News Since the Most
Recent
Newsletter:
On this page:
Poets,
Musicians and Others with News in
Print,
on the Web, and Beyond
See a list of the
contents for all pages on Page
1 of News Since the
Last Newsletter
Poets, Musicians, and Others
with News in Print,
on the Web, and Beyond
Tips about submitting news
items for this section
The
latest 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." Hal says,
"In this one, titled 'Snap, Crackle and Boom!,' the almost-forgotten
tradition of 'shooting the anvil' to officially begin local 4th of July
celebrations is relived. The blacksmith in this tale is my uncle Lon
Simmons, of rural Indiana."
Read the column
here.
A rhyming version of the story in Hal's column,
Anvil Chorus,
is posted here. Hal also has another poem in our Fourth of July feature,
here.
Many "Old Sage" articles are archived at
Cowboy Country
Traveler.
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]
Updated 7/2
"Young
Cowboys Learning to be Poets,"
a July 1, 2009 article in the
Mesquite Local News, tells about the
first annual Youth Hootenanny
at the
Mesquite (Nevada) Fine Arts Center.
The Fine Arts Center has been offering youth cowboy poetry workshops.
Read the
entire article
here.
Find
previous news about the youth cowboy poetry workshops below.
Posted
7/2
Nevada poet Hal
Swift's poem, "Daredevil Donald McQuid," will be distributed to
the Honorees at the Rodeo Clown Reunion, held in conjunction with
the 87th annual Days of '76 Rodeo,
which takes place July 21-25, 2009, in Deadwood, South Dakota.
Rodeo Clown Reunion Chairman Gail Woerner writes,
here in an article about the reunion, "The Honorees will be
arriving from fourteen states including Florida, New York, Arkansas,
Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Nevada and more. Their total years in the rodeo
arena saving cowboys from harm and making the fans laugh total nearly
seven hundred years."
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.
Posted 6/30
Top poet and champion quilter Yvonne
Hollenbeck is featured in the August/September 2009 issue of
Country Woman
magazine. Her poem, "Wagon Tracks," commissioned for the magazine, appears
on the back cover with a striking photo by Lori Naanes of Gosport,
Indiana. Inside, a reader writes with a photo of a calendar quilt made
from Yvonne Hollenbeck's pattern, featured in a previous issue.
Yvonne has received many awards for her quilts and her
poetry. She
was named the Top Female Poet in 2005
by the Academy of Western Artists and named the Top Female Poet by the
Western Music Association in
2006, 2007, and 2008. She's received numerous other awards. She has published
four books of poetry: Blossoms Beneath the Snow, a
Tribute to the Pioneer Ranchwomen; Where Prairie Flowers Bloom,
which received the Will
Rogers Medallion Award; and From My Window, which also received
the Will Rogers Medallion Award and was named Top Poetry Book by
the Western Music Association, She has five CDs,
My Home on the Range, Prairie Patchwork, and Winter on
the Range, What Would Martha Do? (Western Music Association Top
Poetry CD in 2007) and Pieces of the Past (Western Music Association Top Poetry CD in 2008).
Yvonne Hollenbeck also performs with
Jean Prescott,
and
Liz Masterson
as the "Sweethearts
in Carhartts."
The three popular performers—their group name inspired by Montana ranch
hand DW Groethe's "The Carhartt Song"—take
their show of poetry and music to gatherings and events across the West.
Her
traveling trunk show, Five Generations of Quilts includes her family quilts and
stories and poems inspired by her ancestors and other pioneer women of the
Plains. The show has been offered at many venues, festivals, and cowboy poetry gatherings,
including the Santa
Clarita Cowboy Festival,
Wet
Mountain Western Days, the Dakota Cowboy Poetry Gathering, and the
Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music
Festival.
Read more about Yvonne Hollenbeck in our feature
here and visit her web site:
www.YvonneHollenbeck.com.
Posted 6/29
Arizona rancher and poet Bud
Strom is profiled in a June 26, 2009
article, "Honor Due for Strom," in Sierra Vista, Arizona's
The Herald. Bud Strom was instrumental in starting the Cochise
Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering, and as the article tells, the Brigadier
General was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame on June
26, 2009.
Read the entire article
here.
Read more about Bud Strom and some of his poetry
here at CowboyPoetry.com.
Posted 6/29
Montana singer and
songwriter Stephanie Davis' two
new releases, Western Bling and
Western Bliss are reviewed by Frank O. Gutch Jr. at
Rockand
Reprise.net. He writes that the CDs are "class all the way,"
commenting, "They chose songs based upon feel, and let me tell you, the
feeling is good. Slightly upbeat to high and lonesome, the music flows
over you like slow moving cool river water on a hot summer day....Seldom
have I heard sound so clean, playing so effortless....Her reverence and
love for the music she plays is evident throughout these CDs. It breathes
through the speakers...."
Read the entire review
here.
See our review of
Western Bling and
Western Bliss in a
feature here,
which also includes expanded track comments by Stephanie Davis and
commentary by Rich O'Brien and Hal Cannon. At Stephanie
Davis' web site, you'll find a
full-length
interview about the new releases, track samples, and order information.
See our feature about Stephanie Davis
here.
[photo by Clark Marten]
Posted 6/25
An interview with top
cowboy singer and songwriter
Michael Martin Murphey (www.michaelmartinmurphey.com)
appears at
The BluegrassSpecial.com. Editor and Publisher David McGee gives
deep background about Michael Martin Murphey's career. The interview
covers Michael Martin Murphey's new Buckaroo Blue
Grass CD and other recent work, his family, his conservation efforts,
and more.
Read the entire interview
here.
Visit
Michael Martin Murphey's web site:
www.michaelmartinmurphey.com
for more about him and his music.
Posted 6/23
Top cowboy poet Waddie
Mitchell is the subject of a June 22, 2009 article, "Cowboy
poet shares his words with audience," by Charlotte Burrous, in the
Caňon City (Colorado) Daily Record. She tells about how Waddie came
to think of himself as a poet, along with some fresh information about the
beginnings of Elko's Cowboy Poetry Gathering.
Read the entire interview
here.
Visit Waddie Mitchell's web site:
www.somagency.com/WaddieMitchel for more about him and his poetry.
Posted 6/23
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
"Know your horse, its dispostion...and hire someone to train it!"
Other recent columns include
"Late
May-early June, when North Dakota is perfect,"
"Celebrating
‘World Day of Laughter’ with complete strangers!,"
"Choosing,
training, loving, then losing a puppy,"
"Be
wary of horse traders—they may be telling the truth!," "Spring
storms have ranchers hip deep in water, snow, mud,"
"Converter
box, new TV antenna are the clear choice,"
"Minnesota
shopping trip was fun—and profitable,"
"Bragging
rights to coldest temps lost with new thermometer,"
"Don't
know about the famous one, but this Liz Taylor was a real gem,"
"North
Dakota's unassuming Capitol, governor's mansion,"
"Another
day in rural America with neighbor helping neighbor,"
and "A
new dog in 2009 would be nice ... or would it?."
Rodney is a frequent
performer at the
Western
Folklife Center's National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and other
gatherings and events across the West. 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 6/22
Nevada Slim and Cimarron
Sue (www.nevadaslim.com)
have been selected as speakers for the
Humanities Washington "Inquiring Mind"
program, for their presentations of "Cowboys and Cowgirls (in story and
song)" and "History at Your Front Door." Sue Matley writes, "These
presentations will be available throughout Washington State July 1, 2009
through June 30, 2010. We welcome the opportunity to bring these stories
of the American West (through a combination of lecture, song and poetry)
to our fellow Washingtonians."
Posted 6/22
The
Summer, 2009 pdf newsletter of the active California Chapter
of the
Western Music Association,
edited by
Rodger Maxwell
(www.rodgermaxwell.com),
includes an in-depth interview with California poet
Susan Parker.
The quarterly publication also includes
reports of chapter news and an extensive calendar of regional events.
Email Rodger Maxwell for
subscription information.[photo
of Susan Parker by
Jeri L.
Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others
here.]
Posted 6/22
Missouri cowboy
poet and humorist Jerry Schleicher
"describes
the downside of being the family chicken foreman"
in his latest humor column, "Raising
Chickens Can be an Adventure," in the July/August, 2009 issue of
GRIT magazine. Jerry
comments that
fried chicken is his favorite meal and
he has "
no
use for chickens on the hoof."
Read the article
here
at the
GRIT
site.
Read more about Jerry and find some
of his poetry here at the BAR-D.
Posted 6/17
Montana singer and
songwriter Stephanie Davis has new
updates to her Ranch News,
a regular feature with humorous news from her Montana Ranch.The latest
additions are "Summertime at Last!" ("...The truth is, I have come
to discover that I like the idea of cows much more than cows
themselves...") and "On Horseshoeing and Westerns…" ("Got the
horses rounded up and brought to the corrals this week for trimming and
shoeing by my favorite farrier...) Find Stephanie Davis' Ranch News
here
at her web site.
