Popular Texas singer and songwriter
Jean Prescott describes her new
album, America—Home Sweet Home,
as a "celebration of our freedom and liberty." The CD includes
songs co-written with poets
Darrell Arnold and Yvonne Hollenbeck,
songs by Jeff Gore and Donny Blanz, traditional songs, and
pieces by Jean Prescott. Find the track list
here.
America—Home Sweet Home is
dedicated to Jean Prescott's parents and her father-in-law.
She writes, "I wrote the song 'Just Doing What Was Right' to
honor the memory of my father and tell a bit of his World War
II story. My mother was a Navy WAVE, helping to mend the lives
and limbs of the young men who served so bravely. My
father-in-law served bravely in many campaigns, including
North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and France."
One of the songs co-written with Yvonne
Hollenbeck honors the memory of
Corporal Josiah Hollopeter,
grandson of poet Willard
Hollopeter. Josiah Hollopeter, age 27, was killed in Al
Muqdidiyah, Iraq in June, 2007. See a 2008 Picture the West
dedicated to Josiah Hollopeter here.
Read Yvonne Hollenbeck's story of her inspiration for the poem
that became "Song for Josiah" and find the words
here.
Yvonne Hollenbeck and Jean Prescott
perform together as "Sweethearts in
Carhartts."
Find more about Jean Prescott in our
feature here and at
www.JeanPrescott.com.
America—Home Sweet Home
can be ordered
here
at www.JeanPrescott.com and from
CDBaby, iTunes, or by check or money order for $18.00 to Prescott Music, P. O.
Box 194, Dept. CP, Ovalo, TX 79541.
Posted 11/10
Popular ranch photographer
Rene Heil's
sixth book,
Dust & Smoke:
Top Hands and Pretty Loops
is available. Sadly, Rene Heil died in July, 2011 (find our
announcement here).
Dust & Smoke: Top Hands and Pretty Loops
includes "... 30 ranches from Texas to North Dakota during Spring Roundup of
2009-2010. It is a full color coffee table book which includes personal
memories of the men and women who tend the herd." The South Dakota ranch of
Glen and Yvonne Hollenbeck is featured in the book.
For over 15 years, Rene Heil traveled from Mexico to
Montana "photographing the working ranches and the working cowboys
during their spring roundup." He posted
daily
photos
at his
web site.
Dust & Smoke: Top Hands and Pretty Loops
is available for $39 plus shipping.
Find order information and more about the book at Rene
Heil's Ranch Photography site here.
Posted 10/12
The acclaimed film,
Buck,
is now available on DVD. The story of legendary horse trainer
"Buck" Brannaman—one
of the inspirations for the lead character Tom Booker in the book and film
The Horse Whisperer—has received enthusiastic reception by
audiences and film festivals worldwide.
See our earlier report on the film
here.
Find more at the
Buck
web site
and on Facebook.
Find more about Buck Brannaman at his site,
www.brannaman.com.
T he
DVD is available from
Amazon.
Posted 10/5
Laurie Powers
has collected her grandfather
Paul S. Powers'
short stories in
Riding the Pulp Trail.
From the book's back cover:
Most fans of Western fiction know Paul S. Powers as one of
the foundation authors of the famous pulp magazine of the 1930s and 1940s,
Wild West
Weekly.
Now, for the first time, are twelve Paul Powers stories written in the years
after Wild West Weekly stopped
publication. Six of these stories were published in magazines such as
Exciting Western, Thrilling
Western, The Rio Kid Western
and Thrilling Ranch Stories. The
other six are brand new stories—never before published—that
were discovered in 2009. Altogether they make for an outstanding collection
of western stories that represent the glory years of the Western short story
and the best of Powers’ prolific pulp Western career.
