News Since the Last Newsletter Page 4 Cowboy Poetry at the BAR-D Ranch www.CowboyPoetry.com

The August, 2010 issue of Joe Baker's Backforty Bunkhouse e-newsletter, edited by Totsie Slover of The Real West from the Old West radio is available. The extensive newsletter—with a growing list of more than 1000 subscribers—includes reviews, opinion pieces, articles, event reports, news, and more. You can read the entire issue at the Backforty Bunkhouse, where you can subscribe and also read back issues.
In the current issue, there are commentaries and radio charts and playlists of Western music and cowboy poetry from many disc jockeys; Jeri Dobrowski's Cowboy Jam Session column, this time, "Shade Up During the Afternoon"; Julie Carter's Cowgirl Sass and Savvy column, this time "The Hat and the Cowboy"; Jim Gough's "News from BobWills.com"; the National Radio Hall of Fame 2010 inductees; Rhonda Craig's From the Messenger column; the Academy of Western Artists' Final Five Nominees in music categories; Rick Huff's Best of the West Reviews; the CowboyPoetry.com column (this time featuring Brenn Hill and the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo; Bill Morrison's Story Behind the Song column; Jack Blanchard's column; the Tri-Son News country music sheet; news from the National Cutting Horse Association; Jesse Mullins Jr.'s Something Solid journal; Bob Rohan's Buffalo Gals cartoon,and much more.
There are also detailed announcements for the forthcoming Hells Canyon Mule Days Max Walker Memorial Gathering (September), and the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium (October).
In "Joe Baker's Top 20" Western Music/Cowboy Poetry chart, the top three CDs are cowboy poetry CDs: Larry McWhorter, Cowboy Poetry from Prescott Music; The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Five from CowboyPoetry.com; and Yvonne Hollenbeck's Sorting Time.

Each newsletter also includes other articles, reviews, press releases, event and new release announcements, "empty saddles" tributes, and display ads.
Submissions are welcome. Email Totsie Slover bbnewslettereditor@gmail.com or contact Joe Baker, joe@backfortybunkhouse.com.

The Backforty Bunkhouse e-newsletter received the 2009 Publication of the Year Award from The Cowtown Society of Western Music. Read more about the Backforty Bunkhouse in our feature here and visit the Backforty Bunkhouse web site.

Posted 8/31

Idaho poet and songwriter Wayne Nelson is profiled in "At home on the range," an August 29, 2010 article by Sean Ellis in the Idaho Sate Journal.

Wayne is quoted, “I love the freedom of a life on horseback, of riding over wide-open expanses and wondering what’s going to be over the next hill. I love the closeness of animals ... and seeing nature’s life and death cycle going on right at your fingertips.”

Read the article here.

Read more about Wayne Nelson and his popular poem, "Snowville," here.

[photo by Linda Merrill, from a gathering report here]

Posted 8/31

The Tippett family relatives of siblings and poets Sharon Brown and Smoke Wade are an important part of Idaho's Lewiston RoundUp and Oregon's Hells Canyon Mule Days events this year. Both events take place the second weekend in September.
Sharon and Smoke's mother, Betty Jean Tippett, was the 1940 Rodeo Queen of the Lewiston RoundUp, and Sharon notes that on the RoundUp's web site, here. Betty Jean Tippett was remembered in a special Mother's Day tribute created by Sharon and Smoke, which includes photos, poetry, and stories.
Betty Jean Tippett's brother Jack Tippett and his wife Blanche are the Grand Marshals for this year's Lewiston Roundup. The Queen is the niece of Tim Tippett (Jack's son).

Betty Jean Tippett's brother Biden Tippett and his wife Betty are Grand Marshals for this year's Hells Canyon Mule Days, and Sharon and Smoke's cousin Ben Tippett is Honorary Grand Marshal.
There's an interesting article, "Cattle Ranch in a Canyon," about "Jidge" Tippett, the family's patriarch and pioneering rancher, in a 1954 Popular Mechanics magazine, which can be read here.

Smoke Wade has contributed many compelling articles and photographs about his family's ranch life. See them here in Western Memories.

[photo of Smoke Wade by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 8/31

Missouri cowboy poet, humorist, and writer Jerry Schleicher's article, "4-H Livestock Experience Truly Eye-Opening," appears in the September/October, 2010 issue of Grit magazine.

Jerry comments that the article, "... is a tribute to the 6.5 million farm, ranch and town kids, Extension specialists and adult volunteers who help make 4-H clubs the largest non-school youth organization in the nation."

Read the article at the Grit web site here.

Jerry is a regular contributor to Grit and other publications.

Read more about Jerry and find some of his poetry here at the BAR-D.

Posted 8/30

North Dakota rancher, poet and writer Rodney Nelson's regular Up Sims Creek column appears bi-weekly in the Country Living section of Farm and Ranch Guide.

The most recent column is "We North Dakotans like to work hard and stay busy."

Rodney is a frequent performer at the Western Folklife Center's National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and other gatherings and events across the West. You can listen to a recent performance audio here at the Western Folklife Center's 2010 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering web site.

Other recent columns include "Just three ol' cowboys hittin' the rodeo circuit," "Heroes in Hard Hats," "Some visitors appreciate North Dakota's beauty," "Trip to Wisconsin was trip down memory lane." "Attending 8th grade graduation in a one-room schoolhouse," "Farms have either too many mice or too many cats," "Days without power remind us of the miracle of electricity," "April power outage brings mayhem to Sims area," "Meeting weatherman was a humbling experience," "Wedding bells have been ringing again at the Nelson's," "Did Anyone Else Gain Weight During the Winter Olympics?," "The many fine qualities of a good cup of coffee," and "Power outages create challenges for modern society." Find many more listed along with his current column.

His poem, "Good Clean Fun," is featured on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Five, and his "Cowboy Laundry" is one of the most-played radio tracks, included on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four.

Read some of his poetry and more about him in our feature here.

[photo by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Updated 8/26

Texas writer and poet Linda Kirkpatrick has a new monthly column about stories and histories of the Tri Canyon area of the Texas Hill Country in the Leakey Star newspaper. In the debut column, she writes about the legend of "The White Lady of Rio Frio." Read the column here.

Linda Kirkpatrick also has a regular Somewhere in the West column at Texas Escapes, an online magazine of Texas travel, and separate blog: www.somewhereinthewest.blogspot.com.

Linda Kirkpatrick's most recent CD is Beneath a Western Sky. Her poem, "When Roundup Time Comes 'Round," is on the first edition of The BAR-D Roundup; her recitation of Bruce Kiskaddon's "The Broncho Twister's Prayer is on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Two; her poem, "The Ranger," is included on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four; and her recitation of Bruce Kiskaddon's "Creak of the Leather" is on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Five.

Read more about Linda Kirkpatrick, her books and chapbooks, and her poetry in our feature here.

[photo of Linda Kirkpatrick by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 8/17

Montana ranch hand, poet, and songwriter DW Groethe is quoted in an August 11, 2010 article, "Great Lakes Folk Festival a beloved East Lansing tradition," by Mike Hughes in Michigan's Lansing State Journal. The article notes that DW Groethe is the first cowboy poet to appear at the Great Lakes Folk Festival (August 13-15, 2010).

The Great Lakes Folk Festival is produced by the Michigan Traditional Arts Program at the Michigan State University Museum. Wylie & the Wild West and the Quebe Sisters are among the Western and cowboy performers who have appeared previously at the Great Lakes Folk Festival. Read more here about DW Groethe's appearance, at the event web site.

DW Groethe has performed twice at the National Folk Festival, and is a frequent performer at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and other events. He has also performed at the Library of Congress and The Kennedy Center.

DW has been featured on each volume of The BAR-D Roundup. His book, West River Waltz, received the Will Rogers Medallion Award, and he also has chapbooks and several CDs of music and poetry.

Read more about DW Groethe and a selection of his poetry and lyrics in our feature here.

[photo by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 8/12

Idaho poet, writer, and teacher Ken Rodgers and his wife, photographer, editor and publisher Betty Rodgers, are making a documentary movie, Bravo!, about Ken’s Marine Corps rifle company at the siege of Khe Sanh, Vietnam, 1968.

A blog at www.bravotheproject.com describes the project and includes entries about the making of the film and some history of the experiences of the Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines.

Betty Rodgers has edited and published books of poetry by Janice Gilbertson and the late Vince Pedroia.

Read more about Ken Rodgers here at CowboyPoetry.com and at his web site, www.kennethrodgers.com.

[2009 photo by Betty Rodgers]

Posted 8/12

Oklahoma poet and writer David Althouse has an article in the current issue of Distinctly Oklahoma. He tells us,"The story is about Augusta Metcalfe, 'Oklahoma’s Sagebrush Artist.' Augusta was a self-taught painter who attained legendary status through artwork chronicling life in the state’s early-day cattle country."

Read the article here.

David has written a number of articles for Distinctly Oklahoma, including a feature story here about Red Steagall.

Read more about David Althouse and some of his poetry here.

Posted 8/11

Popular Wyoming poet, writer, emcee and radio co-host Andy Nelson's book, Riding with Jim, is reviewed by Jon Chandler in the August, 2010 edition of Roundup, the official magazine of the Western Writers of America. The book honors his family's generations of cowboys and farriers, which include his stories and poetry along with stories written by his father James F. Walker Nelson. The prose and poetry are complemented by vintage photographs and top illustrator Bonnie Shields' drawings.

Novelist and songwriter Jon Chandler (www.jonchandler.com) writes that the book is a "...tribute to the influence, integrity, and creativity" of Andy's father, and "a fine collection of Nelson's poetry and prose, sprinkled with liberal doses of wry and often comedic cowboy observations and big windies jotted down by his father over the years..."

Roundup, a monthly publication, is edited by respected Western author and journalist Candy Moulton. It includes articles and features of general interest along with information about its members and activities. Roundup is available to members of the Western Writers of America and by subscription. Find more information and a sample issue here.

Andy Nelson is a frequent performer and emcee at Western events, and he and his brother Jim co-host the weekly syndicated Clear Out West (C.O.W.) radio show, which you can listen to on demand on the internet.

Read more about Andy in our feature here. Visit his web site for more: www.cowpokepoet.com.

[photo by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 8/10

Texas writer and poet Linda Kirkpatrick has a new addition to her regular Somewhere in the West column at Texas Escapes, an online magazine of Texas travel and history.

In the newest column she tells about outlaw Victor Queen and his connection with her family at the turn of the last century, in "Who Was That Outlaw?"

Linda Kirkpatrick also has a blog: www.somewhereinthewest.blogspot.com.

Linda Kirkpatrick's most recent CD is Beneath a Western Sky. Her poem, "When Roundup Time Comes 'Round," is on the first edition of The BAR-D Roundup; her recitation of Bruce Kiskaddon's "The Broncho Twister's Prayer is on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Two; her poem, "The Ranger," is included on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four; and her recitation of Bruce Kiskaddon's "Creak of the Leather" is on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Five.

Read more about Linda Kirkpatrick, her books and chapbooks, and her poetry in our feature here.

[photo of Linda Kirkpatrick by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 8/9

An opinion piece by historian and musician Mark Gardner, 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 was featured in the Los Angeles Times, July 14, 2010. The article, "Billy the Kid: a pardon at long last?," tells about a pardoned promised in 1981 by New Mexico's territorial governor and current New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's consideration of the case.