We'll be featuring some of the Ranch News items in future
postings in Picture the West.
Stephanie Davis has two
new releases, produced in collaboration with Rich O'Brien:
Western Bling and
Western Bliss. See our review of
Western Bling and
Western Bliss in a
feature here,
which also includes expanded track comments by Stephanie Davis and
commentary by Rich O'Brien and Hal Cannon. At Stephanie
Davis' web site, you'll find a
full-length
interview about the new releases, track samples, and order information.
See our feature about Stephanie Davis
here.
[photo by Clark Marten]
Posted 6/16
Pickles,
the popular daily comic strip by Brian Crane,
once again has a focus on would-be cowboy poets, starting the week of June
15, 2009. You can view the daily comics
here.
Pickles,
set in the cartoonist's hometown of Sparks, Nevada, has twice been named "best
newspaper comic strip" of the year by the National Cartoonists Society.
Read more about Brian Crane
here.
There's an "official Pickles page"
here on Facebook.
[Thanks to Rick Huff and
Rod Miller for the heads-up.]
Posted 6/16
The
Mesquite (Nevada) Fine Arts Center
is offering youth cowboy poetry workshops, and a June 14, 2009 article
here in the
Mesquite
Local News reports on the group's
progress.
The article states, "Led by teacher Barb
King and assisted by Wanda Eckhardt and Diana Coonradt, the children ages
7 through 15 are learning how to read, recite and write cowboy poetry as
per the rules of well-known cowboy poet
Sam Jackson."
Sam Jackson also conceived and runs the
National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo,
to be held this year September 10-12 in Montrose, Colorado.
Find
previous news about the youth cowboy poetry workshops below.
Posted 6/16
A June 14, 2009 article,
"
Cowboys
rally to help one of their own,"
by Alicia Greenleigh in the Salt Lake Tribune tells about a
benefit for three-year-old
Briggs Hill,
the son of Sylina and Brenn Hill, that
takes place Tuesday, June 16 in Roy, Utah. Top cowboy singer and
songwriter Michael Martin Murphey
(www.michaelmartinmurphey.com)
and top poet Waddie Mitchell
have volunteered their time and talents to the benefit.
Michael Martin Murphey is quoted, "Brenn Hill has dedicated his
life to cowboy music, and those of us who've done it for a long
time really admire him for it. Now he's facing one of the hardest
things one can face, and we're here to support him." Brenn Hill
comments, "My son is fighting a life-threatening illness, and
sometimes I'm just speechless when I think about how great my
friends are...It's just been phenomenal, the outpouring of support
from the cowboy community."
Read more about the benefit
here
at CowboyPoetry.com and at the
Cowboy Poets of Utah web site.
Read the entire
Salt Lake Tribune article
here.
Find information about an ongoing
benefit for Briggs Hill here
at CowboyPoetry.com, and visit
www.teambriggs.org.
Posted 6/15
A June 14,
2009 article, "
Local
Cowboy Poet Named National Finalist,"
in the
Mesquite
Local News announces poet and
part-time Mesquite resident
Smoke
Wade's selection as a
Lariat Laureate finalist. The CowboyPoetry.com
media release is quoted:
Smoke Wade of Mesquite, Nevada and
Lewiston, Idaho, is a previous finalist.
Wade was born and raised on a remote Snake River cattle ranch in Hells
Canyon, Oregon, a fourth-generation Wallowa County cowboy and
rangeland manager.
He tells that in his winning poem, "Trailing the Herd," he was "trying
to re-capture the memory of the days when we used to trail large herds
of cattle out of the Hells Canyon of the Snake River as the herd
followed the seasons. Those days are gone now along with the cattle
ranches in Hells Canyon."
Active today as a gathering organizer and reporter, he comments,
"After the fall of the Hells Canyon ranching industry, cowboy poetry
was a natural way for me to recall the history of the life I once
lived and the cowboys I had known. Likewise, the importance of cowboy
poetry today is that it continues to document the memory of Western
events, people, and the cultural significance of the cowboy way of
life that is quickly disappearing from the American West."
Read the entire
Mesquite Local News article
here and read more about Smoke Wade in our feature
here.
Posted 6/15
From the
Giving
Back Foundation:
The
Giving Back Foundation
(GBF), a Montana-based non-profit entity dedicated to helping ranchers
and farmers nationwide whose
lives and finances have been adversely affected by natural disasters,
has donated $1,500 to the North Texas Cattlemen’s Relief Fund. The
fund was established by the Chisholm Trail Resource Conservation &
Development, Inc. and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers
Association to aid cattlemen who lost livestock, feed, equipment and
fencing during recent wildfires in several Texas counties.
The Giving Back Foundation hopes these funds will help ranchers keep
operating under these difficult conditions. For more information about
GBF or how you can help, please visit
www.ranchersandfarmers.org,
or call the Montana Stockgrowers Association at (406) 442-3420.
Posted 6/2
"
Back Trail to the Reel West,"
an article by Charley Engel,
host of the popular Calling All Cowboys
radio show, is featured in the May, 2009 issue of
True West
magazine. Charley writes about "a trail ride through the Alabama Hills
of Lone Pine, California, which served as the backdrop for hundreds of
Westerns." Read the entire article
here
at the True West web site.
True West
magazine, published since 1953, states that the magazine "relates our history
back to the present day, to show readers the important role our heritage plays
in keeping the spirit of the West alive during our everyday travels and
adventures out West."
The
True West
magazine web site
includes articles and features, editor Bob Boze Bell's blog, photos, reviews,
subscription information, and more.
Posted 6/1
Cowgirl U,
sponsored by the National
Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, offers its Trails Trials
program June 20-21, 2009 at Rio Paisano in Aledo, Texas. Cowgirl
Hall of Fame Honoree
Honoree Terry Stuart Forst
leads the event that "tests
the abilities of students and their horses in a natural setting."
Read more
here
at the Cowgirl U web site.
Cowgirl U describes its mission as, "to offer dynamic workshops,
classes, retreats and demonstrations dedicated to sharing the
Western lifestyle with a broad audience both inside and outside
the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame by utilizing its most
important resources: the Honorees."
Posted 5/28
The
Mesquite (Nevada) Fine Arts Center
is offering youth cowboy poetry workshops. An article in the
Mesquite Local News notes, "The local children range in age from 7 to 16. The
workshop is being lead by teacher Barb King, with assistance from Wanda Eckhardt and Diana Coonradt, who have all been involved with the adult
group workshop, which meets the first and third Mondays of each month at
the Mesquite Fine Arts Center at 6:30 p.m.
"The youth are learning the rules of cowboy poetry as provided by
well-known cowboy poet
Sam Jackson
from Kanab, Utah, a [former] sheepherder and guest poet at Mesquite's
3rd Annual Cowboy Poetry Hootenanny, which was held on April 10-11 this
year."
Sam Jackson also conceived and runs the
National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo,
to be held this year September 10-12 in Montrose, Colorado.Read an article about the Mesquite youth cowboy workshops
here.
The workshops are funded in part by the
Nevada Arts Council.Barbara King adds:
The public is invited to attend our adult cowboy
poetry workshops which take place the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each
month at 6:30 PM at the Mesquite Fine Arts Gallery. The group has a
new leader, Charlie Edwards, who regularly attended cowboy poetry
workshops and participated in and served as MC for the 2009 Mesquite's
3rd Annual Cowboy Poetry Hootenanny.
Charlie grew up in North Carolina working on dairy and tobacco farms.
He was in the US Navy, graduated from Ohio State University and was a
corporate trainer for Sprint Communications in seven different states.
He is most interested in public speaking and especially cowboy poetry.
He is also a member of Toastmasters. Charlie welcomes anyone who has
an interest in this art form to join our group.
Updated 5/28
California poet
Susan Parker
was invited to read at the May 17, 2009 meeting of the
Ina Coolbrith
Circle, and her
poem, "Spring
Rendezvous" was selected for posting at the organization's web
site.
Susan Parker will appear at a
"Relay for Life" benefit on
July 24, 2009 in Benecia, California with
Paul Zarzyski
and Mick Vernon.
Her recitation of
A. V. Hudson's "The
Homemade Cigarette" appears on
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Three.
Read more about Susan Parker and
some of her poetry here at
CowboyPoetry.com, and at her web site,
www.susanparkerpoet.com.
[photo by Jeri L.
Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others
here.]
Posted 5/26
Writer and filmmaker
Shirley Morris,
whose work focuses on "stories about the early 20th century rodeo
cowgirls and the women who settled the West," has a new
blog.
