary cowboys and ranchers. He is a member of the prestigious Cowboy Artists of America (CA). He has received numerous awards from the CA, and among other honors, has received the Frederic Remington Award for Artistic Merit by the Cowboy Hall of Fame (now the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum ); the Prix de West Invitational Show Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum; and the C. M. Russell Art Auction Honorary Chairmen’s Award.

Bill Owen founded The Arizona Cowpuncher's Scholarship Organization, which helps finance college educations for young people from Arizona ranching families.

The artist comments on his painting, "The title of this painting is taken from a poem by my friend, Red Steagall. Fathers often teach the cowboy profession, which includes respect for the land, to their youngsters." The work depicts a Northern Arizona rancher and his son "seen enjoying each other’s company while waiting for the last few head of cattle to arrive at the hold up.”

Bill Owen is featured in a cover story in Art of the West magazine (September/October 2009).

Cowboy Poetry Week (April 18-24, 2010)—officially recognized by unanimous resolution of the United States Senate and 22 states' governorsis celebrated in communities across the West. The annual event, with a special focus on rural libraries, is held in conjunction with National Poetry Month in the United States and Canada. Read more here about Cowboy Poetry Week.

Previous years' Cowboy Poetry Week poster artists include Tim Cox, Joelle SmithWilliam Matthews, and Bob Coronato (see past posters here). Posters are sent to hundreds of libraries as a part of the Center’s outreach Rural Library Project, along with an annual compilation CD of classic and contemporary poetry, The BAR-D Roundup. Each volume in the growing archive includes today's top poets and vintage selections of recordings by popular past masters in their own voices, including Robert Service, Badger Clark, Buck Ramsey, Gail I. Gardner, and others

Posters are not sold, but are available to Center supporters. Find more information below.

[Image: "Born to This Land" © 1992, by Bill Owen, www.BillOwenCA.com; reproduction without the artist's permission prohibited]

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    Each year, thanks to individuals and gathering organizers, many thousands of CowboyPoetry.com information cards are distributed at gatherings and events. There are two new 2010 information cards:

One is the image selected as the cover for the 2010 CD, The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Five, a circa 1940 photograph of Georgie Sicking, cowboy, poet, and Cowgirl Hall of Fame Inductee. Georgie told us it was taken at a "traveling show," when she was on her first date with the man who became her husband. (CD available in April, 2010) 

Another features Bill Owen's painting, "Born to This Land," chosen as the image for the 2010 Cowboy Poetry Week poster (available in April, 2010).

The reverse sides of the postcards have information about the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry and CowboyPoetry.com. Find larger views, the reverse-side text, and previous years' cards here.

See a list here of gatherings, organizations, and individuals who are helping to spread the word by making CowboyPoetry.com information cards available.

Help spread the word! Email us us for a supply of handout postcards about CowboyPoetry.com for your event and places in your community. 

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 Additional recent news items continued here... The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum The Guitar: Art, Artists and Artisans; Joel Nelson, National Heritage Fellow concert; Western Horseman; remembering Curly Musgrave, Michael Martin Murphey's Lone Cowboy; Cowboys of Color Rodeo;  Roundup magazine from Western Writers of America; Western music GRAMMY nominations; True West Best of the West; BAR-D newsletters; Brenn Hill in Cowboys & Indians; Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival; Baxter Black's The Back Page; Western Music Association Awards; Unwired from Wylie & the Wild West; Cowboys: On the Range Between Art and Life at the Dallas Musuem of Art; Heritage of the American West Performance Series; Henry Real Bird named Montana Poet Laureate; The Masterworks of Charles M. Russell from the University of Oklahoma Press; and much more...

 

Features

(see a complete list of features here) 

 

 

    

Our regular feature, Picture the West, features photos, old and new, of the ranching, cowboy, rural, and working life of the West of today and yesterday. 

We're looking for images that give a glimpse of the ranching, cowboy, and rural and working life of the West of today and yesterday. We welcome vintage and contemporary photos: family photos, images of where you live and work, and the area around you.

See the most recent entry here.

If you have a photo to share, email us.   

Updated 2/8


The January, 2010 edition of Jeri Dobrowski's Cowboy Jam Session column, "Catching up With Old Friends," includes three CD reviews: Gary McMahan's Goin' My Way?; Slim McNaught's Reminiscin'; and Curly Musgrave and Belinda Gail's Forever West

Read the January, 2010 edition of Cowboy Jam Session here, along with many previous columns.

Cowboy Jam Session is also available at the Tri-State Livestock News and in other publications.