Since that article appeared, the story has been picked up by countless news outlets. The New York Times included an article by Marc Lacey on August 16, 2010, "Old West Showdown Is Revived." An August 17, 2010 article in New West by Bea Gordon is titled, "Examining Legend: The Pardoning of Billy the Kid."

Also see articles here at CNN and here at ABC News. The story has been covered in many hundreds publications according to Google News, in places as distant as India and New Zealand.

Read more about To Hell on a Fast Horse in our news here and here at Mark Gardner's web site.

Mark L. Gardner is the author of many books, including Jack Thorp's Songs of the Cowboys (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2005). See our feature about that book and its accompanying CD, here.

Find more about Mark L. Gardner at his web site, www.songofthewest.com.

[photo of Mark L. Gardner by Steve Butler]

Updated 8/17

Washington poet Clark Crouch's book, Views from Saddle, has received the 2010 Will Rogers Medallion Award.

The book is described by the publisher, "...It captures moments from both the past and present from the perspective of one whose viewpoints, biases, and philosophies were shaped by the Great Depression and years of drought in the Sandhills of Nebraska plus his experience as youthful cowboy in the 1930s and 1940s...."

Find more about Clark Crouch and some of his poetry here.

Find more about the Will Rogers Medallion Award and the 2010 recipients here.

Posted 8/9

The July, 2010 issue of Joe Baker's Backforty Bunkhouse e-newsletter, edited by Totsie Slover of The Real West from the Old West radio is available. The extensive newsletter—with a growing list of more than 700 subscribersincludes reviews, opinion pieces, articles, event reports, news, and more. You can read the entire issue at the Backforty Bunkhouse, where you can subscribe and also read back issues.

In the current issue, there are commentaries and radio charts and playlists of Western music and cowboy poetry from many disc jockeys; Smoke Wade's report from the Historic Ritzville Days Western Art Show; Jim Gough's "News from BobWills.com"; Jeri Dobrowski's Cowboy Jam Session column, this time, "Haste Makes Waste"; Cade Schalla's Cades Cadence column, this time with his poem, "Broomstick Cowboy"; Dugg Collins' in-depth profile of Johnny Western; Julie Carter's Cowgirl Sass and Savvy column, this time "Headin' Down the Rodeo Road"; Joyce Miller's Cowtown Society of Western Music story about Donnell Clyde Cooley; the CowboyPoetry.com column (this time featuring Mike Puhallo; Mike Gross' review of Jerry Webb's Live at Pearls CD and DVD; Bill Morrison's "Story Behind the Song"; the Tri-Son News country music sheet; Jack Blanchard's column; Bob Rohan's Buffalo Gals cartoon, Rhonda Craig's From the Messenger column, and much more.

There are also detailed announcements for the forthcoming National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo (September) and the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium (October).

In "Joe Baker's Top 20" Western Music/Cowboy Poetry chart, the top three CDs are cowboy poetry CDs: Yvonne Hollenbeck's Sorting Time, The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Five from CowboyPoetry.com; and Larry McWhorter, Cowboy Poetry from Prescott Music.

Alberta's Doris Daley (Western Music Association Female Poet of the Year) was a guest on the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) radio's August 1, 2010 Cross Country Checkup program. The show featured summer festivals. A great ambassador for cowboy poetry, Doris explained cowboy poetry, told about cowboy poetry gatherings, talked about her involvement, and gave a lively recitation of her poem, "Bones."

You can listen to the program here. Doris Daley appears about 45 minutes into the two-hour program.

Cross Country Checkup is Canada's only national open-line radio program, broadcast live across Canada each Sunday afternoon on CBC Radio One, on Sirius satellite radio, and on the internet. The program has been on the air for 45 years.

Doris Daley's most recent CD, Beneath a Western Sky, was named the top Cowboy Poetry CD this year by the Western Music Association.

Doris Daley has been featured on each edition of The BAR-D Roundup.

Read more about Doris Daley' and some of her poetry in our feature here and visit her web site, www.dorisdaley.com.

Posted 8/2

Jessica Brandi Lifland (www.jessicalifland.com), the official photographer for the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, recently returned from Haiti. She had been working also in the Dominican Republic on an Operation Smile (www.operationsmile.org) assignment.

Her photos from Haiti were published in a July 12, 2010 story in USA Today, "Six months after Haitian quake, many barriers to recovery," both in an article and in an accompanying slide show.

See her photoblog for additional photos and commentary.

Operation Smile is a children's charity treating facial deformities such as cleft lips and cleft palates all around the world. Jessica has previously traveled to Jordan, Palestine, and Senegal for Operation Smile.

Based in San Francisco, Jessica Brandi Lifland has worked as a photojournalist "all over the United States and internationally in such places as Kosovo, Burma, Italy and most recently Jordan and Palestine. Her work appears nationally and internationally in publications including The New York Times, USA Today, The Toronto Star, Newsweek, Time, Forbes and Le Monde...."

Jessica Lifland has been working on a project documenting the lives of cowboy poets. Read more here and see some of her images at her web site and visit her photoblog.

[photograph of Jessica Lifland by Vasna Wilson]

Updated 7/22

The cowboy poetry and music programs at Emandal in Willits, California are highlighted in a July 21, 2010 article in the Willits News.

The article comments, "Cowboy poetry is new to Mendocino County. Tamara Adams of Emandal, and others, brought Paul Zarzyski to Willits in 2006, Jerry Brooks and Jim Cardwell in 2007, and Dave Stamey and Susan Parker in 2009. Each event has been a sellout."

The next event at Emandal features the Gillette Brothers on July 31, 2010. On September 25, 2010, the program will feature Stephanie Davis, Doris Daley, and Richard Chon.

From the Emandal history:

In 1908, Em and Al Byrnes opened up their home to friends and acquaintances in the Bay Area who wished to vacation on the magnificent Eel River and get away from the everyday hustle and bustle of city life. (Yes, there was hustle and bustle in 1908!) All the fruits and vegetables served in their dining room were grown on the farm, as were the meat and eggs. Em baked all the bread.

Since 1946 the Adams family has continued the tradition of country vacations with farm grown and home cooked meals. Today Tamara Adams, following in the footsteps of her in-laws, Clive and Jessie Adams, and her late husband, Clive Adams, Jr., operates Emandal...

Cowboy poetry programs often include gourmet meals from the farm's offerings, served out of doors. There are often cabins available for overnight stays.

Find more information at www.emandal.com.

Posted 7/22

The July/August issue of Rope Burns ("serving the Cowboy Entertainment and Trade Industry") includes front-page gathering reports: Jerry Schleicher's report from the Echoes of the Trail and Marie Baxter's report from the NV of the West.

Inside, there are additional gathering reports, including Smoke Wade's report on the Fourth Annual Historic Ritzville Days Western Art Show and Tommy Tucker's report on an event where Wylie & the Wild West and Paul Zarzyski performed with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra

Also featured are Rick Huff's "Best of the West" poetry and music reviews and O.J. Sikes' reviews and commentary in "The OJ Corral."

There are regular columns, including the BAR-D poetry column (this time featuring Al "Doc" Mehl and Mike Puhallo); Debra Coppinger Hill's "Riding Drag"; founding publisher Bobby Newton's "Kicking Around!"; and "Mad Jack" Hanks' "Tales from the O-No Ranch." There are pieces by Jerry Schleicher ("Talkin' to the Animals") and Les Buffham ("Dog's Revenge") and there is a poem by Geno Harper ("Shake Hands with Fate").

Included also are gathering announcements, chuckwagon news and recipes, articles, music charts, news, photographs, cartoons, display ads, event listings, and more.

For Rope Burns subscriptions, contact: Legacy Media/Rope Burns, PO Box 92575, Albuquerque, NM 87109; www.legacyontheweb.com; a free electronic subscription is available.

Posted 7/15

As reported previously (see below) Sherrod Fielden was named "Poet Laureate of Bosque County, Texas" on June 10, 2010. The first Poet Laureate of Bosque County, he will serve for three years as a goodwill ambassador.

The award was presented by Bosque County Judge Cole Word and special guest and past Texas Poet Laureate Steven Fromholz.
Sherrod grew up on the XIT Ranch in Lamb County. He and his wife of 48 years, Sue, have lived in Bosque County since 1984.
See photos from the event here at the BAR-D, where you can also read more about Sherrod Fielden and some of his poetry.
Posted 7/15

The Summer, 2010 issue of The Western Way magazine, the official publication of the Western Music Association (WMA), includes editor Don Cusic's cover story about John Wayne.

Featured inside, there's a report by Tommy Tucker on the performances of Wylie & the Wild West and Paul Zarzyski with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra; a report on the Festival of the West by William Merritt; a Michael Martin Murphey concert review by William Merritt; and tributes remembering Lee Thompson by Rick Huff and Voleta Hummel.

Other features include Rick Huff's reviews of Western music and cowboy poetry recordings; Western playlists compiled by Marvin O'Dell from reports by Western DJ's for Western swing, Cowboy/Western music, and cowboy poetry (the top three cowboy poetry CDs, in order, are listed as Cowboy Poet, Larry McWhorter; Yvonne Hollenbeck's Sorting Time, and CowboyPoetry.com's The BAR-D Roundup, Volume Five).

The magazine also includes O. J. Sikes' regular column and his reviews of Western music recordings and books of historical interest; Rick Huff's Western Air, which focuses on Western radio (this time about Utah's Cary Hobbs and his "Cary Hobbs Show"); chapter news; and more columns, articles, and display advertising.

The Western Way is a benefit of WMA membership and is available to all for reading at the WMA web site. Subscriptions are also available for non-members, and it is sold at retail outlets.

Posted 7/14

Popular cowboy singer and songwriter Brenn Hill's latest release, Equine, is featured in the August/September, 2010 issue of American Cowboy magazine. Reviewer Charley Engel ("Chuckaroo the Buckaroo" of Calling All Cowboys Radio) writes that Hill "...allows his art to speak honestly about who he is."

See our feature about Brenn Hill here and visit his web site, www.brenhill.com.

Charley Engel also reviews the recent Larry McWhorter, Cowboy Poet CD (see our feature here), Richard Lee Cody and Mary Kaye's Way Out West music CD, and other releases. The magazine includes additional reviews of music, DVDs, and books.

Also featured in the August/September issue are a feature article about the Sons of the Pioneers, "Along the Tumbleweed Trail," by Managing Editor Tom Wilmes; a cover story on actor Tom Selleck, "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" by Editor-in-Chief Philip Armour; and many features and stories including those about horses, gear, ranching, rodeo, travel, history, style, fashion, and events.

Visit the American Cowboy web site for subscription information and web-only features.

Posted 7/13

Top cowboy poet and philosopher Baxter Black's most recent On the Edge of Common Sense column, titled "Cowboy Yoga" involves North Dakota rancher, writer, and poet Rodney Nelson. (Only Baxter and Rodney can separate the truth from the fiction.)

Read the column here on Baxter's web site.

Baxter Black has a recent book, The Back Page, which collects his columns that appear on the back page of each issue of Western Horseman.

Read more about Baxter and some of his poetry in our feature here and visit his web site, www.baxterblack.com.