The blog contains information,
photos, and video about early cowgirls and about her forthcoming
book and film, both named "Oh, You Cowgirl!"
Shirley Morris is also at work on
a 30-minute film that will feature the cowgirls who helped shape
the history of Pendleton. It will premiere at the Pendleton Hall
of Fame during the
Pendleton Roundup
(September 16-19, 2009). She writes:
The display cases...will feature many
personal items belonging to Bertha Kaepernick-Blancett, including a
large steamer trunk that has not been opened since Bertha brought it
home from Australia. The key was lost and it is not known if it is
empty or full of treasures...
Mabel Strickland's championship saddle and
horsehair bridle will find a home as well as personal letters from
her. There are many items from Ella Lazinka, whom Bertha Kaepernick
described as "The only woman I fear in competition."
The display will also feature a digital
flipbook with photos few have seen before, including many from the
personal scrapbooks of C.B. Irwin and prints recently developed from
negatives found in Bertha Kaepernick-Blancett's "memories box."
Shirley Morris sent along this photo, which
she describes: "Bertha
Kaepernick-Blancett
is second from right. Everyone else is unidentified. The year is 1916
and they are all performers with Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show."
photo from Shirley Morris, courtesy of Joanna Stewart
Find photos, video, and more about these early cowgirls at Shirley
Morris' blog: http://thelonecowgirl.blogspot.com/.
Posted 5/19
An article in the
Minnesota Star Tribune, "Gray
wolf: The predator pursued,"
tells about the wolf challenges faced by the Rolling Thunder ranch of
Minnesota poet and writer Diane Tribitt
and her fiancé Sam Scott, and at other
ranches.
The article states, "Sam Scott, owner of the Rolling Thunder Ranch, said
he loses one or two calves each spring from his herd of about 350. He
appreciates wolves, but not in central Minnesota. 'They have their place
in nature, but not around a cattle ranch,' he said." Read the entire
article
here.
Posted 5/19
Jim Jones' (www.jimjonesmusic.com)
song, "The Cowboys of New Mexico," from his recent
Still Ridin'
CD, has been named Western Song of the Year for 2008 by the
New Mexico Music
Awards. The awards were
presented May 17, 2009.
See Rick
Huff's review of Still Ridin'
here at CowboyPoetry.com.
Posted
5/19
"
Inheritance," a story by
Susan Matley,
half of the popular duo Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue (www.nevadaslim.com),
appears in the current issue of the
Absent Willow
Review.
The web-based magazine features "quality works of horror, fantasy, and
science fiction." Read Susan Matley's story
here at
the
Absent Willow Review site.
Posted 5/18
A new alliance of horse owners,
United
Organizations of the Horse,
"rallies all facets of the equine community around its goals of
advocacy, education and assistance." Among those involved in the new
organization are
Sue Wallis,
Rod McQueary,
Wylie Gustafson,
Baxter Black,
and Jeri Dobrowski.
From a May 14, 2009 media release:
In response to the growing number of public policy challenges
facing American horses, their owners, and horse-related
organizations, a diverse group of horsemen and -women today
unveiled a new umbrella group:
United
Organizations of the Horse
.
“We need a voice that is capable of coherently and articulately
communicating to a misinformed and emotionally manipulated
American public,” said Sue Wallis, a Wyoming state legislator and
United Organizations of the Horse founder.
The
United Organizations of the
Horse seeks to unify all like-minded equine associations and
individuals in support of its mission—to promote the humane care
and management of horses, and the continued viability of the
equine community in the United States of America.
The group is organizing around three pillars:
-
The United Horsemen’s Front,
already established as a non-profit 501(c)3. This pillar
educates the public about the unwanted horse issue and seeks
humane, realistic solutions. A new initiative will establish a
nationwide rapid-response network of horse owners and others who
can mobilize trailers, hay, feed, veterinary care and additional
support for law enforcement or other groups rescuing horses in
crisis.
-
The United Horsemen’s Alliance,
a trade group serving as a national voice for horse owners’
concerns at the federal level. The Alliance is open to horse
owners, equine professionals, breed registries, recreational
groups, businesses and others who share the United Organizations
of the Horse’s core principles. This arm will also ensure that
equine groups at the local, state and regional levels have the
resources they need to influence and address issues.
-
The United Horsemen’s Political & Legal Action Fund,
a future political action committee and legal defense fund,
providing an effective, adequately-financed voice at the local,
state and federal legislative levels. It will also provide
expert assistance for members facing court proceedings, and an
avenue for initiating legal action.
The United Organizations of the Horse is founded on the core
beliefs that the humane care and
management of horses is paramount; policy decisions should be
based on sound science and guidelines developed by equine
professionals; and policy should safeguard horse owners’ private
property rights and options to the greatest extent possible.
The United Organizations of the
Horse leadership team includes current and former legislators at
both the federal and state level; agricultural public policy
experts; horse trainers; print and broadcast journalists; farmers
and ranchers; representatives from tribal, breed and horsemen’s
associations; and celebrities from the world of country music and
cowboy poetry.
Visit
www.UnitedOrgsOfTheHorse.com and its news/communications
site, www.EquuiVox.org, to
learn more about the group and a unique opportunity to actively
participate in this new and powerful alliance. The United
Organizations of the Horse has scheduled its first annual
Leadership Summit on June 14, 2009 in Washington, D.C., inviting
anyone who adheres to its core principles to attend.
Posted 5/18
There's a new
newsletter at the
British Columbia Cowboy Heritage
Society (BCCHS) web site with news, reviews, reports from
this year's Kamloops Cowboy Festival, and much more.
Posted
5/14
From the
Giving
Back Foundation:
The
Giving Back Foundation
(GBF), a Montana-based non-profit entity dedicated to helping ranchers
and farmers nationwide whose
lives and finances have been adversely affected by natural disasters,
has pledged $1,500 to help farmers and ranchers devastated by
catastrophic flooding and blizzards in North Dakota. GBF will
contribute to a fund set up by the National Cattlemen’s Foundation
(NCF), in cooperation with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).
Family farm and ranch operations across North Dakota have been
devastated by flooding caused by spring blizzards and near-record
snowfall. Many families have been completely displaced from their
homes. Some remain without power, potable water, and other utilities.
Livestock losses are estimated to be nearing 100,000 head. Spring
planting has already been delayed, which could lead to a shorter
growing season, decreased yields and disease. Downed fences and other
property damage have also added to the battle with Mother Nature, as
hundreds of farmers and ranchers struggle to make repairs while
keeping their operations functional.
The Giving Back Foundation is glad to help its neighbors in North
Dakota as they work to keep their farms and ranches operating under
these difficult conditions. For more information about GBF or how you
can help, please visit www.ranchersandfarmers.org, or call the Montana Stockgrowers
Association at (406) 442-3420.
Posted 5/13
CuChullaine and Basha O'Reilly of the
Long Riders' Guild
announce their "equestrian journey around the globe" at the new
World
Ride website: www.theworldride.org. They note, "Twelve men have walked on the
moon, yet no human being has ever ridden around the Earth!" From their
release:
We are therefore setting off on the
first continuous, around-the-world equestrian expedition. The
journey will cover 12,000 miles, cross eleven countries, last two
years and be the most highly developed diplomatic and scientific
equestrian mission ever undertaken.
Yet the World Ride represents not a multi-billion dollar expansion
into outer space but the affordable exploration of ourselves. During
the journey we will be attempting to:
a) make the first equestrian journey around the Earth;
b) map the route using GPS technology so as to allow others to
follow in our horses' hoofprints;
c) create a scholastic internet network which encourages nine to
twelve year old children to study geography, while interacting with
the World Ride and each other's classrooms;
d) collect hair samples from every known horse breed so as to create
the first complete equine DNA chain;
e) promote the unity of mankind via our species' ancient link with
the horse.
While designed to create the paramount equestrian trail by taking us
through Europe, Central Asia, Siberia and North America, we shall be
riding along the Equestrian Equator, that invisible line across
which history flowed east and west.
Read more at the
World Ride web site.
Posted 5/12
Top
cowboy singer and songwriter
Michael Martin Murphey (www.michaelmartinmurphey.com)
was named Entertainer of the Year at the
7th Annual Texas Music Awards
show. From an official release:
Rural Rhythm Records is proud to announce Michael Martin Murphey was
named Entertainer of the Year at the 7th Annual Texas Music Awards
show held April 26, 2009 at the Palestine Civic Center where the
legendary singer-songwriter also served as Host of the event. Michael
Martin Murphey is celebrating his new bluegrass album,
Buckaroo Blue Grass (Rural Rhythm)
that is #14 this week on BILLBOARD MAGAZINE'S TOP 50
Bluegrass Album Chart.