Laurie Powers provided additional
biographical information:
My grandfather, Paul S. Powers (1905-1971) was
a prolific and successful pulp fiction writer from the mid 1920s until the
late 1940s. The majority of his work was published in Wild West
Weekly, a Street & Smith magazine, where
his popular characters Sonny Tabor and Kid Wolf appeared regularly for
fifteen years. But he was also an accomplished writer of horror, detective,
noir and romance tales. Some of his first works were published in
Weird Tales, known as the publisher of
the finest horror and fantasy fiction of the 20th century. After
Wild West Weekly ceased publication, Paul
wrote for several other pulp Western magazines... Powers’ proudest
achievement was his novel Doc Dillahay,
a novel based on the life of his father as a pioneer physician, which was
published by Macmillan in 1949.
In 2007, Paul's memoir, Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American
Grub Street, was published posthumously
by the University of Nebraska Press and received excellent reviews.
Signed copies of
Riding the Pulp Trail
are available from the
OutWest Boutique and Cultural Center.
Find a related contest at Laurie Powers'
blog. The book is
also available from the publisher,
www.altuspress.com, and from
Amazon.
Posted 9/21
Shooting from the Hip, photographs
and essays
by J. Don Cook, gives testament
to the toughness of "the spirit and the people of Oklahoma," seen through
empathetic eyes and a soul that knows about the resilience of the human
spirit.
Cook's own story, well told in a prologue, is riveting: a hard-scrabble
childhood of abuse and danger, an early life-changing brush with death. It
gives insight into the heart and fearlessness of many of the
"there-but-for" photographs that populate this handsome, generously large
format book.
In his introduction, native Oklahoman and actor James Garner notes that
Pulitzer-prize winning photojournalist Cook has covered major world
events, "But it's his sensitive and often ironic images of rural
Oklahomans that speak eloquently of his love for the state and its
people—for people and places that are fast disappearing, if they're not
already gone."
The children, lovers, misfits, towns, landscapes, bones, and trucks are
seen and told about in works of stunning craft. The picture and the
photographer's words about the cover image, "Fiddler on the Porch,"
approach poetry. The 100-year-old subject, who has outlived his family,
also speaks, "I can still saw this fiddle, even though I'm old. One thing
left I can do." He reminisces and says, "...I still miss everyone. Getting
old is no barrel of monkeys."
The images are from Oklahoma, but the faces and messages are universal.
"The Suffering of Children" chapter uncovers poverty in unforgettable
images. Visages of what seem to be ancient people from an ancient place in
"Gerty General Store" bring a time and place and its hardships to life.
In the epilogue, J. Don Cook writes, "The power of the image is to rivet
us in that sacred moment when the person pictured drew a breath." His
words and photographs achieve a sanctity that honors those lives.
The handsome, generously large-format
Shooting from the Hip, photographs and essays
is available
from the publisher,
University of Oklahoma Press,
Amazon,
and other booksellers.
Posted 8/4
Would you buy a used poem from this man? Hundreds of
thousands have.
Baxter
Black,
the world's most-recognized cowboy poet, as well as songwriter, philosopher, former
large animal veterinarian and entrepreneur, draws back the curtain on his
success and helps point the way for others in his new book,
Lessons
from a Desperado Poet; how to find your way when you don't have a map, how
to win the game when you don't know the rules, and when someone says it
can't be done, what really they mean is that they can't do it.
It's a "self-help book," and, considering the iconoclastic author, it's
not your uncle's self-help book. The book's three sections seem
conventional enough: "How I Learned," "What I Learned," and "Why I Was
Able to Learn." What's inside them is not. For example, the first section
starts with an introduction to the farm, ranch, and feedlot boss whose
style
informed his basic philosophy and also explains Baxter's long-held and widely
made assertion that "It is illegal to publish poetry in the United
States."
Each chapter serves up generous helpings of advice, all drawn from his own
colorful experience. The advice is peppered with short, highlighted
lessons (Lesson #3: You can walk a long way toward the horizon before you
step off of it...or in my case, in it...."). Each chapter ends with an "In
a Nutshell" summary of major points, but no reader will want to miss the
edification and entertainment found in every word of the chapter itself.
Baxter Black came to recognize that he was an "outside the box" guy.