[Thanks to Yvonne Hollenbeck for the link; photo courtesy www.baxterblack.com]

Posted 7/12

Popular South Dakota rodeo announcer and radio personality Jim Thompson provides recitations of classic cowboy poetry for presentation on Mid-Rivers Communications television. Mid-Rivers Cable Television is the largest Montana-owned video provider.
The ten-minute weekly cowboy poetry segments will run on Mid-Rivers' over two-dozen Montana outlets. The first segments, which debut in July, feature poems by Badger Clark and Bruce Kiskaddon.
Jim Thompson's daily radio show, Live! with Jim Thompson, from Creative Broadcast Services, Inc. in Spearfish, South Dakota, often features cowboy poetry and cowboy poets. Slim McNaught is the show's "poet lariat."
Jim Thompson recites Arthur Chapman's "Out Where the West Begins" on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Two and S. Omar Barker's "He'll Do" on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Five.
See our feature on the Live! with Jim Thompson show here.

Visit the Live! with Jim Thompson show web site,www.livewithjt.com, where you can tune into the daily broadcast on the web and listen to archived shows.

Posted 7/8

A July 4, 2010 article by Jake Sorich about top performers and collaborators Wylie Gustafson of Wylie & the Wild West and Paul Zarzyski, "Montana poet, singer earn tip of the hat from Western Writers" appears in Montana's Great Falls Tribune.
The two are recipients of 2010 Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America, and the awards were presented at the organization's recent annual meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Best Western Poem award was given to Paul Zarzyski for "Bob Dylan Bronc Song," and they were jointly awarded Best Western Song for their collaboration, "Hang-n-Rattle," from the CD, Hang-n-Rattle.
Jake Sorich quotes Wylie Gustafson, "When I decided I was going to be a cowboy singer, I came to terms that I had a very good chance of being ignored by popular culture, for the most part, for singing about the life that really meant a lot to me, but maybe not to so many other people, so for an organization to recognize us in that genre — it's huge."
Read the article here.
Read more about Wylie Gustafson in our feature here and visit his web site, www.wyliewbsite.com.
Read more about Paul Zarzyski in our feature here and visit his web site, www.paulzarzyski.com.
[photo by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]
Posted 7/7

United Kingdom journalist Andrew Mueller writes about his experience at the Western Folklife Center's 2010 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in a long and lively article, "Nevada's Cult of the Cowboy" published July 3, 2010 in The Guardian.
Mueller comments, "...these people in hats, boots, pristine jeans and radiantly decorated shirts are not in fancy dress: these are their town clothes. And this is their music, straightforward and heartfelt, with fathoms of wisdom and humour likely to be lost on anyone who can't or won't see past the surface."
Read the article here.
[2010 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering poster image by Jim Harrison, Gainesville, Florida; www.meta-visual.com]
Posted 7/7

Montana rancher, poet, and writer Gwen Petersen's poem, "Magnet Therapy or: May The Force Be With You," is the "poem of the week" featured at the Cowboys & Indians magazine web site. Read the poem here.

The magazine welcomes submissions, which are posted weekly on their web site. They instruct, "To submit your poem, send to mail@cowboysindians.com with 'poetry' as the subject."

The author of several books, Gwen Petersen also writes "In a Sow's Ear," a column that appears regularly in The Fence Post. See the most recent column here.

Read more about Gwen in our feature here.

[photo by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 7/5

The June, 2010 issue of Joe Baker's Backforty Bunkhouse e-newsletter, edited by Totsie Slover of The Real West from the Old West radio is available. The extensive newsletter—with a growing list of more than 700 subscribers—includes reviews, opinion pieces, articles, event reports, news, and more. You can read the entire issue at the Backforty Bunkhouse, where you can subscribe and also read back issues.

In the current issue, there are commentaries and radio charts and playlists of Western music and cowboy poetry from many disc jockeys; Joe Baker's report about the Wanda Faye Day celebration; Tommy Tucker's's report from the Spirit of the West gathering; Jim Gough's "News from BobWills.com"; Jeri Dobrowski's Cowboy Jam Session column, this time, "Honoring Family and Western Heritage"; Cade Schalla's Cades Cadence column, this time, "Faith Outweighs Evidence"; Julie Carter's Cowgirl Sass and Savvy column, this time "Growing Old with Willie Nelson"; the CowboyPoetry.com column (this time featuring Al "Doc" Mehl; Jack Blanchard's column; Bob Rohan's Buffalo Gals cartoon, Rhonda Craig's From the Messenger column, and much more.

Missouri cowboy poet, humorist, and writer Jerry Schleicher's article, "Birth of America's Breadbasket," appears in the July/August, 2010 issue of Grit magazine.

Jerry comments, "It's the story of the Homestead Act, which made it possible for hundreds of thousands of Americans and immigrants to settle frontier America. About 93 million Americans living today are the descendants of those homesteaders, including my wife, Pam, and me."

Read the article at the Grit web site here.

The July/August issue of Grit's companion magazine, Cappers, also includes Jerry's article about Missouri cowboy preacher and musician Steven Spalding, "Serving Up Rural Religion."

Jerry is a regular contributor to Grit and other publications.

Read more about Jerry and find some of his poetry here at the BAR-D.

Updated 7/22

Poet and rancher Paul Kern took part in a 150th anniversary Pony Express Re-Ride in Utah on June 13, 2010. Find an article about the event here and an accompanying gallery (with a great photo of Paul) at the Salt Lake Tribune web site.

Paul is a member of the National Pony Express Association , and he comments, "Along the trail there has been plenty of cowboy poetry and music as the re-riders, family and friends kick up their heels along the way."

Read more about Paul Kern and some of his poetry here at the BAR-D and visit his interesting site, www.paulkern.com.

Posted 6/17

Eight-year-old poet, songwriter, yodeler, singer, musician, and ranch gal Cora Wood stars in a public service announcement for Wyoming's 8th Annual Grand Encampment Cowboy Gathering (July 16, 17, and 18, 2010). Listen to the PSA here at the gathering's web site.

Cora is also featured in a recent special Western Horseman video presentation, "Cowgirl Songs & Stories," created by Senior Editor Jennifer Denison.
Cora Wood made her first invited appearance at the the Western Folklife Center's 26th Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada in January, 2010. One session was captured in a video, "Carry it Forward," at YouTube featuring Cora and other young performers Adrian and Brigid Reedy, along with Wylie Gustafson of Wylie & the Wild West, Liz Masterson, John Reedy, and Laurie Wood.

Find some photos of Cora working cows here in Picture the West. Cora's recent CD is Cora's Cowgirl Yodel. The CD includes seven songs (including the title cut, which Cora co-wrote with Paul Harris) and three poems. See the entire track list here.

Read some of Cora's poems and more about her here at the BAR-D and visit her web site, www.woodwesternmusic.com, which includes audio and video clips.

Posted 6/16

Montana ranch hand, poet, and songwriter DW Groethe has been invited to appear at the Great Lakes Folk Festival, August 13-15, 2010 in East Lansing, Michigan. The Great Lakes Folk Festival is produced by the Michigan Traditional Arts Program at the Michigan State University Museum. Wylie & the Wild West and the Quebe Sisters are among the Western and cowboy performers who have appeared previously at the Great Lakes Folk Festival. Read more here about DW Groethe's appearance, at the event web site.
DW Groethe has performed twice at the National Folk Festival, and is a frequent performer at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and other events. He has also performed at the Library of Congress and The Kennedy Center.
DW has been featured on each volume of The BAR-D Roundup. His book, West River Waltz, received the Will Rogers Medallion Award, and he also has chapbooks and several CDs of music and poetry.
Read more about DW Groethe and a selection of his poetry and lyrics in our feature here.
[photo by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 6/9

The Spring, 2010 issue of Persimmon Hill magazine, with a focus on the state of Utah, feature's Jeri Dobrowski's extensive article, "Kanab, Utah's Love Affair with the Western Movies." The illustrated article explores the history of the film industry in Utah and highlights the annual Western Legends Roundup and Film Festival, held each August in Kanab.

Since 1970, the award-winning Persimmon Hill magazine has been the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum's flagship publication.

Jeri Dobrowski is an award-winning writer and photographer with works appearing in publications nationwide. Among others, she has had feature and cover articles and photos in American Cowboy, Cowboy Magazine. Country Woman, Grit, True West, and other publications. Her monthly column, Cowboy Jam Session: Western Culture News & Reviews, appears at CowboyPoetry.com and is a regular feature of the Tri-State Livestock News and other publications.

Visit her photography web site, www.jeridobrowski.com, which includes a popular gallery of Western entertainers and personalities and an archive of published articles.

Posted 6/8

Songwriter, yodeler, and musician Wylie Gustafson of Wylie & the Wild West, cowboy poet Dennis Gaines, and others are featured in a new book, The Passion for Horses & Artistic Talent: An Unrecognized Connection by popular veterinarian, author, and cartoonist Robert V. Miller. From the book's description:

There may be a genetic connection in those people who have an overwhelming devotion to horses—the kind that leads them to make horses a central theme in their lives—and artistry. Through countless interviews with passionate horse people, Dr. Miller discovered that virtually all are also creative artists. Their talents are expressed in music, painting, drawing, sculpting, and dance most commonly. Others are skilled in woodcarving, leather-work, ironwork, poetry, prose, design and almost every other conceivable art form. Commonly these horse people are talented in several of these arts. This book explains the connection, gives numerous examples and explores the mystique of the role horses play in so many lives. Included are chapters on the working cowboy—what keeps these underpaid, highly skilled people in their arduous and risky occupation? It is the horse, and the book explains the huge popularity of cowboy poetry and Western art.

Read much more at the book's web site at www.thepassionforhorses.com. Among the many others included in the book are cowboy poet and singer Butch Martin; cowboy, clinician, and trainer Buster McLaury; and cartoonist Bonnie Shields.
Read more about Dennis Gaines in our feature here.
Read more about Wylie Gustafson in our feature here and visit his web site, www.wyliewbsite.com.
[photo of Wylie Gustafson by Ross Hecox; photo of Dennis Gaines by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]
Posted 6/7

Sherrod Fielden has been named "Poet Laureate of Bosque County, Texas." The first Poet Laureate of Bosque County, he will serve for three years as a goodwill ambassador.

There will be a reception honoring Sherrod and his wife Sue, on June 10, 2010, at 7 p.m., at the Bosque County Collection building in Meridian. The award will be presented by Bosque County Judge Cole Word and special guest and past Texas Poet Laureate Steven Fromholz. Sherrod will recite some of his poetry.
Read more about Sherrod Fielden and some of his poetry here.
Posted 6/7

The May/June 2010 issue of Rope Burns ("serving the Cowboy Entertainment and Trade Industry") includes:

Jack Hummel's front-page article and photos from the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival

Les Buffham's front-page article from the Cochise Cowboy Poetry & Music Gathering

Smoke Wade's report from the 7th Annual Columbia River Cowboy Gathering

Susan Parker's report from the Sixth Annual Lee Earl Memorial Scholarship Cowboy Gathering

Tommy Tucker's report and photos from the Spirit of the West Gathering

Nika Nordbrock's report from the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering

a version of our report from the Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival, with photos by Paulette Tcherkassky

reports (without bylines) from the Missouri Cowboy Poets Gathering and the Genoa Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival

Rick Huff's "Best of the West" poetry and music reviews

O.J. Sikes' reviews and commentary in his "The OJ Corral" column

a version of the regular BAR-D column, this time featuring events and Slim McNaught and Rodney Nelson

"Short Horses," a poem by Joe Green and Les Buffham with an illustration by A-10 Etchevery

Jerry Schleicher's column about cowboy churches

more articles and reports and founding publisher Bobby Newton's "Kicking Around!" column, "Mad Jack" Hanks' column, Dr. David Carlton's "Hey Doc" column, and Debra Coppinger Hill's "Riding Drag" column

and a product showplace, gathering announcements, memorials, articles, music charts, pages of "FYI" news, display ads, and event listings.