The Texas Music Awards are sanctioned by the Academy of Texas Music,
Inc., and the show was presented by
MyTexasMusic.com, the retail partner of the show's production
company, Payline Productions. Awards were presented to independent
Texas performers in numerous categories.
Michael Martin Murphey was thrilled at the honor of Entertainer of the
Year saying, "No entertainer can entertain without an audience, so I
want to thank all the promoters, presenters, and loyal friends who
have attended many concerts over the years, and most importantly the
support and patience of my family. A special thanks to Mike Drudge of
Class Act Entertainment, Kay Waggoner of PLA Media, Penni McDaniel of
Hope River Entertainment (Publicist for Rural Rhythm Records), Sam
Passamano and all the family and friends at Rural Rhythm. Thanks to
everyone!
"I also feel like the award was a victory for everyone who performs
and presents Cowboy Music and Cowboy Poetry, as that is the genre of
material I've worked into all my performances since 1989. My special
thanks to Hal Cannon and the staff of The National Cowboy Poetry
Gathering and Western Folklife Center, Don and Kathy Edwards, Red
Steagall, The Sons of the San Joaquin, Bethany Braley, and Dottie
Tinsley (wife of Jim Bob Tinsley), Waddie and Lisa Mitchell, and Ian
Tyson—all of whom have been wonderfully supportive friends in the
Cowboy Music and Poetry field."
After the ceremony, Murphey performed a concert that turned out to be
a reunion with most of the members of the original Cosmic Cowboy Band
from Murphey's Austin, Texas days. Band members included: Bob
Livingston, Gary P. Nunn, Craig Hillis and Herb Steiner. Michael
McGeary (the first drummer in the band) and Leonard Arnold (original
guitar on "Geronimo") couldn't be there, Robert Fripp performed on
drums. The concert finale included "Home with the Armadillos" and
"Wildfire."
Visit
Michael Martin Murphey's web site:
www.michaelmartinmurphey.com
Posted 5/11
The May/June, 2009 issue of
Rope
Burns
is filled with news from the "Cowboy Entertainment and Trade Industry,"
including:
Smoke Wade's
front-page report on the
5th
Annual Lee Earl Memorial Scholarship Cowboy Gathering
Les Buffham's
poem, "Chips and Pies," illustrated by
A-10 Etcheverry
the regular
BAR-D column, this time featuring
poems by
Ken Cook
and
DW Groethe
Bobbie Hunter's
report
from the Hagerman Cowboy Poetry Gathering
Laurel
Paulson-Pierce's
report from the 23rd
Annual Vinton Cowboy Poetry event
Patricia
Golden's report from
the Crossroads Cowboy Gathering
Bill Schmidt
's
report from
Saddle Up! at Pigeon Forge
Rick Huff's
"Best of the West" poetry and music
reviews
editor
Bobby
Newton's "Kicking Around!" column, O.J.
Sikes' reviews, "Mad Jack" Hanks'
column, and Debra Coppinger Hill's
"Riding Drag" column
many more gathering
reports, gathering announcements, articles, news, stories, more reviews, photos
from events across the West, display ads, and event listings...and
more.
In this issue, editor of 22 years Bobby Newton comments
about his new associate editors,
Stacy and Scott
Blackwell of Legacy Media in
Albuquerque. He writes "They want to bring
Rope Burns up to
modern-day standards, increase circulation, color photos, in general,
try to make some money. I've been in the cattle business so long, I
wouldn't know what it was to make a profit so this is a good thing. Keep
in mind, I'm not leaving, but only trying to keep up with the times so
that
Rope Burns won't
become a part of history before its time."
Rope Burns' subscriptions are
$15 per year:
Rope Burns,
PO Box 35, Gene Autry, OK 73436 580/389-5350.
Posted 5/6
Montana rancher, poet, singer and songwriter
Bob Petermann
will be featured May 21, 2009 at the
Western Heritage Center
in Billings, Montana, in a program, "The
Cowboy in Eastern Montana: Storytelling through Song."
The program is a part of the
High Noon Lecture Series, "Storytelling in the Yellowstone River
Valley." Read about Bob Petermann and the program at the Western
Heritage Center
here.
Bob Petermann's most
recent recording is
Thanks for the Rain.
Bob has been a featured participant at the
Western
Folklife Center's National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
and many other events.
The Western Heritage Center is "a
regional museum that interprets and reflects the life and culture of the
Yellowstone River Valley." Read more about the museum and it programs at
the
Western Heritage Center web site.
[photo of
Bob Petermann by Jeri L. Dobrowski;
see her gallery of western performers and others
here.]
Posted 5/6
Top singer and songwriter
R.W. Hampton's
CD,
Oklahoma...Where the West Remains!,
recipient of the Wrangler Award, the National Heritage Award from the
National
Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum,
is reviewed in the Spring, 2009 edition of the U.K.'s
Maverick
Magazine.
Read the review at R.W. Hampton's web site,
here.
See our feature about R.W. Hampton
here and visit his web site,
www.rwhampton.com, where you can
hear samples from Oklahoma...Where the West Remains!.
Maverick Magazine
is described as "a monthly country
and roots music" magazine. CD submissions are accepted (Editor Alan
Cackett, Maverick Magazine, AAG Publishing Ltd, 24 Bray Gardens, Loose,
Maidstone, Kent, ME15 9TR UK).
The
May, 2009
issue of Maverick Magazine features
Gretchen Peters
(gretchenpeters.com) in a cover
story. Gretchen Peters appears on the new
Hang 'n Rattle
from Wylie & the
Wild West, and she has a
new CD, a collaboration with Tom
Russell,
One to the Heart, One
to the Head.
Read more at the
Maverick
Magazine
web site.
Posted 5/5
South
Dakota rancher and poet
Ken Cook is featured
in the current issue of
Open Range
magazine. The multi-page feature profiles Ken Cook and includes two of
his poems, "Grandpa," and "Gonna Be a Cowboy."
Editor Amanda Smith describes the
publication as "... a unique and exciting new magazine
catering to those who live in the West, and those who dream to
experience the West... the real Western Way of life. It is a magazine
covering the realities of living and working in the West. From Night
Calving to Blacksmithing. Black rocking horse Oilfield Workers to the
miners who run coal at night and herd cattle during the day. From
hardcore ranching to the old style of law that keeps the West in check.
Brand Inspectors to Sale Barn Auctioneers, this magazine covers it
all...Touting the true spirit of the west, It isn’t all glamour.... it’s
real, and more and more people are turning back to the ways of the Open
Range." Find more at the
Open Range web site.
Ken Cook's CD,
Cowboys Are Like That,
has just been released. See the track
list here and visit
Ken Cook's web site, where you can hear tracks from the
new CD and from earlier recordings.
Ken's poem, "The Conversation," is included on
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four.
Read more about Ken and find some of his poetry
here
at the BAR-D.
[photo of
Ken Cook by Jeri L. Dobrowski;
see her gallery of western performers and others
here.]
Posted 5/4
Texas writer and poet
Linda
Kirkpatrick received a First Place for her poem, "When
Roundup Time Comes 'Round" and Third Place for her short story, "Sarge
Cummings, Master of the Long Loop," in the
Southwest Texas Creative Arts Contest.
Awards were announced April 30, 2009 in Uvalde, Texas. The awards are
given in literary arts and visual arts categories in the annual event
which Director
Willie Edwards says "attracts
thousands of art, photography and writing entries from across the region."
Linda Kirkpatrick recites "When Roundup Time Comes 'Round"
on the first edition of
The BAR-D Roundup
(2006). (Her poem, "The Ranger," is included on
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four.)
A version of her winning short story is available
at her
Somewhere
in the West column
here at
Texas Escapes.
[photo of
Linda Kirkpatrick by Jeri L. Dobrowski;
see her gallery of western performers and others
here.]
Posted 5/4
Eve Thornton's
Cowboy Country Traveler,
featuring "cowboy country art, culture, and writing,"
is hosting a new collection of stories, "Hard
Times; Learning from History Through Storytelling."
Nevada poet and writer
Hal Swift's
work is included. Story submissions are invited.
The site includes other story
sections, including "Life
& Times in Cowboy Country,"
which includes stories by poets and writers
Mag Mawhinney,
Diane Tribitt,
Hal Swift,
Eve Thornton,
and others.
Eve Thornton, who is also a
graphic artist and designer, maintains
Rod's Ol' Rockin' R cowboy poetry board, which was started
by her friend, the late, much-missed poet Rod
Nichols. Eve edited and illustrated Rod's books and web
site. The Cowboy Country Traveler is dedicated to Rod Nichols'
memory.Visit the
Cowboy Country Traveler.