Lesson #6 tells that he recognized in his mentor that, "It's not that what
he knew stopped him, it's that what he didn't know didn't stop him." Much
of the book is about how he learned to ignore the box and do things his
own way and how he learned to work smartly and fearlessly. (Lesson #11,
"Sometimes it's okay to ride a Trojan horse into the game as long as you
don't make a fool of the Spartans.")
Black, a great storyteller in any area, is candid and engaging when
writing about his shortcomings, stumbles, spectacular "belly flops,"
failures, and personal disappointments. He writes, "I am thankful I
survived myself," and really means it. A self-described
"sometimes-lunatic," he offers himself as a cautionary tale as well as an
expert, warts and all. ("Lesson #22: They say God takes care of children
and fools. I can attest to that. Just don't underestimate his patience.")
He's startlingly practical, a man who sees through conventional
misconceptions and who takes his own road, even when he has to engineer,
excavate, build and pave it himself. It's never preachy ("Lesson #25 If
you ever have the opportunity to keep from making a fool of
yourself...take it.")
Is it really possible for
anyone
to achieve Baxter Black's level of accomplishment? He obviously has a rare
gift. He contends that integrity, hard work, and reliability are among the
most important ingredients to success. In Lesson #34 he asserts, "Two
pounds of persistence is worth ten pounds of talent."
Baxter Black is known for giving back, for his generosity with other poets
and musicians, the community, and his friends. He wants to help others
along their paths in this tome. The book gets into the nitty gritty of
publishing, marketing, and promotion. He lays open his own hard-won
business strategies and tactics and offers detailed guidance to others.
Those others might be poets, musicians, other entrepreneurs, middlemen, or
feed salesmen. But even those with nothing to "sell" will find a sort of
life's handbook in these pages.
Good old-fashioned American self reliance plays an important part in his
character. In a recent phone interview, Black talked about the recent U.S.
financial crisis having been one impetus for the book. He said that he had
the realization
that nobody out there knew what was going on or knew what to do about it.
He realized, also, that, "The only way people are going to survive is to
ride their own boat. The only way we, as Americans, are going to get
through this is if we do it ourselves. I haven't changed my mind much,
yet."
He says he also wrote the book for those many poets who have asked his
advice about publishing, and to answer other questions he is often asked,
especially, "How did you become successful?" and "Why did you give up your
veterinary practice?" As is his practice, he has accomplished his stated
goals.
And as to the "illegality" of publishing poetry: Baxter Black is one of
the very few poets of any type to make a solid living through his poetry.
The New York Times has called him "....probably the most
successful living poet." It's good to get advice from a winner.
As if Baxter Black's life and tales and advice weren't enough, the book
also includes his illustrative humorous poems, a generous number of goofy
photos of him, and a lively introduction by his friend Wilford Brimley.
Brimley worked as a
farrier along side Black in his early feedlot days, and has his own
success story and philosophy to share.
Baxter Black has been amusing audiences for decades, and now he has
something to inspire and guide them as well. The book's final chapter is
called, simply, "Faith." It ends on a beautiful note of humility and
respect for life's journey. Readers are greatly rewarded.
Find more about Baxter Black in our feature here and
visit www.BaxterBlack.com for
more. Order the book directly by calling Baxter Black's office: (800)
654-2550.
Posted 7/5
Texas cowboy, poet, and musician
Don Cadden's
book,
Tied Hard and Fast:Apache Adams—Big
Bend Cowboy
tells the story of Western Texas cowboy Apache Adams. From the book's
description:
Apache Adams is somewhat
of a living legend out in the Big Bend country of Texas. Born in 1937
and raised on the Rio Grande, he has lived the cowboy life most people
believe ended in the 1800's. He has been inducted into the Big Bend
Cowboy Hall of Fame, given the Working Cowboy Award by the National
Cowboy Symposium, the Heritage Award by the Texas Cowboy Poetry
Gathering, and won more buckles and saddles then he can count.