For Rope Burns subscriptions, contact: Legacy Media/Rope Burns, PO Box 92575, Albuquerque, NM 87109; www.legacyontheweb.com; a free on-line subscription is available.
Updated 6/7

Top reciter Jerry Brooks has been invited to perform at the 72nd National Folk Festival in Butte, Montana (July 9-11, 2010). She'll be a part of the Montana Folklife Area, reciting mining poetry. "Brooksie" worked many years as a coal miner. Musicians, artisans, and others will be a part of demonstrations, displays, exhibits, performances and narrative presentations that will explore "the theme of Western Crossroads, Where the Wild West married the Industrial Revolution." Find more about the Montana Folklife Area at the National Folk Festival here.

In 2009, cowboy poets and Western musicians at the festival included Wylie Gustafson (and his cutting horse, Whiskey), Randy Rieman, Henry Real Bird, Jim Brooks, DW Groethe, Paul Zarzyski and Sandy Seaton Sallee. See our report with photos from the 2009 event here.

A frequently invited performer at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and other events across the West, Jerry Brooks has a new CD of recitations of cowboy poetry and Australian bush poetry, Shoulder to Shoulder. Read more about it and see Rick Huff's review here.

Jessica Brandi Lifland (www.jessicalifland.com), the official photographer for the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, has been working on a project documenting the lives of cowboy poets. Her photoblog includes images of Jerry Brooks and others.

See our feature about Jerry Brooks here.

[photo by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 6/1

Colorado cowboy poet, songwriter and musician Al "Doc" Mehl's poem, "Graduation," is included in the Summer, 2010 Rattle poetry journal, in a special "Tribute to Humor" issue. The widely read popular journal states its editorial vision: "Rattle's simple mission is to support the love of accessible, memorable poetry." Read more about Rattle at the magazine's web site and about the "Tribute to Humor" here on the site.
Find more about Al "Doc" Mehl and some of his poetry here at CowboyPoetry.com.
The Winter, 2008 Rattle issue celebrated "the poetry of the Western range" with works by 24 cowboy and Western poets, including J.V. Brummels, Thea Gavin, D.W. Groethe, Al "Doc" Mehl, Rod Miller, Red Shuttleworth, Jeff Streeby, Larry D. Thomas, and Paul Zarzyski.

Rod Miller's introductory essay in the special cowboy and Western poetry issue, "A Brief Introduction to Cowboy Poetry, or, Who's the Guy in the Big Hat and What is He Talking About?" is here at the Rattle web site and here at CowboyPoetry.com. Read more about the cowboy and Western poetry issue here at CowboyPoetry.com and here at the Rattle web site.

Posted 5/27

The May, 2010 issue of Joe Baker's Backforty Bunkhouse e-newsletter, edited by Totsie Slover of The Real West from the Old West radio is available. The extensive newsletter, with a growing list of more than 700 subscribers, includes reviews, opinion pieces, articles, event reports, news, and more. You can read the entire issue at the Backforty Bunkhouse, where you can subscribe and also read back issues.

In the current issue, there are commentaries and radio charts and playlists of Western music and cowboy poetry from many disc jockeys; Totsie Slover's report from the 3rd Annual Tyrone Cowboy Poetry Gathering; Joyce Miller's report from the 12th Annual Cowtown Society of Western Music Swingfest; Jim Gough's "News from BobWills.com"; Jeri Dobrowski's Cowboy Jam Session column; Cade Schalla's Cades Cadence column, this time, "Holding on to America"; Julie Carter's Cowgirl Sass and Savvy column, this time "I Love Them Too"; the CowboyPoetry.com column (this time featuring Rodney Nelson); Rick Huff's Best of the West Reviews; Jack Blanchard's column; and more.

Each newsletter also includes other articles, reviews, press releases, event announcements, "empty saddles" tributes, and display ads.
Submissions are welcome. Email Totsie Slover bbnewslettereditor@gmail.com or contact Joe Baker, joe@backfortybunkhouse.com.

The Backforty Bunkhouse e-newsletter received the 2009 Publication of the Year Award from The Cowtown Society of Western Music. Read more about the Backforty Bunkhouse in our feature here and visit the Backforty Bunkhouse web site.

Posted 5/26

Popular Wyoming poet, writer, emcee and radio co-host Andy Nelson narrates an impressive travel film for Sublette County, created by the Sublette County Chamber of Commerce. View the entire film here.

Andy is a frequent performer at Western events, and he and his brother Jim co-host the weekly syndicated Clear Out West (C.O.W.) radio show, which you can hear on demand on the internet.

Andy honors his family's generations of cowboys and farriers in his newest book, Riding with Jim, which include his stories and poetry along with stories written by his father James F. Walker Nelson, all complemented by vintage photographs and top illustrator Bonnie Shields' drawings.

Read more about Andy in our feature here. Visit his web site for more: www.cowpokepoet.com.

[photo by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 5/25

The Western Folklife Center has a series of blogs relating to John Lomax (1867-1948), the first folklorist to record cowboy songs. Founding Director Hal Cannon's most recent entry, "Visiting Ella Gant McBride," is a moving account of his meeting with the folksinger.
The WFC describes the blogs:

Follow along as Hal Cannon and Taki Telonidis of Western Folklife Center Media take to the roads of Texas and Louisiana on the trail of cowboy song collector John Lomax. Together with folklorist Steve Zeitlin of CityLore in New York City, Hal and Taki are working on a story for National Public Radio for the 100th anniversary of the publishing of Lomax's first collection...

Find the blogs here.

Posted 5/20

The Summer, 2010 issue of RANGE magazine includes a feature story on Florida cowboys, written by Carlton Ward Jr. and accompanied by his striking photography. Cowboy and poet Doyle Rigdon is among those pictured. (Florida and Louisiana cowboys, artists, poets, and musicians were featured at the 2010 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.)

Find more about the contents of the Summer 2010 issue of RANGE at the magazine's web site, where there are selected articles from the current issue and from many back issues.

[2010 photo of Doyle Rigdon by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 5/20

The story, "To Die For," by poet, writer, and songwriter Susan Matley (writing as "S.D. Matley") appears in a new Australian anthology, Dark Pages, published by Blade Red Press. She comments, "It’s an honor to be included in this anthology of fourteen dark speculative stories by authors from all over the world." Find information about the book here at Amazon and at the Blade Red Press web site.

Susan Matley is half of the popular duo Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue (www.nevadaslim.com). They have a recent CD, Westerners.

Read some of Susan Matley's poetry and more about the recent CD here at the BAR-D.

Posted 5/20

Montana poet, songwriter and musician Almeda Terry has been invited to the Esplanade Archives in Medicine Hat, Alberta, to present a September 16, 2010 program based on the work of poet Rhoda Sivell (1874-1962). The Esplanade Archives hold material about Rhoda Sivell, including a brief recording of her speaking, which you can listen to here.

Almeda Terry recently released Voices from the Range, on which she sings her musical arrangements of poems by Rhoda Sivell. Find more information here at CowboyPoetry.com and at Almeda Terry's web site, www.almedam2bmusic.com.

Posted 5/19

There's a new newsletter at the British Columbia Cowboy Heritage Society (BCCHS) web site with news, reviews, reports, articles, photos, poetry, information, reports from this year's 14th Annual Kamloops Cowboy Festival (next year, the fifteenth annual event will be held March 10th - 13th, 2011), and more.

Find the newsletter here and many other features at the BCCHS web site.

Posted 5/18

Mike Puhallo sent a report and photo from the unveiling of a life-sized bronze statue of rodeo legend Kenny McLean on May 8, 2010:

The life-sized bronze statue of McLean on the great bucking horse Warpaint was unveiled in his home town of Okanagan Falls May 8, 2010 in front of a large crowd of; family, friends and admirers. Kenny McLean was world champion saddle bronc rider in 1962 and won a total of fourteen major titles in his professional career. He won his first buckle in 1956 at the age of seventeen and forty-five years later won the world senior pro calf roping championship. Kenny was the first cowboy ever to be inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 1974 and in 1976 he received the Order Of Canada. He has been inducted into the; Canadian Rodeo Hall of Fame, The BC Cowboys Hall of Fame and the National Cowboys Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.

In addition to being one of Canada’s greatest rodeo athletes of all time Kenny was also a mentor to several generations of rodeo cowboys. He was a gifted horse trainer and teacher and a tremendous ambassador for Canada and the Sport of Rodeo.

Kenny was on his rope horse waiting to compete at a senior pro rodeo in Taber Alberta July 13, 2002 when he suffered a major heart attack and passed away. He was 63 years old.

Family and friends who gathered to watch the unveiling of his memorial agreed that the life-sized statue created by BC bronze artist Lois Hannah was indeed a fitting tribute to a truly legendary cowboy.

The photo belows Shows Bill Schawrz, local Regional district representative and chair of the Kenny McLean Memmorial Committee , BC Tourism Minister Kevin Krueger and Federal cabinet Minister Stockwell Day:

Previously, Mike sent information about the statue and the event:

Statue of Legendary Canadian Cowboy to be Unveiled

At 11:00 AM on Saturday May 8, 2010, a life-size bronze statue of Kenny McLean will be unveiled at Centennial Park in Okanagan Falls British Columbia.

Kenny McLean was born May 17, 1939 in Penticton and resided in Okanagan Falls. He started breaking colts for his dad when he was just 12 years old and went on to rodeo competitions at the age of 17. He won 14 Canadian Championships and in 1962 was the World Saddle Bronc Champion. He was inducted into the Canadian Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame and was the first rodeo cowboy to be inducted in the BC Sports Hall of Fame. He also receive Canada’s’ highest honor, the Order of Canada, the only cowboy to ever receive such an honor. During his life he sponsored and ran rodeo schools, particularly for the young, training many future champions and many champions returned time after time to improve their skills at the sport. He encouraged young competitor’s right up until he passed away on July 13, 2002.

This lasting tribute to a great Canadian rodeo athlete is being funded by public support and through the sale of a limited edition of 100 replica bronzes created by Lois Hannah and 100 limited edition prints by world renowned first nations artist Roy Henry Vickers.

The life size monument and 18” limited editions were created by Lois Hannah (www.loishannah.com ). Lois is a talented sculptor who has exhibited at major shows throughout North America including the Calgary Stampede, whose work can be found in private collections around the world. The spectacular bronze statue and replicas created by Lois depict Kenny McLean on the great bronc War Paint.

Find more information at www.kennymcleanbronze.com or contact Mike Puhallo, mike@mikepuhallo.com; 888-763-2224; www.mikepuhallo.com.