Posted 4/30
Poet
Diane Tribitt
of Minnesota and poet and recited
Randy Rieman
of Montana have both been involved in the
Poetry Out Loud
program, a national recitation contest for students.
Poetry Out Loud is a
program of the The National Endowment
for the Arts and the Poetry
Foundation. The program's web site describes that they "have
partnered with State Arts Agencies of the United States to support the
expansion of Poetry Out Loud, which encourages the nation's youth to
learn about great poetry through memorization and performance. This
exciting program helps students master public speaking skills, build
self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage." Read more
about the program here.
The Poetry Foundation announced the 2009 winners in a
media release:
POETRY
FOUNDATION AND NATIONAL ARTS ENDOWMENT ANNOUNCE 2009 WINNER OF
POETRY OUT LOUD: NATIONAL RECITATION CONTEST
Virginia State Champion
William Farley wins in national poetry competition
CHICAGO — Backed by a cheering section
of his family and friends, 18-year-old William Farley of Arlington,
Virginia captivated both judges and audience with his poetry
recitations to gain the title of 2009 Poetry Out Loud
National Champion. Farley receives a $20,000 award and his high
school, Washington-Lee High School, will receive a $500 stipend for
the purchase of poetry books. The Poetry Out Loud National
Finals were held last night at the George Washington University
Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC. Farley was among 12 finalists
and 53 state champions from around the country who participated in
the fourth national poetry recitation contest, sponsored by the
National Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation.
William Farley’s final recitation for
the evening was “Danse Russe” by William Carlos Williams, a wry look
at a middle aged man's fancies and foibles. When asked if it was
hard to inhabit the voice of an older man, he said “not at all. The
hardest thing to do was not laugh while I read it.” Farley advanced
to the National Champion from a field of competition that involved
more than 1,500 high schools and 300,000 high school students across
the country.
As part of the recognition of excellence
and achievement, Farley also will have the opportunity to recite a
poem at the rededication of the Lincoln Memorial in May 2009, an
event sponsored by the National Park Service in Washington, DC.
The second-place winner was Barbara
Gooding of Western Hills High school in Frankfort, Kentucky, who
received a $10,000 award. The Illinois State Champion, Kareem Sayegh
of University Laboratory High School in Champaign, Illinois,
received the third place prize and a $5,000 award. In addition, each
of the top 12 finalists received a $1,000 award. The twelve
finalists’ schools received $500 each for the purchase of poetry
books.
The other 12 finalists include Erik
Hollis of Arizona; Kaleena Rose Kovach of Colorado; Madeline E.
Roger of Kansas, Will Whitham of Maine; Peter Winfrey of Missouri;
Mido Aly of Ohio; Wiyaka His Horse Is Thunder of South Dakota;
Stanley Andrew Jackson III of Texas; and Audrey Kiely of Vermont.
Guest judges presided over the
competition, including Garrison Keillor, host of the radio show “A
Prairie Home Companion,” award-winning actress Tyne Daly, journalist
Jeffrey Brown, founder of Quest: arts for everyone Tim McCarty, and
poets Suji Kwock-Kim, Patricia Smith, and Luis Rodriguez.
Singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant gave a special performance of
poetry-inspired songs. Scott Simon of National Public Radio served
as master of ceremonies.
On April 27, 53 high school students – Poetry Out Loud champions from every state, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands – competed in
three semifinal rounds based on geographic region. Twelve students
advanced to compete in the National Finals on April 28. Judges
evaluated student performances on criteria including physical
presence, articulation, evidence of understanding, level of
difficulty, and accuracy. Students performed poems from the Poetry Out Loud print and online anthologies (www.poetryoutloud.org).
The event was the culmination of a pyramid-structure competition
that began last September among schools across the country.
The National Finals are the result of
efforts by many partners. The NEA and the Poetry Foundation have
contributed support for administration of the program, educational
materials, and prizes for both the state and National Finals. Each
State Arts Agency implemented the program in high schools in each
state, often in collaboration with local arts organizations. The Poetry Out Loud National Finals was administered by the Mid
Atlantic Arts Foundation.
Poetry Out Loud seeks to foster the
next generation of literary readers by building on the resurgence of
poetry as an oral art form, as seen in the slam poetry movement and
the popularity of rap music among youth. Through Poetry Out Loud,
students can master public speaking skills, build self-confidence,
and learn about their literary heritage. Now in its fourth year of
national competition, Poetry Out Loud has inspired
thousands of high school students to discover classic and
contemporary poetry. To find out how to get involved in the 2010 Poetry Out Loud
National Recitation Contest, visit
www.poetryoutloud.org.
Posted 4/30
Cowboy music and poetry with
Montana roots will be featured at the
71st National Folk
Festival
(July 10-12, 2009) in Butte, Montana. Performers include respected
horseman, braider, reciter, and poet
Randy Rieman;
ranch hand, poet, and songwriter
DW Groethe;
and Wylie Gustafson
of Wylie & the Wild West
and Whiskey,
his champion cutting horse. Wylie will appear on the narrative stage
with his guitar and horseback in the arena astride Whiskey. (See a video
of Wylie and Whiskey
here.)
The free National Folk Festival
will feature "250 performers and craftspeople with music and
dance performances on several stages, workshops, children’s activities,
folklife demonstrations, a festival marketplace and ethnic and regional
foods."
Visit www.nationalfolkfestival.com for more information.
Posted 4/23
Missouri cowboy
poet Jerry Schleicher
looks inside the world of competitive vegetable gardening in "Growing
Monsters," his latest humor column in the May/June, 2009 issue of
GRIT magazine. Jerry
comments that he "...suspects that some monster growers are motivated by
a God complex, while others, like his brother-in-law, grow giant
vegetables for fame and fortune."
Read the article
here
at the
GRIT
site.
Read more about Jerry and find some
of his poetry here at the BAR-D.
Posted 4/22
The active
Cowboy Poets
of Utah
have a newly designed web site, overseen by songwriter,
musician, and poet
Jan Erickson.
The site comments, "This organization is for Utah Cowboy Poets,
Cowboy Poets who like Utah, Cowboys who like Poets, Utahans who
like Cowboys, and Cowboys who like Utah."
Find the new site at
www.cowboypoetsofutah.com.
Posted 4/17
Charles Williams,
Texas poet, storyteller, and Executive Director of the
Will Rogers Medallion Award,
reports: Scott Bumgardner and Charles Williams were
active at the Texas Folklore Society's 93rd
Annual Meeting in Nacogdoches, Texas, April 90-11, 2009. Both told 'true'
stories during the Hootenanny, and Charles presented a paper on chuckwagons
entitled, 'It's All About The Buckle: Mr. Charlie's Wonder Wagen Enters The
Twenty-first Century.' The paper was well received, especially since it was
given just before lunch!"The Texas Folklore Society celebrated "100 years of collecting, preserving,
and sharing folklore at the annual meeting." Find more information at
their web site: www.texasfolkloresociety.org.
Posted 4/14
Western poets and musicians perform at all sorts of venues, but
Wylie & the Wild West
may be the first to perform at an event called "You Can't Do
That in the Library." The band will
perform songs from their latest CD,
Hang-n-Rattle,
on Saturday, April 11, 2009 at the third annual “You Can’t Do That in the
Library,” a benefit for the Spokane Public Library Foundation endowment, which
takes place in the Downtown Spokane Public Library. Read all about it
here.
Posted 4/10
The
Poetry Foundation
marks the fourth anniversary of
American Life in Poetry,
a weekly column that's been posted at CowboyPoetry.com since the
column's inception.
American Life in Poetry's
editor is Ted Kooser,
the past U. S. Poet Laureate (2004-2006 Poet Laureate
Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress).
Kooser is
the only Midwesterner to have served as Poet Laureate.Ted Kooser referred to cowboy poetry in a 2005 talk, referring to it as
poetry "focusing again on everyday life,
using everyday language" along with rap and spoken-word
performance. The comments are reported in an article referenced
here.
From the Poetry Foundation media release:
The Poetry Foundation is pleased to
announce the fourth anniversary of
American Life in Poetry, the
free newspaper column featuring a weekly poem selected and briefly
introduced by former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. Running
regularly in over 75 papers, including the Seattle Times
and the Des Moines Register, with a circulation of upwards
of four million,
American Life in Poetry has
earned a following of “astonished and thrilled readers with fanatic
devotion,” says Nancy Cook Senn, editor at the Shawnee News Star
(Okla.).
Over the last four years the column has
featured nearly 200 poets, including current U.S. Poet Laureate Kay
Ryan, Pulitzer Prize winner Yusef Komunyakaa, various poets
representing large and small regions of the country, and several
young poets from public school writing programs. The column not only
promotes contemporary poetry to a larger audience but also restores
poetry’s traditional place in newspapers.
