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The
Back at the Ranch
e-newsletter was sent Tuesday, January 31 to the generous
supporters of CowboyPoetry.com and
the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry. The occasional
newsletter includes previews of news and forthcoming features
and projects from CowboyPoetry.com and the Center for Western
and Cowboy Poetry.
Contact us
if you are a supporter who did not receive the newsletter.
Find information about supporting the BAR-D
here.
Posted 1/31
Top cowboy poet
Waddie Mitchell
will receive the
2012 Nevada Heritage Award
from the Nevada Arts Council during the
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering on February 2, 2012.
From the official media release:
Mitchell was nominated by the Western Folklife Center and supported by
letters from his community of Elko, as well as the community of cowboy and
western poets. “Waddie Mitchell has become an icon of Nevada, of buckaroo
culture (cowboys of the Great Basin), and of cowboy poetry itself,” wrote
Charlie Seemann, director of the Western Folklife Center.
The Nevada Heritage Award honors Nevada folk artists and tradition bearers who
are the finest and most influential masters of their particular art form(s) and
who have had a significant impact on the people and communities of the state.
Waddie Mitchell is a popular and respected cowboy poet and exponent of western
heritage and Buckaroo traditions; a gifted performer and teacher of cowboy
poetry and oral traditions; a veteran cowboy and rancher; and a skilled
interpreter of the history and environment of the Great Basin from the
perspective of the cowboy/rancher.
....
Created in 2010, the Nevada Heritage Award honors and recognizes Nevada
master folk and traditional artists who, at the highest level of excellence and
authenticity, carry forward the folk traditions of their families and
communities through practice and teaching.
....
Waddie Mitchell was inducted into the
Nevada Writers Hall of Fame
in November, 2011. See our news item about the award
here.
Find more about Waddie Mitchell in our feature
here and at
WaddieMitchell.com
(where there are two audio poems).
Waddie Mitchell recites his poem, "No Second Chance" on
The BAR-D Roundup, Volume Five
and Larry McWhorter's poem, "Cowboy Count Yet
Blessings," along with Larry McWhorter, on
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Six.
[photo by Donald Kallus]
Posted 1/25
 The
February, 2012 edition of
Western
Horseman
magazine, with a cover by artist
Clark Kelley Price, features Senior Editor Jennifer Denison's
"Chronicle of a Cowgirl Camp Cook," about her experience at
Kent Rollins'
(pictured)
Red River Chuck Wagon Boot Camp. She
writes that the days spent there, "...were about more than cooking or earning a
diploma. They were meant for sharing, becoming a family, preserving traditions
and gaining a little wisdom we can apply to our daily lives." (Find more about
Kent Rollins in our feature here.)
Jennifer Denison also devotes a generous amount of space
to a review of writer, poet, and ranch hand
Amy Hale Auker's
recent, acclaimed collection of essays,
Rightful Place.
She writes, "...Auker's eloquent, descriptive narratives fill readers'
imaginations with vivid imagery, and intimately connect them to her and the
West." (Find more about Amy Hale Auker in our feature
here.)
The February issue, which is a special travel issue, also includes a feature,
"Small Towns, Cowboy Charm," about 10 "favorite small towns with the most
authentic cowboy ambiance," which includes Elko, Nevada, home of the National
Cowboy Poetry Gathering; Alpine Texas, home of the Texas Cowboy Poetry
Gathering; Prescott, Arizona, home of the Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering; and
Wickenburg, Arizona, home of the Cowboy Christmas Poets Gathering. There is
also a "Travel and Adventure Guide" with a focus on equine adventures.
Also included in the February issue: Assistant Editor Kate
Bradley's articles about working cattle ranches that welcome working guests,
about California's Varian family's V6 Ranch, and about the Casey Tibbs South
Dakota Rodeo Center; Contributing Editor Ryan T. Bell's story on a national
network of riding trails that follow abandoned railroad lines;
Western Horseman
publisher Darrell Dodd's report on a David Stoecklein photography workshop;
part one of Susan Morrison's three-part series on a colt, "Moon," being trained
by Mozaun McKibben; Guy de Galard's interview with Wyoming blacksmith Jill
Sorenson; Editor Ross Hecox' article about the status of the horse market and
his story about taking part in the first Working Ranch Cow Horse Camp; Baxter
Black's commentary, "The Scars to Prove It," in his regular On the Edge of
Common Sense column; and more.
The many
articles are collected in regular departments: Ranchlands,
Hands-on Horseman, Inside the Arena, and
Cowboy Style. Visit
www.WesternHorseman.com for more about the current issue
and web-only features, including audio pieces by
Baxter
Black
and a slide show of top Western artist
Bill Owen's 30 Western
Horseman covers, with his commentary.
Posted 1/23
The December 2011/January 2012
Ranch & Reata,
the magazine's fifth issue, includes features accompanied by striking
photography and art.
Among the highlights in the current issue: illustrated stories
about the late, much-admired cowboy singer and songwriter
Chris LeDoux
(pictured on the cover) by
Mark Bedor and by Bruce Pollock;
a profile of popular songwriter and musician
Corb Lund
(accompanied by editor A.J. Mangum's insightful "Editor's
Note"); celebrated horseman
Buck Brannaman's
"Making the Right Things Easy"; Kathy McCraine's profile of
young cowboy
Joel Maloney,
"Making a Hand"; a beautifully illustrated article about
Luis Ortega
and his legendary rawhide creations; Tom Russell's extensive
piece, "Blood on the Saddle; the long Shadow of
Tex Ritter";
a profile of notable Western artist
Jack Swanson
by William Reynolds; a pictorial featuring the bronzes of
sculptor
John Coleman; a Q&A
with author
William Kittredge; a
pictorial of photographer
Will Brewster's
"Winter in the West" images; Jameson Parker's feature about
Utah saddlemaker
Jeff Hanson;
articles about rare cowboy books and about interesting web
sites;
an excerpt from Western writer and photographer
Dane Coolidge's
(1873-1940)
Hidden Water,
which is being serialized in the magazine; and much more.