Updated 5/10

Top songwriter, writer, and artist Tom Russell has fifteen new paintings on display at Yard Dog Austin, in a show called "Beats and Boxers." See the paintings here, which include images of "Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassidy, Burroughs in Tangier, Ferlinghetti.... Zarzyski... and other boxers..."

Find more about Tom Russell at his web site, www.tomrussell.com.

[photo by Trisha Pedroia]

Posted 5/7

Missouri cowboy poet, humorist, and writer Jerry Schleicher's article, "Potato Use: All About America's Favorite Vegetable," appears in the May/June, 2010 issue of Grit magazine. Jerry is a regular contributor to Grit and other publications.

The article points out, "Potato use is always high in America. They have a storied history, and, unlike apples, Americans actually do eat one potato a day." Read the article at the Grit web site here.

Jerry's been facing some serious health challenges. Read an update here.

Read more about Jerry and find some of his poetry here at the BAR-D.

Posted 5/5

The April, 2010 issue of Joe Baker's Backforty Bunkhouse e-newsletter, edited by Totsie Slover of The Real West from the Old West radio is available. The extensive newsletter, with a growing list of more than 700 subscribers, includes reviews, opinion pieces, articles, event reports, news, and more. You can read the entire issue at the Backforty Bunkhouse, where you can subscribe and also read back issues.

In the current issue, there are commentaries and radio charts and playlists of Western music and cowboy poetry from many disc jockeys; Dugg Collins' article, "Ray Price, The Cherokee Cowboy"; Jim Gough's "News from BobWills.com"; Susan Parker's "Not Just Another Writing Workshop" report from Elko; Jeri Dobrowski's Cowboy Jam Session column, this time "In the Mood for Spring"; Cade Schalla's Cades Cadence column, this time a poem, "Beef It's What for Dinner"; Julie Carter's Cowgirl Sass and Savvy column, this time "The Civilizing of Taco"; Rhonda Craig's From the Messenger Western Swing column; the CowboyPoetry.com column (this time featuring Slim McNaught); Rick Huff's Best of the West Reviews; Jack Blanchard's column; and more.

The Spring, 2010 issue of The Western Way magazine, the official publication of the Western Music Association (WMA), includes an extensive cover story about Ray Price.

Inside, there's a tribute by Ranger Doug (Doug Green) of Riders in the Sky about songwriter, Western music historian, and author Bill Jacobson; Rick Huff's tribute to Curly Musgrave; and an article by Peggy Malone, "Reminiscence."

Other features include Rick Huff's reviews of Western music and cowboy poetry recordings; Western playlists compiled by Marvin O'Dell from reports by Western DJ's for Western swing, and Cowboy/Western music, and cowboy poetry (the top three cowboy poetry CDs, in order, are listed as Doris Daley's Beneath a Western Sky, Waddie Mitchell's That No Quit Attitude, and CowboyPoetry.com's The BAR-D Roundup, Volume Two (2007)). The magazine also includes O. J. Sikes' regular column and his reviews of Western music recordings and books of historical interest; Rick Huff's Western Air, which focuses on Western radio (this time about Doc Stovall and his Cowboy Campfire show); and more columns, articles, and display advertising.

The Western Way is a benefit of WMA membership and is available to all for reading at the WMA web site. Subscriptions are also available for non-members, and it is sold at retail outlets.

Posted 4/29

An April 21, 2010 article about Wylie Gustafson of Wylie & the Wild West, "No Country for This Man," by Dave Maass, appears in the Pacific Northwest Inlander.

Wylie points out what distinguishes cowboy music from country music, “Our music is cowboy music, which relies heavily on the lyrics and the reflection of this wonderful land of the West...Country music—that’s something from Nashville that, to me, sounds like bad ’70s rock ‘n’ roll.”

Wylie Gustafson and Paul Zarzyski are performing with the Spokane Symphony on Saturday, April 24. The two are recipients of 2010 Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America. The Best Western Poem award was given to Paul Zarzyski for ""Bob Dylan Bronc Song," and the two were awarded Best Western Song for their collaboration, "Hang-n-Rattle," from the CD, Hang-n-Rattle. Hang-n-Rattle also received the 2009 Western Music Association Best Western Swing Album Award.

Read more about Wylie Gustafson in our feature here and visit his web site, www.wyliewbsite.com.

Posted 4/22

The Western Folklife Center has a series of blogs relating to John Lomax (1867-1948), the first folklorist to record cowboy songs. From the WFC description:

Follow along as Hal Cannon and Taki Telonidis of Western Folklife Center Media take to the roads of Texas and Louisiana on the trail of cowboy song collector John Lomax. Together with folklorist Steve Zeitlin of CityLore in New York City, Hal and Taki are working on a story for National Public Radio for the 100th anniversary of the publishing of Lomax's first collection...

Find a complete digitized copy of Lomax's 1910 Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads here.

Find the blogs here.

Posted 4/22

Popular South Dakota award-winning radio and rodeo broadcaster Jim Thompson (Live! with Jim Thompson!) is complimented in the Editor's Notebook at South Dakota Magazine in an April 21, 2010 entry. John Andrews writes, in part, "I love listening to Jim Thompson. He could read the small print on my retirement plan documents make it sound great. I still wouldn't understand it, but I'd enjoy listening..."

Read the complete entry here.

Live! with Jim Thompson, airs every weekday at 1:00 PM (MT) on over 50 radio stations and live on the web. Read more in our feature here and visit www.livewithjt.com.

Jim Thompson recites S. Omar Barker's "He'll Do!" on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume 5.

Posted 4/21

Texas writer and poet Linda Kirkpatrick has a new addition to her regular Somewhere in the West column at Texas Escapes, an online magazine of Texas travel and history.

In the newest column she takes readers back to 1836 and tells the story of "The Mysterious Yellow Rose of Texas."

Linda Kirkpatrick's most recent CD is Beneath a Western Sky. Her poem, "When Roundup Time Comes 'Round," is on the first edition of The BAR-D Roundup. Her recitation of Bruce Kiskaddon's "The Broncho Twister's Prayer is on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Two, and her poem, "The Ranger," is included on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four. She has another recitation on the forthcoming edition of The BAR-D Roundup.

Read more about her and her poetry in our feature here.

[photo of Linda Kirkpatrick by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 4/5

Some of the poets who were featured in the Winter, 2009 issue of the widely-read poetry journal, RATTLE, joined Editor Timothy Green in two sessions at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs 2010 Annual Conference & Bookfair, April 7-10, 2010 in Denver, Colorado.

You can listen to audio from one of those sessions, including J.V. Brummels, David Romtvedt, Joshua Doleza, Thea Gavin, Donald Williams, and others here in posts by Todd B. Stevens. You can page through the posts to hear the multiple recordings.

The Winter, 2008 RATTLE issue "celebrates the poetry of the Western range" with work by 24 cowboy and Western poets. Among those included are J.V. Brummels, Thea Gavin, D.W. Groethe, Al "Doc" Mehl, Rod Miller, Red Shuttleworth, Jeff Streeby, Larry D. Thomas, and Paul Zarzyski. Read more about it here at CowboyPoetry.com and here at the RATTLE web site.

From the conference schedule:

Stagecoaching for the Page: How to Perform Like a Cowboy. (Timothy Green, J.V. Brummels, Thea Gavin, David Romtvedt, Lisa Lewis, Al "Doc" Mehl) Ask a cowboy poet to give a reading and he'll look at you funny. Cowboy and western poetry isn't read, it's performed-at events that are entertaining enough to draw thousands of fans to the Nevada desert every year. Meanwhile, mainstream poetry languishes on the page. Learn how to put the buck in your bard, as five cowboy and western poets discuss the tricks of the trade-from roping recitation to commanding the stage. Moderated by the editor of Rattle's recent Cowboy and Western Poetry issue.
A Rattle Reading: Cowboy & Western Poetry. (Jeff Streeby, J.V. Brummels, J.V. Brummels, Lisa Lewis, David Romtvedt, Joshua Dolezal) The image of the cowboy has long been mythologized, and so, too, has the image of the cowboy poem. Modern cowboy and western poetry is as complicated and eclectic as the modern cowboy—there are plenty of appearances by cattle and corrals, but topics range from love and politics to ecology and philosophy. And while some of the poems speak in meter and rhyme, plenty of others roam wild and free. Six diverse poets from Rattle's Tribute to Cowboy and Western Poetry perform their work.

Updated 4/21

"Oregon cowboys face a tough new adversary: unemployment," a March 27, 2010 article by Richard Cockle in The Oregonian, reports on the economic challenges faced by ranchers and cowboys in eastern Oregon. The article states, "The recession and ranch economics are trampling the job market for cowboys, one of the West's most enduring symbols. Many cowhands are out of work, work for ranches only part time or have left the field altogether."
Cowboys are interviewed about the difficult economy. Cowboy Jason Cunningham comments, "You used to have one job and be able to live on the ranch. Now, that's not enough."
The article is illustrated with impressive photos by Jamie Francis. Facts and charts accompany the article, showing the dramatic drop in prices, production, and wages in recent years.
Find the entire article here.
Posted 3/31

Top cowgirl poet and South Dakota ranch wife Yvonne Hollenbeck is featured in a Dakota Life television segment from South Dakota Public Broadcasting that's airing on RFD-TV.

The program shows her at work on the ranch and at home, and she recites some of her poetry. You can view the complete program here at the South Dakota Public Broadcasting web site.

Yvonne Hollenbeck has a new CD, Sorting Time.

See our feature about Yvonne Hollenbeck here and visit her web site, www.YvonneHollenbeck.com.

Posted 3/30

The March, 2010 issue of Joe Baker's Backforty Bunkhouse e-newsletter, edited by Totsie Slover of The Real West from the Old West radio is available. The extensive newsletter, with a growing list of more than 700 subscribers, includes reviews, opinion pieces, articles, event reports, news, and more. You can read the entire issue at the Backforty Bunkhouse, where you can subscribe and also read back issues.

In the current issue, there are commentaries and radio charts and playlists of Western music and cowboy poetry from many disc jockeys; Dugg Collins' article, "Bobby Koefer—Steel Guitar Legend"; Mike Gross's article, "The Survivors—Heart of Texas Label, Curtis Potter, Tony Booth, and Darrell McCall"; Chris Talbott's article, "Four Inducted Into Country Music Hall of Fame," with a focus on Ferlin Husky; Billie McCallie's commentary about the Saddle Up! at Pigeon Forge event and notes from new releases and from his Cowboy Jubilee Radio Show Jim Gough's news from BobWills.com; Jeri Dobrowski's Cowboy Jam Session column, this time "Alligators and Swamp Cowboys"; Bob Rohan's Buffalo Gals cartoon; Julie Carter's Cowgirl Sass and Savvy column, this time "Maybe It's the Boots and Hat"; Rhonda Craig's From the Messenger Western Swing column; the CowboyPoetry.com column (with Cowboy Poetry Week information and featuring Linda Kirkpatrick, who recites Bruce Kiskaddon's "The Creak of the Leather" on the forthcoming CD, The BAR-D Roundup: Volume 5; Rick Huff's Best of the West Reviews; the National Cutting Horse Association Newsletter; Jack Blanchard's column; and more.