“The age-old tradition of clipping poems
from the paper and mailing them to friends, or pasting them in
scrapbooks, or posting them on the refrigerator is thriving, and an
abundance of our readers have expressed their appreciation for what
we give them each week,” said Kooser. “Poetry is definitely alive
and well in America.”
Lin C. Parker, design editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, has said, “The best day of the
week is the one when Ted Kooser’s column arrives. His poetry
selections have teeth. These poems bite, they savor, they speak
simple truths that bring clarity and insight to the world around
us.”
Find each column in our feature
here,
and at the
American
Life in Poetry web site.
Posted 4/9
California poet
Jim Cardwell's
poem, "I Could Have Been A Rock Star," is included in the new book,
A Call to Nursing,
edited by Paula Sergi and Geraldine Gorman. The book includes work from
"twenty-five nurses—from hospitals, private practices, and in home
health care—about why they became nurses and why some have walked away."
Jim told us, "In 1970 I joined
the U.S. Navy to become a Corpsman. After an enlistment that included
Vietnam service, I enrolled in nursing school, graduating in 1979. Most
of the years since I have worked in emergency. Working cattle is much
more predictable than working with people."
A Call to Nursing
is available from
Amazon
and other booksellers.Read some of Jim Cardwell's poetry and more about him
here
at CowboyPoetry.com.
Posted 4/6
Lee Dunn, publisher of
I.M. Cowgirl
magazine, is profiled in a feature article,
"Owasso
woman watches her dreams unfold on the printed page," in an
April 2, 2009 article by Amanda Morgan-Scott
in Oklahoma's Owasso Reporter. The article tells about how Lee
Dunn came to start the magazine and comments, "Since its first
issue in October of 2007 and a circulation of 300 copies, I.M.
Cowgirl now has a readership of 32,000 in all 50 states and 13
countries and is for sale in more than 1,500 bookstores nationwide."
Read the article
here.
Minnesota rancher and poet
Diane Tribitt
is the I.M. Cowgirl Senior Executive Managing Editor.
See our feature about I.M. Cowgirl
here and
visit the
I.M. Cowgirl
web site for on-line
features and more.
Posted 4/3
The April/May 2009 issue of
American Cowboy
magazine is the
annual travel issue,
and it includes extended travel features such as "20
Best Places to Live in the West,"
"History and Heritage: 18 Events that Define
the West," and "Where
Legends Linger."
Other highlights include:
A review of
Dave Stamey's
(www.davestamey.com)
new CD, Come Ride With Me, by
Mark Bedor, who
writes, "No one can make you smell the leather, hear the hoof
beats, or capture the pure, plain, laugh-out-loud fun of a
rider like Mr. Stamey...Dave's writing is as authentic as the
West itself."
(Find our review here).
Additional reviews of new
releases by Don
Edwards (Heaven
on Horseback),
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
(A Stranger Here),
and the Sons of the San Joaquin
(Live at Western Jubilee Warehouse,
CD and DVD), and of The Last
Buckaroo,
a novel by
Mackey Hedges.
A partial list of the winners
of the 2008 Western Music
Association
awards.
Readers' Choice Awards,
which include the Best Poetry Event
(in order: National Cowboy Poetry Gathering,
Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering,
and Badger Clark Hometown Cowboy Poetry
Gathering).
Additional categories include Best
Rodeo
(Cheyenne Frontier Days),
Best Family Event
(Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering);
Best Music Event
(CMA Music Festival)
and others.
Dale L. Walker's
profile of 19th century Easterner-turned miner-turned writer "Dan
DeQuille," who wrote
most notably for Virginia City's
Territorial Enterprise.
American Cowboy
includes
additional features on rodeo, Western art, fashion, style,
cooking; news;
letters to the editor; a Western events calendar, and other regular
departments. The
American Cowboy
web site
includes additional on-line features and subscription
information.
Posted 3/30
Popular singer, bandleader, and songwriter
Syd Masters'
(sydmasters.com)
song, "Under the New Mexico Skies" has been declared New
Mexico's "Official State Cowboy Song." The song was chosen from
26 finalists. A March 25, 2009
Associated Press
article quotes
State Rep. Gloria Vaughn
(R-Alamogordo) who proposed the "cowboy song" idea:
The song tells about New
Mexico, like the beautiful landscape, wildlife, the flowers
and the beautiful mountains of New Mexico—the things that we
are proudest of. And cowboys and ranchers are also the things
we are proudest of. Because we have so many ranchers and
cattle people, this is important for New Mexico.
Syd Masters performs with his band,
Syd Masters & the Swing
Riders.
Read another article about the song (which includes the lyrics)
here
in the
Las Cruces Sun-News.
[Thanks to
Jeri Dobrowski for the news]
Posted 3/27
England's
The Economist
newspaper includes a March 26, 2009 story, "Laureates
of the lariat,"
which refers to Arizona poet
Mike Dunn and
his appearance at the recent Festival of the West. The article
gives some background about gatherings in general, and also
refers to the Western Folklife Center, CowboyPoetry.com, and
to ranchers and poets Wallace McRae
and John
Dofflemyer and
others.
The Economis
t
describes itself as a "source
for the analysis of world business and current affairs."
Read the article
here.
Posted 3/27
The April, 2009 issue of
Western Horseman
features a cover story on top cowboy poet
Waddie Mitchell and his self-sustaining home,
"Off the Grid," by Senior Editor Jennifer Denison
with photography by Senior Editor Ross Hecox.
(Read more in our news item here).
Other highlights
in the April, 2009 issue include:
Bill Reynold
's
"Trail Mix," with a focus on Dave Stamey
(www.davestamey.com)
and his new CD, Come Ride With Me
(find our review here).
The article is accompanied by list of "cowboy artists and
songs, old and new, that warrant a look and listen," which
includes Adrian,
Mike Beck,
Ramblin' Jack Elliott,
and others.
Baxter Black
's
"On the Edge of Common Sense" column, this time with his
poem, "Serious Ropin' Update."
A review of award-winning writer, poet, and
rancher
Linda Hussa's
(www.hussaranch.com)
book, The Family Ranch: Land,
Children, and Tradition in the American West,
published by the
University of Nevada Press.
A review of
Houlihan,
the fourth DVD in the Vaquero series from J&S Productions (www.tapadero.com),
which, the producers describe, "traces the journey of the
vaqueros and buckaroos to the Northern Range, where they met
up with the Texas Punchers."
Western
Horseman includes news,
letters to the editor, regular features, and many additional
articles in departments that include "Ranchlands," "Western
Horsemanship," "Young Horseman," "The Arena," and "Cowboy
Culture." The
Western Horseman
web site
includes additional on-line features and subscription
information.
Posted 3/26
Colorado's
Carin Mari Lechner
and
Carin Mari & Pony
Express (www.carinmarimusic.com)
brought home awards from the
North
America Country Music Associations, International competition, held
March 9-March 15, 2009 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. From their news
release:
Carin Mari Lechner of Buena Vista,
Colorado, returned home from the North America Country Music
Associations, International Competition (NACMAI) with three
new honors. The week-long competition, which was held at the
Country Tonite Theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, wrapped-up
with the Awards Show on Sunday, March 15th, where Carin was
awarded the title of
“2009 Female Entertainer” – (Youth) Traditional Country.
This award is for the greatest competence in all aspects of
in-person performance; stage presentation, attitude, and
overall image in their category. She also won
“ 2009 Songwriter of the Year” – (Youth) Traditional Country
for her song "Always A Road". Carin (17), and her brothers
Evan (14), and Colin (19) were especially honored when their
newest CD –
Follow the Trail, won
“2009 Most Promising Album of the Year “- (Youth) Traditional
Country. This was
recorded, produced, and mastered by Golden Eagle Recording.
There were competitors from 16 states and 3 countries that
participated in the international competition, which just
celebrated its 12th year.
NACMAI is an organization that promotes the development of the
Country/Gospel Music Industry in each state and country
through an International Association. Each state/country is
required to hold state/country wide awards shows for these
aspiring artists with the understanding that the winners of
the various categories will be able to compete in the regional
runoffs, with the winners going to the International Finals.
Colorado has a “Western” category, which Carin and her two
brothers, who make up “Pony Express,”,won first place in six
areas. The National level competition calls it “Classic
Country.”
Carin also won the title of “Yodeler of the Year” – Youth, at
the Western Music
Association Festival, which was held in Albuquerque, New
Mexico in November. Carin, Colin, and Evan also won the title
of “Harmony Group of the Year” – Youth.
