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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 Spain—including
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
shows—at 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' governors—is
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 Smith, William
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]
Posted 1/4
 
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.
Posted 1/4
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...
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Past
United
States Poet Laureate Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry
column, updated weekly.