Each newsletter also includes other articles, reviews, event announcements, "empty saddles" tributes, and display ads.
Submissions are welcome. Email Totsie Slover bbnewslettereditor@gmail.com or contact Joe Baker, joe@backfortybunkhouse.com.

The Backforty Bunkhouse e-newsletter received the 2009 Publication of the Year Award from The Cowtown Society of Western Music.Read more about the Backforty Bunkhouse in our feature here and visit the Backforty Bunkhouse web site.

Posted 3/23

The March/April 2010 issue of Rope Burns, "serving the Cowboy Entertainment and Trade Industry," includes:

our front-page article about the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering (note the headline should be the "Wide Range," not the "Wild Range" with photos by Jeri Dobrowski

Doris Daley's report from the Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering

Barbara Richhart's report from the Moab Western Stars gathering

Rick Huff's "Best of the West" poetry and music reviews

O.J. Sikes' reviews and commentary in his "The OJ Corral" column

a report about the Heritage of the American West show with Ken Cook and Bob Petermann

a version of the regular BAR-D column, this time featuring Cowboy Poetry Week and S. Omar Barker's poem, "He'll Do!"

Rope Burns' editors' choice: Bobbie Hunter's poem, "Cowboy Cadillac"

Jerry Schleicher's humor column

founding publisher Bobby Newton's "Kicking Around!" column, "Mad Jack" Hanks' column, Dr. David Carlton's "Hey Doc" column, and Debra Coppinger Hill's "Riding Drag" column

additional reports, a product showplace, gathering announcements, memorials, articles, music charts, pages of "FYI" news, display ads, event listings...and more.

Rope Burns' subscriptions are $20 per year in the US: Legacy Media/Rope Burns, PO Box 92575, Albuquerque, NM 87109; www.legacyontheweb.com and a free on-line subscription is available.
Posted 3/23

The National Folk Festival has announced that it will take place in Nashville, Tennessee in 2011, 2012, and 2013. The festival moves every three years; this is its last year in Butte, Montana (July 9-11, 2010).

Last year, cowboy poets and Western musicians at the festival included Wylie Gustafson (and his cutting horse, Whiskey), Randy Rieman, Henry Real Bird, Jim Brooks, DW Groethe, Paul Zarzyski and Sandy Seaton Sallee. See our report with photos from the 2009 event here.

At the current National Folk Festival (Butte) web site, you can see Wylie Gustafson and Whiskey and DW Groethe in the introductory video stream.

[thanks to Jeri Dobrowski for the news]

Posted 3/17

Writer and poet Ken Rodgers' prose and poetry appears in the current issue (Issue 11, Volume 6) of Switchback, a publication of the Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program of the University of San Francisco. Read Ken Rodgers' "On War and Remembrance" here in Switchback.

Ken Rodgers lives, writes and teaches creative writing on-line and on-ground in Boise, Idaho. Read more about him and some of his poetry here at CowboyPoetry.com.
See more of Ken’s writing at www.kennethrodgers.com.

[photo: Betty Rodgers ©2009]

Posted 3/15

Poet Diane Tribitt and singer Belinda Gail have joined together for performances, seminars, and workshops as "Cowgirl True." The collaboration is described, "Our mission is to spiritually uplift our community and work towards a greater good through our inspirational seminars, music and poetry...."

Find more at their web site, www.cowgirltrue.org.

[Belinda Gail image by Kim Wescott Photography]

Posted 3/11

Texas writer and poet Linda Kirkpatrick has a new addition to her regular Somewhere in the West column at Texas Escapes, an online magazine of Texas travel and history.

In the new column, "Remembering Bob Ramsey," she tells about Texas Hill Country rancher, hunter and storyteller Bob Ramsey (1918-2009). She comments, "Bob Ramsey, the storyteller, became a great influence on me at a time when I was totally unaware that it was happening. He was known to many for his skills as an avid hunter and hunting guide, but to me he was a rancher first and a storyteller second. His life was full and I was glad to be a small part of it."

Linda Kirkpatrick's most recent CD is Beneath a Western Sky. Her poem, "When Roundup Time Comes 'Round," is on the first edition of The BAR-D Roundup. Her recitation of Bruce Kiskaddon's "The Broncho Twister's Prayer is on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Two, and her poem, "The Ranger," is included on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four. She has another recitation on the forthcoming edition of The BAR-D Roundup.

Read more about her and her poetry in our feature here.

[photo of Linda Kirkpatrick by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 3/8

An excerpt from Oh, You Cowgirl!, by Shirley Morris (thecowgirlmovie.com)—a soon-to-be-released documentary film about the early rodeo and Wild West show cowgirls—is featured at the Oregon Historical Society. The exhibit is described:

The Oregon Historical Society Exhibit, "Tall In The Saddle, 100 Years of the Pendleton Round-Up," begins March 5 and runs through July 4 in downtown Portland, Oregon at the Brooks Julian Gallery.

A portion of the documentary film, Oh, You Cowgirl! will be featured within the cowgirl exhibit. Vintage film clips of Bertha Blancett, CB Irwin, Vera McGinnis and Mabel Strickland will be featured within the 8-minute clip as well as an interview with Bertha Blancetts' close family friend, Joanna Juaregui Stuart. Joanna describes Bertha as much more than a cowgirl. Bertha was an inspiration who "... grabbed ahold of life and just squeezed it, getting every drop out of it that she could."

Oh, You Cowgirl! tells a compelling and inspiring story about the showgirls and cowgirls, like Bertha, who truly were unsung heroes. Many believe they were here for only a few short years, making little, if any impact on history. This film suggests they had a much broader influence in those few, short years. These women reshaped the American West.

Learn more about the exhibit here at the Oregon Historical Society web site and more about Oh, You Cowgirl! at the film's web site, thecowgirlmovie.com, and on Facebook.

Posted 3/4

Eight-year-old poet, songwriter, yodeler, singer, musician, and ranch gal Cora Wood will appear before a joint session of the Wyoming Legislature on Friday, March 5, 2010. She was invited by her District Representative, Jeb Steward. The proceedings may be broadcast live on the web. Check the link here.

Cora Wood made her first invited appearance at the the Western Folklife Center's 26th Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada in January, 2010. She was featured in a January 4, 2009 article, "Meet Miss Cora Rose Wood" by Candy Moulton in The Fence Post. The warm, in-depth piece tells about Cora's talents and her cowgirl life. Read the Fence Post article here. Read about an earlier New York Post article below.

Find some photos of Cora working cows here in Picture the West.

Cora's recent CD is Cora's Cowgirl Yodel. The CD includes seven songs (including the title cut, which Cora co-wrote with Paul Harris) and three poems. See the entire track list here.

Read some of Cora's poems and more about her here at the BAR-D and visit her web site, www.woodwesternmusic.com, which includes audio and video clips.

Posted 3/3

In an effort initiated and sponsored by the National Day of the Cowboy organization, Western songwriters will participate for a second year in the Tin Pan South songwriter festival in Nashville, Tennessee, held March 30-April 3, 2010. The National Day of the Cowboy organization is sponsoring songwriters Joyce Woodson (California), Jon Chandler (Colorado), Ray Doyle (California) and Michael Martin Murphey (Wisconsin).

National Day of the Cowboy Executive Director Bethany Braley writes, "Promoting the preservation of America's Cowboy and Western heritage requires that we continually expand our audience by reaching out to those who may not be aware of the depth and significance of our Cowboy culture. Expansion requires that we insert ourselves into places and events which are not limited to the relative comfort of the traditional Western circle. Tin Pan South, the world's largest songwriter festival, is a renowned event which presents us with a key opportunity to showcase quality contemporary Western music to a new and broader group of music lovers....
Tin Pan South is dedicated to bringing attention to songwriters and their songs. It does not promote record companies or any other aspect of the music business; only the songs and their creators—Western songwriters deserve to be part of this event..."

The non-profit National Day of the Cowboy organization seeks funds to help defray the songwriters’ travel expenses. Read more here at the National Day of the Cowboy web site.

The next National Day of the Cowboy takes place July 24, 2010.

Posted 3/3

California writer, poet, and horsewoman Janice Gilbertson is featured in a new series of short films, "American Nobodies." You can view the segment here at www.AmericanNobodies.com (click on her image to launch the segment).

The series is described as "a documentary series looking at extraordinary things about ordinary Americans." In the segment about Janice Gilbertson, she is seen with her horses, comments on her involvement in cowboy poetry, and recites her poem "If I the Poet," from her book, Sometimes in the Lucias. (Her poem, "Sometimes in the Lucias," from that book was a 2009 Western Writers of America Spur Award finalist.)

Janice Gilbertson's most recent publication is a chapbook, Riding In.

Janice Gilbertson performs at events across the West, and recently made her third appearance at the Western Folklife Center's 26th Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

Read more about Janice Gilbertson and some of her poetry in our feature here.

[2009 photo by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 3/2

After 62 years in Colorado Springs, Western Horseman magazine has announced it is relocating to Fort Worth, Texas.

A February 24, 2010 article by Andrew Wineke in Colorado Springs' The Gazette reports, "Morris Communications, the magazine’s owner, has several other equine magazines that are based in Fort Worth and Western Horseman’s publisher is located there....Morris Communications bought the publication in 2001. The magazine has a national circulation of about 150,000."

Founded in 1936, the magazine moved to Colorado Springs in 1948. The article tells that the building that housed the magazine "included stables behind the office, where staff and visitors would shelter their steeds."

Along with its features about horsemanship and ranching, Western Horseman includes a "Cowboy Culture" section edited by Jennifer Denison that often includes features of interest about cowboy poetry, Western music, and associated arts.

Read the article here.

Posted 3/2

New Mexico cowboy, poet, and musician Mike Moutoux has a new article at his web site, "Delivering a Song," his commentary about performing. The site includes other articles in his "Cowboy Poetry and Music Notes."

Read one of Mike's poems here at the BAR-D and visit his site, www.enchantingcowboy.com.

Posted 2/25

Nevada writer and poet Dave P. Fisher writes that he and his wife, Kyna, a voice actor, "...are now the voice of Wyoming's Glenrock Bird. We do a 15-minute broadcast filled with news, humor, and fun. Each Sunday is a new broadcast. You can listen here. We also do a four-minute headline broadcast that goes out Monday mornings on Wyoming Country Station 103.7 KOLT."

Wyoming's Glenrock Bird is edited and published by Amanda Smith, who also edits and publishes Open Range magazine, where Dave P. Fisher is a regular columnist.

Read some of Dave P. Fisher's poetry here and visit his web site, www.davepfisher.com.

Posted 2/25

British Columbia cowboy and poet Mike Puhallo was invited to perform at a number of venues at the Vancouver Olympics. A February 19, 2010 article here in the Vancouver Sun, "BC Street in the Richmond O Zone brings the province's communities to the world," quotes Mike about his poetry being "plain and honest" like "the children of the soil—farmers, ranchers and cowboys—whose work is honest toil."

Mike Puhallo's "Meadow Muffins" are syndicated in a number of publications and atthe BCCHS Cowboy Poets' Page and at Cowboylife.com.

Mike is just returned from his first invited appearance at the Western Folklife Center's 26th Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. He was recently named the Male Poet of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists.

Read some of Mike's poetry and more about him in our feature here and visit his web site: www.mikepuhallo.com.