But this book isn't about awards or buckles; it's about the life and
adventures of a working cowboy. Ride along with Apache through the
desolate canyons of the Big Bend and swim the Rio Grande horseback
tracking cow thieves. Ride the river catching illegal Mexican cattle.
Take a deep seat in your saddle when you rope a 2,000 pound maverick
bull, get him to the ground, and tie his feet without any help.
Tied Hard and Fast isn't a
bunch of tall tales. It is the compilation of a lifetime of stories and
adventures told in the voice of the man who lived them.
An
article in the
Alpine Avalanche
tells, "Apache Adams has been inducted into the Big Bend Cowboy Hall of
Fame, received the Heritage Award from the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering,
the Working Cowboy Award from the National Cowboy Symposium, and has won
numerous saddles and buckles in roping and rodeo events."
Find more at the publisher's site,
Outskirts Press.
Tied Hard and Fast
is available from the publisher,
Amazon,
and other booksellers.
Posted 6/2
To the Western eye, the lush land and wildlife where the cattlemen and "cowhunters"
of Florida work might appear exotic. But the work they do and the life they
value is familiar. An absorbing, beautifully produced film,
Florida Crackers: The Cattlemen and Cowboys of Florida,
tells their stories.
Florida ranching families carry on traditions with roots that were planted
almost 500 years ago. They trace their beginnings to the cattle and horses left
by explorer Ponce de Leon, who preceded Francisco Vasquez de Coronado's
introduction of livestock to the Southwest. They claim to be the first to have
had the cow, the horse, and the cowboy and note that while the great cattle
drives in the West lasted for about ten years, Floridians have been driving
cattle for 300 years.
Despite how different the challenging conditions might seem to some Westerners—swamps,
bogs, alligators, marshes, vines, man-high grasses—it
is not what's different, but what is the
same
among all cowboys and ranchers that make this film of certain interest to all.
Historical and modern practices are explored through striking cinematography
and some additional vintage film clips and stills. It is rich in action, with
cow "hunting" (roundups), brandings, horse training, ranch rodeos, and sale
barn activities. There's good original cowboy music and there is cowboy poetry
by
Doyle Rigdon.
Some of those featured trace their ranching families back centuries. They are a
tough and proud lot. Dedicated female cowhands and ranchers are featured as
well, including one seventh-generation 18-year-old rancher and octogenarian and
fifth-generation rancher Iris Wall. Wall was a part of the Western Folklife
Center's National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in 2010, as was Doyle Rigdon (see a
report by Susan Parker, here about
that event).
There are strong themes of family and tradition. The culture's values are
celebrated in conversations about ethics, hard work, reliability, generosity,
neighborliness, mutual respect, and trust. Trust is particularly evident; deals
in the hundreds of thousands of dollars are frequently made on a simple
handshake.
The film preserves an important history and presents a vivid picture of an
impressive ranching culture. The Floridians hold values common to most cowboys
and ranchers and they also face the same challenges. In particular, their work
and their land is endangered by encroaching development.
Florida Crackers: The Cattlemen and Cowboys of Florida
is much about common bonds. It offers deeply enjoyable viewing.
Find more about the film, which is available on DVD (with an hour of extras,
including captivating interviews)
here, where
there are also film trailers and more.
Posted 5/26
Poet and author
Rod Miller’s
new historical novel,
The Assassination of Governor Boggs,
from Cedar Fort/Bonneville Books is described:
It’s a cold-case investigation into the 1842
attempted murder of Lilburn Boggs, the Missouri Governor who drove the
Mormons out of the State under threat of extermination. Twenty-five years
after the unsolved crime, a Pinkerton agent follows the evidence from one end
of the Old West to the other. The trail ends in Utah Territory with prime
suspect Porter Rockwell, notorious Mormon gunfighter.
Rod Miller has a recent collection of cowboy poetry,
Things a Cowboy Sees
and a poetry chapbook,
Newe Dreams.