Read more about
Carin Mari & Pony Express
at
their web site.Posted 3/25
Colorado rancher and poet
Donna Hatton's
poem, "Ode to Robby The Rooster, Stud of The Open Range," is featured in
Poetry
While You Wait,
an initiative of the
Pikes Peak Poet Laureate Project. Selected poems "will be published in
April 2009 in booklets and on placards and distributed free to
businesses and other places where people wait for services...in Colorado
Springs and throughout the Pikes Peak region, to provide the surprises
and delights of poetry."
Read
some of Donna Hatton's poetry and more about her
here
at CowboyPoetry.com.
[photograph
by Lori Faith Merritt,
www.PhotographyByFaith.com]
Posted 3/24
California poet
Jim Cardwell's
poem, "My Pet Turtle," won second place for humor at the 83rd Annual
Poet's Dinner Contest in Oakland, California, on March 21, 2009. Jim
writes, "The Poet's Dinner Contest has been held every year since 1926.
It is the oldest event of its kind in the USA. Over the last 12 years, I
have won many awards from 1st to Honorable Mention, most of them in
humor. This contest has been very accepting of cowboy poetry." The
Annual Poet's Dinner Contest is sponsored by
Artists Embassy
International and the
Ina Coolbrith Circle.
Read some of Jim Cardwell's poetry and more about him
here
at CowboyPoetry.com.
Posted 3/24
Popular "Polish hobo-rodeo
poet"
Paul Zarzyski offers nine
commentaries for the first nine weeks of 2009 in his "News
Flashes & Fast Dashes"
at his web site, www.paulzarzyski.com.Entries include his songwriting collaborations with Wylie Gustafson of
Wylie & the Wild West; events at the
25th Annual National Cowboy
Poetry Gathering;
two new poems about his stormy relationship with his muse, "The Pummel &
Pump, the Push, the Fix, & the Trip" and "Why I Ain't Buying into the
Word,
Inspiration";
films he's been watching and music he's been listening to; and, Facebook.
Read all the entries
here.[photo by
Gordon
Stevens]
Posted 3/23
The Spring, 2009 pdf newsletter of the active
California Chapter
of the
Western Music Association,
edited by
Rodger Maxwell
(www.rodgermaxwell.com),
includes two in-depth interviews.
One interview is with musician, singer, and songwriter
Ray Doyle, who performs
independently and with
Wylie & the Wild West.
Ray's recent CD,
The Emigrant Trail, is receiving
wide attention. It includes his song, "The Jewel," which was a finalist
in a Western Folklife Center Yellowstone song competition. Ray performed
the song and other selections at a featured "Songs of Yellowstone and
the Tetons" show at the 25th Annual National
Cowboy Poetry Gathering (view an archived cybercast of the show
here).
The other interview features musician,
singer, and songwriter
Joyce Woodson, recipient of
the 2008 WMA Best Song of the Year ( “If I Hadn’t Seen the West”) and
the 2008 Will Rogers Award for Best Female Western Performer.
The quarterly publication also includes
reports of chapter news and an extensive calendar of regional events.
Email Rodger Maxwell for
subscription information.[photos by
Jeri L.
Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others
here.]
Posted 3/23
Among the highlights in the Spring, 2009 issue of
Range
magazine are:
A
feature article about cowboy, songwriter, and filmmaker
Gail Steiger
(see our earlier news about the article
here).
Mike Laughlin's profile of cowboy singer and songwriter
Ian
Tyson
(with a sidebar about Pendleton, Oregon's
Hamley & Co.).
Poems by
William E. Black
("Three-foot-two Buckaroo") and
Joe Moon
("An Old Cowhand Went Home").
Stories of ranching and ranch families in Oregon, Montana,
and South Dakota.
There are many other feature articles about ranching and range
management, politics, people, photography and art, opinion and humor,
wildlife and science, the popular ""Confessions of Red Mean Survivors," and much more, including the always-lively letters to
the editor. Visit the
Range Magazine web site for special on-line features and subscription information.
Posted 3/20
The
Poetry Foundation
announces a second season of
Poetry
Everywhere,
a film series that airs online and on public television.
From the media release:
The Poetry Foundation is
pleased to introduce 30 new short films as part of
Poetry Everywhere,
the poetry film series produced in collaboration with WGBH/Boston
and docUWM at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The films
premiere online throughout April, in conjunction with National
Poetry Month, on pbs.org, poetryfoundation.org, YouTube, and
iTunes. Poetry Everywhere
also
provides local public television stations with exciting new
programming options, as the films are available to show as
interstitials during regular broadcasts.
The
Poetry Everywhere
films not only deliver great contemporary poetry to a wider
audience through the provocative and surprising medium of
film, but also offer the rewards of poetry itself—the delights
of language, a moment of introspection, an opportunity for
revelation—in the often frenetic environments of the Internet
and television. John Barr, president of the Poetry Foundation,
said, "We are optimistic that if we can reach viewers with the
magic of poetry through these media, we can create new readers
of poetry."
This year, Poetry Everywhere
welcomes Garrison Keillor, acclaimed writer and host of A
Prairie Home Companion, as series narrator of the television
spots. Keillor defines a good poem this way: "You hear it and
a day later some of it is still there in your brain. There are
so many good poems out there, and we want to help people
experience them with Poetry Everywhere."
Produced by David Grubin in association with the Poetry
Foundation, the television spots present poets reading their
work in a variety of places, including the Geraldine R. Dodge
Poetry Festival, and celebrities such as Mary Louise Parker
and Wynton Marsalis reading their favorite poems. The films
feature such acclaimed poets as former poet laureate Ted
Kooser, the internationally renowned Naomi Shihab Nye, and
captivating crowd-pleaser Kevin Young. David Grubin has noted,
"We are all so busy. We are hoping that these poems will give
television viewers a reason to pause."
This year's additions to
Poetry Everywhere
also include 22 new animated poetry films created by student
filmmakers working with docUWM, a documentary media center at
the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the university's
writing program. The project, part of the Poetry Foundation's
mission to focus a new generation of filmmakers on poetry as
subject matter, encouraged film students to read widely from
contemporary poetry and, working closely with poets and
scholars, thoughtfully translate poetry to the screen using an
array of film and animation techniques. As poets or actors
narrate the poems, animators weave the complete texts through
the films to develop the relationship between language and
visual expression.
These vibrant and enticing animated films showcase the work of
a variety of contemporary poets, including seminal American
surrealist James Tate, young Belarusian poet Valzhyna Mort,
Cave Canem co-founder Cornelius Eady, and current poet
laureate Kay Ryan.
Visitors to Poetry Everywhere
on the Poetry Foundation's website, poetryfoundation.org, will
find the text of the featured poems as well as biographies and
more work by the poets. In addition, selected poems are
featured in a special multimedia collection on the Teachers'
Domain website, teachersdomain.org, which includes video,
background essays, strategies for teaching the poems, and
sample lesson plans.
Find a full list of new poems included in the
Poetry
Everywhere series and more
information
here and at the
Poetry Everywhere
web site.
Posted 3/19
"
Delicacy
of the Wild West Lives on for Those So Bold,"
a March 18, 2009 article by Patricia Leigh Brown in the
New York Times,
reports on the 18th annual International Comstock Mountain
Oyster Fry in Virginia City, Nevada. As the article describes,
"The cooking of testicles — also known as calf fries or lamb
fries — is a living tradition on ranches throughout rural Nevada
and the Intermountain West down through Central Texas..."
Rancher, poet, essayist and teacher
Carolyn Dufurrena,
who maintains a
blog at the Western Folklife Center web site, is quoted. Her
short film, "Traffic Report," is featured in the Western
Folklife Center's 2009 Deep West
videos, and can be viewed
here on the web.
Posted 3/19
Jay D. Jones,
Yvonne Hollenbeck, and
Jerry Schleicher are featured in a current project by
Shelly Pagliai of
Prairie Moon Quilts.
The publication is a six-month series ranch-theme quilt pattern that
can be personalized for the maker's own farm or ranch. Other
projects with cowboy poetry include a "Cowgirl Club" quarterly
newsletter.
Prairie Moon Quilts
features poets in various print publications, and Shelly Pagliai
writes, "I am beginning a project later this summer that will
contain even more cowboy poetry, and it will be centered around a
large quilt project that also includes some smaller pieces on the
theme. I'll be looking for more poets and poems related to my theme
when I get started on that. It's called 'Cowboy Album,' and it will
celebrate the life of the cowboy." Shelly invites interested poets
to contact her: Shelly Pagliai, Prairie Moon Quilts, 31763 Intrepid
Road, Macon, MO 63552; www.prairiemoonquilts.com; 660/676-0606
Shelly and her husband ranch in Macon County, Missouri. Visit the
Prairie Moon Quilts web
site for more information and on-line features.