Posted 2/23

Poet and event organizer Smoke Wade and others are mentioned in a February 22, 2010 article about the 4th Annual Cowboy Poetry Hootenanny, which was held in Mesquite, Nevada on February 20, 2010. See the article, "Hootenanny Brings Fun To Rainy Afternoon," here in the Mesquite Local News.

Read some of Smoke Wade's poetry and more about him here at CowboyPoetry.com.

[photo by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 2/23

The Spring, 2010 issue of Range magazine takes on wild horse issues on its cover and in articles by rancher, poet, and Wyoming State Representative Sue Wallis; rancher and poet Rod McQueary (he and Wallis are married); retired Nevada Observer journalist Johnny Gunn; South Dakota Windcross Conservancy founder Lucia Roda; and by editor C.J. Hadley. Find the articles on line at www.rangemagazine.com.

Posted 2/22

A Columbia Chapter of the Western Music Association has been formed by Clark Crouch, Bruce and Sue Matley (Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue), Lauralee Northcott, and others.

In a communication with the group's first newsletter, Clark Crouch writes:

...The Chapter has been approved by WMA and our first meeting and performance venue is scheduled for Sunday, June 13, 2010 at Stevenson, Washington. Come on out for a short business meeting and performance opportunities. A schedule and more details will be forthcoming.

Please submit articles, press releases, and other items of possible interest to our members by email to R.Editor@crouchnet.com...

Bruce Matley adds:

...anyone who is a member of WMA (or wants to be) may join the Columbia Chapter, regardless of domicile. We have 40 charter members, a good start, and intend to have events 4 times per year....

Find the Chapter's web site at Columbiawma.org.

Updated 2/24

Popular songwriter, singer, and musician Kerry Grombacher writes about house concerts in a letter to the editor in the January 31, 2010 edition of the New York Times Book Review.

The letter was in response to a piece about writers' tours. Kerry explains how house concerts are held throughout the folk music community. Read the letter here.

Read some of Kerry's works in our feature here and visit his web site, www.kgrombacher.com.

Posted 2/18

Colorado singer and songwriter Peggy Malone writes about a Catholic priest in a February 14, 2010 article, "Father Val" at The Fence Post. Turning 90 this year (he was ordained 64 years ago), she tells of Father Val, "After retiring as Pastor of the Good Shepherd Church July 1, 2003, and no wish to sit idle, he started volunteering at the four surrounding Indian Reservations: the Salt River Reservation, Gila River Reservation, Ak-Chin Reservation and the San Lucy Reservation." Read the entire article here.
Peggy recently contributed a story and photos about "The Ol' Gully Ranch" to Picture the West and Western Memories here at CowboyPoetry.com.

Posted 2/18

Missouri cowboy poet, humorist, and writer Jerry Schleicher's article, "In Praise of Cattle" appears in the March/April, 2010 issue of Grit magazine.

Jerry comments on his " ode to the bovine population," writing, "The West, in fact no part of rural America, would be the same without the 100 million head of cattle grazing in pastures and cornstalk fields, standing in line at milking parlors, or fattening in feedlots." Read the article at the Grit web site here .

Read more about Jerry and find some of his poetry here at the BAR-D.

Posted 2/18

CowboyLegacy.org editor Diane Tribitt announces two new stories recently added to the webzine:

A feature about 88-year-old cowboy, rancher, and poet, Georgie Sicking, who is also a National Cowgirl Hall of Fame honoree. The article includes a recent article from the Elko Daily Free Press, American Folk's 1992 interview, and a video trailer of her fabulous DVD Ranchin' & Rhymin'...

An article about the recipients of the 2009 Cowboy Keeper Award from the National Day of the Cowboy.

CowboyLegacy.org is a site for Western enthusiasts, "bringing you online art and artists; poetry and poets; Western shopping; editorials; photography; vet, health and poetry columnists; a cooking and recipe section; book, CD, and DVD reviews; and, of course, articles about cowboys and cowgirls. We love telling you who these folks are, where they are, what they do, and why they do it."

Visit the site at www.CowboyLegacy.org.

Posted 2/18

Horsewoman, cowgirl, poet, writer and editor Virginia Bennett's poem, "The Lion," is featured in a new book, Cougar, Ecology and Conservation by Maurice Hornocker et al. The book is a scholarly compendium by twenty-two cougar authorities and Virginia Bennett's poem is the only poem to appear in the book, across from the title page. Read more about the book at Amazon and at the publisher's web site, The University of Chicago Press.

"The Lion" was also collected in Cowboy Poetry Matters and is included in Virginia Bennett's most recent collection, In the Company of Horses. She recites her poetry on each of the first two volumes of The BAR-D Roundup.

Virginia Bennett was seriously injured five years ago in a horse accident. Her voice is missed on gathering stages, but she stays in touch with friends and her books remain available.

See our feature here and visit www.bennettspurs.com for more about Virginia Bennett's poetry (and husband Pete's spurs).

Posted 2/17

Jeff Hildebrandt, poet and Director of On Air Promotion for Encore Westerns, is featured in the March, 2010 issue of True West magazine, in the regular "What History Has Taught Me" feature on the magazine's back page. He talks about his work at the Westerns Channel, Western stars, performing his poetry at the Great Wall of China and Carnegie Hall, and more.

Among others who have been featured in "What History Has Taught Me" are Western songwriters R.W. Hampton, Brenn Hill, Fred Labour ("Too Slim" of Riders in the Sky), and Mike Blakely; Western artists Buckeye Blake, Gary Ernest Smith, and Thom Ross; and writers, historians, gear makers, horsemen, and others. View many of the past stories here on the True West web site.

In 2008, Jeff Hildebrandt received the prestigious Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, in the Best Factual Narrative category for the 100 Years of John Wayne special he produced for Encore Westerns.

Read more about him and more of his poetry here at the BAR-D.

Posted 2/17

Historian and musician Mark Gardner's new book, To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West is featured in a February 4, 2010 article, Devil in the details, by Jill Thomas in the Colorado Springs Independent.

The article tells about how the book came to be and about Mark Gardner's research and revelations in the process. Read the article here.

You can listen to several recent radio interviews about the book:

Peter Boyles Show, KHOW Denver (February 11, 8 a.m.; also available on Mark Gardner's web site, www.songsofthewest.com)

Santa Fe Radio Cafe (February 16)

Performance New Mexico, KUNM, Albuquerque/Santa Fe (February 17 program)

An appearance recorded at Denver's celebrated Tattered Cover independent bookstore will be broadcast on C-SPAN's Book TV on Saturday, December 20, at 10:30 AM (MT). Mark describes the event, "For this appearance, I performed the music of Billy the Kid: songs he is known to have liked and danced to, as well as songs later written about him. Rex Rideout accompanied me for the program. It concludes with a Q&A with the audience."

Read more about To Hell on a Fast Horse in our news here; you can follow the book tour here at Mark Gardner's web site.

Mark L. Gardner is the author of many books, including Jack Thorp's Songs of the Cowboys (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2005). See our feature about that book and its accompanying CD, here.

Find more about Mark L. Gardner at his web site, www.songofthewest.com.

[photo of Mark L. Gardner by Steve Butler]

Updated 2/18

A photograph by Lori Faith Merritt (www.photographybyfaith.com)—known to many through the photographs she takes at cowboy poetry and music gatheringswas selected as the top photograph from over 800 submissions in the Horse and Rider Photo Contest by Anne West. Find the image and others here on Facebook.

Lori Faith Merritt's winning photograph, called "The Cowboy and the Grey," pictures cowboy and poet Georgie Sicking. That image appears on Georgie Sicking's page of poetry here at CowboyPoetry.com.
Another photograph from the same shoot featured Georgie Sicking and Minnesota cowboy and rancher Sam Scott (fiancé of poet Diane Tribitt). It was featured in a recent Art Spur at CowboyPoetry.com.
Find more in an item below about an article at CowboyLegacy.org.
[photograph of Lori Faith Merritt by Jack Dunn]

Posted and updated 2/8

There's a new newsletter at the British Columbia Cowboy Heritage Society (BCCHS) web site with news, reviews, reports, articles, photos, poetry, information about the 14th annual Kamloops Cowboy Festival (March 11-14, 2010), and much more.
Posted 2/8

CowboyLegacy.org editor Diane Tribitt announces a new story and feature:

Stop by and check out the new article story on Artist and Trailblazer Anne West. Also included are the results of Ann's "Horse & Rider" photograph competition. With over 800 submissions, Anne's winning pick is a special shot of legendary rancher/poet Georgie Sicking, taken by professional photographer Lori Faith Merritt of Photography By Faith...Georgie, out on a desert ride, is mounted on Ches, a grey gelding owned by Minnesota rancher Sam Scott...

Another bit of news: Please make welcome Event Editor Slim McNaught of New Underwood, South Dakota. Slim has been posting event information on our calendar. It is a month-by-month listing of Cowboy Poetry & Music events across the U.S. and Canada. Please contact Slim if you have an event you would like listed at slimscl@yahoo.com or send an email to us by clicking the "Contact Us" link on the left side of CowboyLegacy's Home Page.

CowboyLegacy.org is a site for Western enthusiasts, "bringing you online art and artists; poetry and poets; Western shopping; editorials; photography; vet, health and poetry columnists; a cooking and recipe section; book, CD, and DVD reviews; and, of course, articles about cowboys and cowgirls. We love telling you who these folks are, where they are, what they do, and why they do it."

Visit the site at www.CowboyLegacy.org.

Posted 2/8

A poem by Clark Crouch, "Chopin's Minute Waltz," appears in the new anthology, Chopin with Cherries: a tribute in verse from Moonrise Press. Clark writes, "The book, an anthology of contemporary poetry edited by Maja Trochimczyk, will be officially presented during the 3rd International Chopin Congress (an event celebrating the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth) in Warsaw, Poland, February 24-March 1, 2010."

He comments, "Sorta unusual for an old cowboy to appear in a literary collection, but it's real nice to be featured along with an impressive array of modern poets. It's understandable, too, ’cause Chopin’s music transcends time and was much appreciated in the salons, saloons, and opera houses of the American West."

Read the poem here at Clark Crouch's web site.

Posted 2/8

Wylie Gustafson of Wylie & the Wild West will appear on an English television family game show, Push the Button hosted by popular entertainers Ant and Dec, February 22-26, 2010. Wylie will be teaching competing families how to yodel.

Wylie is the voice of the widely known Yahoo! yodel (hear it on a YouTube video here). He has a recent book, How to Yodel, and an all-yodel CD, Yodel Boogie! (the title track is Wylie's best-selling i-Tunes download.)

The Wylie & the Wild West band has two recent CDs: a second pressing of the popular Hang-n-Rattle! and Unwired, recorded at The Warehouse in Colorado Springs, released by Western Jubilee Recording Company.

See our feature about Wylie Gustafson and Wylie & the Wild West here and visit www.wyliewebsite.com.

[photo of Wylie Gustafson by Ross Hecox]

Posted 2/4

The Clovis (New Mexico) News Journal has a February 1, 2010 article about top cowboy poet and philosopher Baxter Black. The article, "Cowboy humorist says he appreciates rural way of life," by Argen Duncan, explores Baxter's life, opinions, and philosophies and includes a bit about how he came to write poetry. In the article, he comments about how poetry differs from stories, "There’s something magical about a poem. It immortalizes." Read the article here.