Find some entries about
Ranch & Reata
at
A.J. Mangum's
blog
and find more information
here
at www.rangeradio.com,
where you can also view on-line versions of the current and
past issues.
Posted 1/19
The Winter, 2011
Persimmon Hill magazine from the
National Cowboy &
Western Heritage Museum includes Jeri Dobrowski's
feature article about cowboy poet, humorist, and celebrated chuckwagon cook
Kent Rollins. "Wrasslin' Pans and Pots at the
Red River Chuck Wagon Boot Camp" explores the experience of "a taste of life in
an Old West cow camp" and profiles Kent Rollins. In the lively article, which
includes Jeri Dobrowski's photography, she comments, "Rollins wants folks to
get more out of the experience than just learning to cook. He serves up life
lessons and turns out friends."
Find more about the Red River Chuck Wagon Boot Camp at
www.kentrollins.com and find more
about Kent Rollins in our feature here. Jeri
Dobrowski's monthly Cowboy Jam Session
column appears at CowboyPoetry.com and in other publications. Find more about
her and her photography, including a gallery of Western performers and other
personalities at www.JeriDobrowski.com.
There are images from her experience at the Chuck Wagon Boot Camp
here.
Also in the current Persimmon Hill issue: top
cowboy singer and songwriter R.W. Hampton is
profiled by Edna Mae Holden in "R.W. Hampton—On the
Road & at Home"; articles including those about the recent Cowboy
Crossings art show and sale by the Cowboy Artists of America and the
Traditional Cowboy Arts Association, Will James' art, Western actor
Ed Harris, and the Calgary Stampede; additional features, articles and
commentary; photos from recent museum events; exhibit and event information;
and more.
Persimmon Hill is described as "the National Cowboy
& Western Heritage Museum's award-winning journal on the West." It is available
to museum members and by subscription. Find information
here.
[photo
of Jeri Dobrowski by Jen Dorbrowski; photo of Kent Rollins
by
Jeri Dobrowski;
see her gallery of western performers and others
here.]
Updated 1/18
 A
PBS American
Experience documentary on
Billy the Kid
aired nationally on January 10, 2012. The film is a part of the series' Wild
West collection, which will also include pieces on Custer's Last Stand and
Geronimo.
Music historian, author, and performer Mark L.
Gardner performs Andrew "Blind Andy" Jenkins' 1927 ballad, "Billy the
Kid," in a related video at the PBS web site
here. Mark Gardner,
who performs music on instruments appropriate to the period, plays his 1928
Gibson TG-1 tenor guitar in the video.
Mark L. Gardner is the author of the recent book,
To Hell on a Fast Horse:
Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice
in the Old West.
PBS American Experience describes the program:
fascinating look at the myth and the man behind it,
who, in just a few short years transformed himself from
a skinny orphan boy to the most feared man in the West
and an enduring western icon.
Watch the first chapter and find
information and additional links for the Billy the Kid
program at the
PBS American Experience web site. Among the links
is a photo gallery of "The
Golden Age of the American Cowboy."
(Update, 1/11/11: You can now view
the entire feature at the
PBS American Experience web site.)
Mark L. Gardner is also
the editor of Jack Thorp's Songs of
the Cowboys (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2005), a
book that is accompanied by a CD recording with
performances by Mark L. Gardner and
Rex Rideout. Mark L. Gardner's performance of "What's
Become of the Punchers" from that CD is included on the
first volume of The BAR-D Roundup.
See our feature about the Jack Thorp book and CD
here.
Gardner and Rideout's popular "Songs of the Cowboys"
concert and program on "Jack" Thorp (N. Howard Thorp,
1867-1940) has been recognized as an
Official New Mexico Centennial Project.
Find more about Mark L. Gardner and his many other
publications at his web site,
www.songofthewest.com.
[image from a photo
by Steve Butler]
Updated 1/11
Fort Worth's
Amon
Carter Museum presents selected works of "cowboy artist" Charles M.
Russell in an exhibit,
Romance Maker: The Watercolors of Charles M. Russell, February 11,
2012–May 13, 2012. From their description:
More than 100 of the
finest and best-preserved watercolors by Charles M.
Russell (1864–1926) will be featured in this special
exhibition. Never before have so many of these singular
depictions of the Old West been brought together.
Russell’s advice to a fellow artist to “cinch your
saddle on romance” defined his work, where vivid
subjects culled from his own youthful experiences were
fused with the power of his artistic imagination to
create unforgettable images of the mythic American
frontier....
The Amon Carter Museum "...was established through the
generosity of Amon G. Carter Sr. (1879–1955) to house his collection of
paintings and sculpture by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell..."
Find more about the exhibit at the museum's web site
here.
Posted 1/4
Additional recent news items continued
here ...
Cowboy Song Tradition; Texas Cowpuncher;
A Free and Hardy Life;
Cowboy Artists of America;
Western Horseman;
BAR-D e-news; Range;
Ranch & Reata;
Don't Fence Me In; Bill Owen;
We
Pointed Them North; Dave Stamey's
Twelve Mile Road; Waddie
Mitchell;
and much more...
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News stories,
features, web links, items of interest from the web, social media, and
you. Newest 
Newest:
Past United States Poet Laureate Ted
Kooser's American Life in Poetry column, updated
weekly.