He is the author non-fiction books and another novel, and his poetry has
appeared in numerous publications. He recites "A Bolt of Broomtails"
on
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Six,
and his poem, "The Staff of Life," is included on the
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four. Rod Miller has
contributed a number of excellent essays about writing cowboy poetry to
the BAR-D. Find links to those articles here.
Find more about Rod Miller in our feature
here
and at his web site,
www.writerrodmiller.com.
The Assassination of Governor Boggs
is available for $14.99 at
assassinationofgovernorboggs.com,
Amazon,
and other booksellers.
Posted 5/11
Photographs
and prose as expansive as the wide land of the
Llano Estacado give way to serious
contemplation in
Llano Estacado; An Island in the Sky,
the latest impressive release in
Texas Tech University Press'
Voice in the American West
series, which is overseen by Andy Wilkinson. The
complex region, not unlike other areas of the
West, faces an uncertain future. The critical
clash of history, natural resources, and
"progress"—a history of "resource extraction and
exploitation"—is
considered by historians, philosophers, writers,
and artists.
The publisher describes the area, "The Llano
Estacado, Coronado's legendary 'staked plains,'
comprises all or part of thirty-three counties in
Texas and four in New Mexico. It covers
approximately 32,000 square miles of arid prairie
used primarily today for ranching and
farming...Its population, outside of four
mid-sized cities, is sparse."
The book grew out of a more than ten years of
multi-disciplinary "conversation" about the
region, which, in the words of co-editor William
Tydeman, "revealed multiple truths and ways of
seeing." Photographers captured images and writers
were invited to react to them or to comment in
general about the region. He writes, "I believe we
reaffirmed the relationship between art and
nature....to reveal the connections."
In his introduction, Barry Lopez offers up the
region's history and myth and lays the groundwork
for the diverse, far ranging visions of its
possibilities and challenges. Hopefulness is rare.
There are photographs by Peter Brown, Rick Dingus,
Steve Fitch, Miguel Gandert, Tony Gleaton, and
Andrew John Liccardo—striking landscapes, intimate
portraits, haunting decay and desolation, and
stunning natural beauty. As Andrew John Liccardo
writes, "The Llano Estacado region of West Texas
and eastern New Mexico, like a lot of good places,
is simple and maddeningly complex at the same
time."
There is prose by a stellar panel of respected
Western writers: Rick Bass, Stephen Bogener,
Stephen Graham Jones, William Kittredge, Barry
Lopez, Sandra Scofield and Jessica Scofield,
Annick Smith, and William Tydeman.
Rick Bass shares his reactions to the
book's photographs. He writes, "I came to the
viewing of these photographs anticipating one
thing....but I have witnessed here, for the most
part, quite another thing, a thing to which I
cannot yet quite place a name." He comes away with
the dispirited comment, "I want to believe I am
not seeing what I think I am seeing." Stephen
Graham Jones' colorful, visceral longing for the
past is as vivid as the photos.
William Kittredge frames his piece through the
work of West Texas novelist Max Crawford. His
description of Crawford's work well represents the
overall themes of
Llano Estacado; An Island in the Sky:
"Max Crawford's work spins around two themes.
First, his reverence for his home territory.
Second, the degree to which he deplores what
people have done and are doing to it, and
themselves."
Co-editor Stephen Bogener's "Island in the Sky"
anchor chapter offers a deep, comprehensive
cultural history of the "land of paradox," with
particularly interesting coverage of the period of
Anglo settlement, including military and
agricultural history. Vintage photographs from
Texas Tech's Southwest Collection accompany his
text, as varied, for example, as "Spur Ranch
horseman ascending the Caprock, circa
1900," Lubbock in a Depression dust storm, and a
bootlegging photograph from the Prohibition era.
While
Llano Estacado; An Island in the Sky
focuses on a particular region, the concerns for
its future are of universal interest today's West.
The rich, provocative collection of prose and
images is a model for thoughtful consideration.
Llano Estacado; An Island in the Sky
is available from the
publisher,
Amazon,
and other booksellers.
Posted 5/2
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