You can listen to Baxter's "Saturday Special" program at the recent National Cowboy Poetry Gathering here at the Western Folklife Center's Gathering web site. Baxter was joined by Florida poet Doyle Rigdon and Colorado singer and songwriter Liz Masterson (www.lizmasterson.com).

Baxter Black has a new book, The Back Page, which collects his columns that appear on the back page of each issue of Western Horseman. He's working on a "self-help" book that should be released later this year.

Read more about Baxter and some of his poetry in our feature here and visit his web site, www.baxterblack.com.

[photo courtesy www.baxterblack.com]

Posted 2/3

Wylie & the Wild West are featured in a January 21, 2010 article by Jared DuBach in the Elko (Nevada) Daily Free Press, "Wylie and the Wild West expands the boundaries of cowboy music." The article explores the popular band's music roots and the "boundaries of cowboy music."

Band leader Wylie Gustafson is quoted, "What we do is lyrically hardcore cowboy, but musically we’ve been influenced by music out of the ’50s through the ’70s." Wylie cites Mike Beck and Corb Lund as other adventurous cowboy musicians. Read the article here.

Wylie & the Wild West return to the Western Folklife Center's 26th Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering (January 23-30, 2010) for the eleventh time in 2010. The band has two recent CDs: a second pressing of the popular Hang-n-Rattle! and Unwired, recorded at The Warehouse in Colorado Springs, released by Western Jubilee Recording Company.

See our feature about Wylie Gustafson and Wylie & the Wild West here and visit www.wyliewebsite.com.

[photo of Wylie Gustafson by Ross Hecox]

Posted 1/25

CowboyLegacy.org features a new story with video about gospel singer Susie Luchsinger.

The site also now features an events calendar, coordinated by Slim McNaught.

Nevada writer and poet Dave P. Fisher's Western stories took several of the top prizes in the recent Art Affair Western Short Story Contest. He writes, "My short story 'Crow Scout,' took 2nd place; 'Mrs. Reynolds,' took 3rd place; and 'Montana Jack' took the second Honorable Mention." Find the results and more information here.

Read some of Dave P. Fisher's poetry here and visit his web site: www.davepfisher.com.

Posted 1/25

Texas writer and poet Linda Kirkpatrick is featured in a January 17, 2010 article, "Kirkpatrick to present at national poetry event," by Heidi Hood in the Uvalde (Texas) Leader-News. The article tells about Linda Kirkpatrick's poetry and other writing and about her being invited for a second time to the Western Folklife Center's 26th Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering (January 23-30, 2010).

A recent story, "His Own Medicine," by poet, writer, and songwriter Susan Matley—half of the popular duo Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue (www.nevadaslim.com)—appears in the current issue of GlassFire magazine. Susan comments, "The tale is set in north central Washington state during the Prohibition era..." Read the story here.

Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue have a brand new CD, Westerners. Read one of Susan Matley's poems and more about the new CD here at the BAR-D.

Posted 1/21

The Winter, 2010 issue of The Western Way magazine, the official publication of the Western Music Association (WMA), includes a cover photograph by Molly Morrow of Belinda Gail and the late Curly Musgrave. Inside, there is an article about Curly Musgrave, a rich and sensitive piece by respected journalist Mark Bedor, who interviewed the well-loved singer and songwriter just days before his death. The article also profiles Belinda Gail, Curly's singing partner, and the story of their partnership. Read the story on the electronic version of The Western Way (starting on page 18) at the WMA web site. [See our tribute pages for Curly Musgrave here.]

Other articles include Rick Huff's reviews of Western music and cowboy poetry recordings; William Merritt's report from the Western Music Association Festival, with many photographs by official WMA photographer Lori Faith Merritt; the 2009 Western Music Association Awards list; stories about three recent Hall of Fame Inductees, John Avery Lomax (by John Lomax III), and The Original Flying W Wranglers and Rich O'Brien (both by O.J. Sikes); and editor Don Cusic's "Guitars, Cowboys, and Western Music."

The Western Way includes Western playlists compiled by Marvin O'Dell from reports by Western DJ's for Western swing, and Cowboy/Western music, and cowboy poetry (the top three cowboy poetry CDs, in order, are listed as Geff Dawson's A Tougher Horse, CowboyPoetry.com's The BAR-D Roundup, Volume Four, and Ken Cook's Cowboys Are Like That.) The magazine also includes O. J. Sikes' regular column and his reviews of Western music recordings and books of historical interest; Rick Huff's Western Air, which focuses on Western radio (this time about Graham Lees of the U.K. and his programs, including The Western Hour); and more columns, articles, and display advertising.

The Western Way is a benefit of WMA membership and is available to all for reading at the WMA web site. Subscriptions are also available for non-members, and it is sold at retail outlets.

Posted 1/14

The January/February 2010 issue of Rope Burns, "serving the Cowboy Entertainment and Trade Industry," includes:

a front-page article about the Will Rogers Medallion Award winners

Jack Hummel's front-page report from the Western Music Association Festival
and other reports by Jack Hummel from the Big Bear Lake Cowboy Gathering, the December California Chapter of the Western Music Association event, and the Visalia Roundup

Voleta Hummel's report from the Tombstone Western Music Festival

Patty Wright's report from the Western Spirit Celebration event at the Chisolm Trail Heritage Center

Rick Huff's "Best of the West" poetry and music reviews

O.J. Sikes' reviews and commentary in his "The OJ Corral" column

a version of the regular BAR-D column, this time featuring a poem by Jane Morton and a song by Ray Doyle

Cade Schalla's report from the 1st Annual Cat Spring Cowboy Poetry Gathering

Almeda Terry's report from the Grand Union Gathering

Joe Baker's report from the 5th Annual Cowboy Ball in Ruidoso

Slim McNaught's reports on the 21st Annual Alzada Cowboy Poetry, Music, and Art Show

Duane Nelson's report from the 3rd Annual Columbia Gorge Cowboy Gathering

Les Buffham's humor column

Jerry Schleicher's humor column

founding publisher Bobby Newton's "Kicking Around!" column, "Mad Jack" Hanks' column, Dr. David Carlton's "Hey Doc" column, and Debra Coppinger Hill's "Riding Drag" column

additional reports, a product showplace, gathering announcements, memorials, articles, music charts, pages of "FYI" news, display ads, event listings...and more.

Rope Burns' subscriptions are $20 per year in the US: Legacy Media/Rope Burns, PO Box 92575, Albuquerque, NM 87109; www.legacyontheweb.com and a free on-line subscription is available.
Posted 1/13

The Cowboy Artists of America announce on their web site that CA member Bill Owen's (www.billowenca.com) painting, "Born to This Land," has been chosen as the 2010 Cowboy Poetry Week poster art.

Among its objectives, the respected Cowboy Artists of America aims to "insure authentic representations of the life of the west, as it was and is." The organization was founded in 1965 by Western artists Joe Beeler, Charlie Dye, John Hampton and George Phippen,

Visit the Cowboy Artists of America web site, www.cowboyartistsofamerica.com for profiles on its members, galleries, news, and more.

Find more about Cowboy Poetry Week (April 18-24, 2010) here, where there is additional information about Bill Owen and his painting, here.

Posted 1/7

Popular singer and songwriter Liz Masterson (www.lizmasterson.com) is featured in a lively January 7, 2009 interview, "Cowgirl at heart keeps rhymin' on the range" by Bill Husted in the Denver Post.

Liz Masterson—a founding member of the Western Music Association—is also an organizer of the Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Arvada (January 14-17, 2010). She returns as an invited performer to the Western Folklife Center's 26th Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering (January 23-30, 2010).

Her recent recording, Roads to Colorado, was named CD of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists. In 2009, she also recorded Sweethearts in Carhartts with Yvonne Hollenbeck and Jean Prescott.

Read the Denver Post interview here.

[photo by Jeri L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others here.]

Posted 1/7

CowboyLegacy.org features a new story and twelve exclusive videos from the 2009 National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

CowboyLegacy.org site creator and editor Diane Tribitt notes, "The 2009 National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame inductees were: Deborah Copenhaver Fellows, Kay Whittaker Young, Mary Jane Colter (1869-1958) and Cornelia "Ninia" Wadsworth Ritchie. There is also a video of former First Lady Laura W Bush, recipient of the Gloria Lupton Tennison Pioneer Award with emcee: Red Steagall."

Visit the site at www.CowboyLegacy.org.

Posted 1/7

Chuck Thompson interviews the legendary Don Edwards in an interview, "Catching up with Cowboy Troubadour Don Edwards," in the January, 2010 issue of Cowboys & Indians magazine.

Don Edwards offers insights and opinions on a range of subjects (“Country and Western music, neither is either”; "The reason the cowboy became the greatest hero America has ever produced is because he was on horseback"; "I can’t sing a song I don’t believe in").

He talks about cowboy and music history, tells about particular songs (including the history of "Coyotes"), his movie experience, and much more. A list of some of his favorite classic cowboy songs is included.

Read the entire article here .

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

[Photograph by Lori Faith Merritt (www.photographybyfaith.com; thanks to Totsie Slover for the article link]

Posted 1/6

Eight-year-old poet, songwriter, yodeler, singer, musician, and ranch gal Cora Wood is featured in a January 4, 2009 article, Meet Miss Cora Rose Wood" by Candy Moulton in The Fence Post. The warm, in-depth piece tells about Cora's talents and her cowgirl life.

Cora Wood makes her first invited appearance at the the Western Folklife Center's 26th Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada (January 23-30, 2010). One performance will be with top cowboy balladeer Don Edwards.

Candy Moulton writes in her article, "One criteria for the Elko organizers is that they want performers who are truly cowboys, who have the experience of ranch work under their belts. Let me tell you (and them), they have that with Cora Rose Wood. She's a hand even if she is only eight."

Find some photos of Cora working cows here in Picture the West.

Read the entire Fence Post article here. Read about an earlier New York Post article below.

Cora's recent CD is Cora's Cowgirl Yodel. The CD includes seven songs (including the title cut, which Cora co-wrote with Paul Harris) and three poems. See the entire track list here.

Read some of Cora's poems and more about her here at the BAR-D and visit her web site, www.woodwesternmusic.com, which includes audio and video clips.

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The final edition of Nevada writer and poet Hal Swift's column, A Brush with an Old Sage, is posted at the Nevada Observer, "Nevada's Online State News Journal."
The column is titled "Lights Out." Hal comments, "Like most storytellers, I like to see a tale have a proper ending. So, with my writing this one, the adventures of the folks of Drytown will be concluded.

"I have enjoyed being a part of the lives of the folks of Drytown, and yours, too. Thank you for all the nice things you've said about my friends at Shorty's Place—located somewhere in time, in northern Nevada, and in a little mountain village called Drytown."

Hal adds, "Like Shorty, I don't know what comes next. But I'll let you know when I find out."

Read the final Old Sage column here.

You can read all 58 Old Sage articles here at the Nevada Observer.

Hal Swift recites James Barton Adams' classic, Bill's in Trouble, on The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Three.
Read some of Hal Swift's poetry and more about him, his book, and his CDs in our feature here.
[photo by Johnny Gunn]
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