Posted 3/17
Missouri poet and
humorist Jerry Schleicher's article, "Breaking
Records at Rock Creek,"
is the cover story in the April, 2009, issue of
Farm Collector
magazine. The article reports on a world-record threshing event. Jerry
writes, "Held last August in south-central Wisconsin by members of Rock
River Thresheree, the event brought together 29 antique threshing
machines, 29 vintage gas-powered tractors, 28 steam traction engines, and
hundreds of participants and spectators." Read the article and view an
image gallery and related articles online
here.
The January, 2009, issue of Farm
Collector contained articles by Jerry detailing the early days of
sugar beet production in western Nebraska and the Red River Valley and the
February, 2009 issue included his article about ice harvesting during the
1800s.
Jerry Schleicher also
contributes a
regular humor column to
GRIT magazine.
Jerry has a recent CD,
The Missouri Matador, which
you can read about, along with some of his poetry, in our feature
here.Posted
3/12
Nevada poet and writer
Harold Roy Miller's
story, "Western Spiritual Experience," appears in the March/April, 2009
issue of
Natural Horse
magazine.
Find some of Harold Roy Miller's poetry
here at
CowboyPoetry.com.
Posted 3/11
The
Museum of Florida History
in Tallahassee presents an traveling exhibit,
“Florida Cattle Ranching: Five
Centuries of Tradition,” March
11-August 9, 2009. The exhibit "explores the long history of
cattle ranching in Florida and how it has changed through the years."A March 8, 2009
article
at JCFloridian.com, "JC cowboy remembers
days on the range," by Deborah Buckhalter describes the exhibit as of
interest to those "whose labor on cattle
ranches helped build this community, and to the many who still raise
cattle for a living." Read the
article
here.
The
Western Folklife
Center's 2010 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering will include a focus on
Florida and Cajun cowboys.
Posted 3/10
The March/April, 2009 issue of
Rope
Burns
is filled with news from the "Cowboy Entertainment and Trade Industry,"
including:
Smoke Wade's
front-page report on the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
Jo Lynne Kirkwood's
front-page
report
on the
Moab Western Stars
Gathering and her
report
from the17th Annual Cochise Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering
Charles Williams
'
report on
12th Annual Campfire Tales at the Ft. Worth Stock Show
the regular
BAR-D column, this time featuring
a poem by
Georgie Sicking
and information about Cowboy Poetry Week
Rick Huff's
"Best of the West" poetry and music
reviews
Susan Parker's
report,
"'Stirrin' the Words' in Elko, Nevada"
from the
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
our
review
of the Celebrating 25 Years: National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
CD
editor
Bobby
Newton's "Kicking Around!" column, O.J.
Sikes' reviews, "Mad Jack" Hanks'
column, and Debra Coppinger Hill's
"Riding Drag" column
many more gathering
reports, gathering announcements, articles, news, stories, more reviews, photos
from events across the West, display ads, and event listings...and
more.
Rope Burns' subscriptions are
$15 per year:
Rope Burns,
PO Box 35, Gene Autry, OK 73436 580/389-5350.
Posted 3/9
Coloradan
Nona Kelley Carver's
poem, "My Ranch Woman's Purse," appears in the March 2, 2009 issue of
The Rocky Mountain Fence Post.
Read some of Nona Kelley Carver's poetry
here
at the BAR-D.
[Thanks to Hal Swift for the news]
Posted 3/6
The
latest 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." Hal says, "In
this one, titled 'Law Breakers,' the folks in at Shorty's Place get
t'telling stories of some almost unbelievably stupid scofflaws. And
they're all true!" You can read it
here.
Many "Old Sage" articles are archived at
Cowboy Country
Traveler.
The Nevada Observer also includes an article by Hal Swift, "
Willow
Creek Park: Ranchland To Parkland In 40 Years,"
illustrated with his photos, which tells about local ranchland that became
a park.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]
Updated 3/3
An
audio interview,
"The Cowboy Yodeler at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering," with top singer and
songwriter Wylie Gustafson of
Wylie & the Wild West
appears
here
in the March 1, 2009 podcast of Eric Model's
Conversations on the
Road. Wylie talks about his appreciation of cowboy poetry, the
nature of audiences, the essence of Western and cowboy music and poetry,
and the importance and uniqueness of the
Western
Folklife Center's
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.Eric Yodel also hosts the
Hidden America web site and
the Eric On the Road
blog.
See our feature about Wylie & the Wild West
here.
The band has a new, highly praised CD, Hang-n-Rattle, which
includes a number of songs co-written by Wylie and
"rodeo poet" Paul
Zarzyski.
Read more at the Wylie & the Wild West web site.[Photo by
Ross Hecox]
Posted 3/2
Popular Texas singer and songwriter
Jean Prescott
is featured in a local CBS news segment, "On The Range," which you
can view at bigcountryhomepage.com. The piece airs Friday, February 27, 2009, at 6
pm and again on Sunday, March 1, at 10 pm, and will be available on the
site's archive of video stories. Click the "Features" tab at
bigcountryhomepage.com for the video.See our feature about
Jean Prescott
here
and visit her web site, www.JeanPrescott.com.
Updated 3/2
Nevada writer and poet Hal Swift's
poem, "Cowboy's Wife," appears in the February 14, 2009 edition
of
Western Ag Reporter.
In October, 2008, the Western Livestock Reporter and Agri-News
combined to become the Western Ag Reporter.
Read Hal Swift's poem
here at the
Western Ag Reporter.
Read some of Hal Swift's poetry and more about him,
his book, and his CDs in
our feature here.
[photo by Johnny Gunn]
Posted 2/24
I.M. Cowgirl magazine
and its publisher,
Lee Dunn,
are featured in a
video segment
on Oklahoma's
Nowon6.com. The piece
focuses on the magazine's success in the face of a difficult economy.The magazine,
featuring "the life
of the Western woman," marks its third year of publishing with its
January-February, 2009 issue.
Minnesota rancher and poet
Diane Tribitt
is the I.M. Cowgirl Senior Executive Managing Editor, and each
issue includes cowboy poetry (this time, "Ginny in Her Dreams" by
Evelyn Roper). The current feature's cover story, by Peter Vinthagen
Simpson about the acclaimed trick-riding "All American Cowgirl
Chicks" at Sweden's Stockholm International Horse Show, joins other
features and articles including those about the
Will Rogers Medallion Awards, Cowgirl Hall of Fame inductees (by
Teresa Burleson), the Western Music Association Awards, and, and
more. Regular departments include Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns'
"Gatherin'
Strays" column, Rick Huff's
Western music and poetry reviews; Jan Swan Wood's "Outtagrass
Cattle Company" cartoons and humorous columns;
B. J. Rickard's "Stall 13" horse
care column, Janine Wilder's "Trail's Best" trail-riding
column, and others.
See our feature about I.M. Cowgirl
here and
find on-line features and
visit the
I.M. Cowgirl
web site for on-line
features and more.
Posted 2/23
The Cowtown Society of Western
Music
will hold its 11th Annual Cowtown Society Of Western Music Swingfest,
May 2nd, 2009 in Mineral Wells, Texas. Awards will be presented, and
among those on the 2009 Heroes Induction List are
Chuck Cusimano,
Johnny Boatright, and
Howard Higgins
(who is also known to many as the editor of the
Backforty Bunkhouse
Newsletter).
A special Disk Jockey of the Year Award will be awarded
posthumously to Howard Staub,
of KOTS in Deming, New Mexico. Joe Baker’s
Backforty Bunkhouse Newsletter
will receive the Publication of the Year Award.
See a list of all of the awards
here, read more about the event
here, and visit
The Cowtown Society of Western
Music web site.
Posted 2/18
Missouri poet,
writer and performer Jerry Schleicher contributes a
regular humor column to
GRIT magazine. He
pays tribute to farm and ranch women with his column "
Country
Women Rock"
in the March/April, 2009 issue. He comments that the
article, "points out that the phrase 'multi-tasking' was surely invented
to describe country women."
Read the article
here.
Jerry Schleicher's feature article, "Introducing America's Cowboy
Poets," appeared in the January/February 2008 issue of GRIT.
The article gave a comprehensive look at the history of the genre,
today's cowboy poetry gatherings, and included mentions of
Cowboy Poetry Week, CowboyPoetry.com, and the
Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry.
Jeri Dobrowski's photos illustrated the
article.
GRIT was first published in 1882. Many rural residents recall buying
their subscriptions from young people. Read more about the magazine's
history here and
find more elsewhere at the
GRIT web site,
where you can also sign up for a free, bi-weekly e-newsletter.
Jerry has a recent CD,
The Missouri Matador, which
you can read about, along with some of his poetry, in our feature
here.Posted 2/18
Barbara "Western Belle" Richhart,
the popular host of
the weekly CowTrails show
on KSJD radio from
Cortez, Colorado, has been chosen as "
Cowbelle
of the Year"
by the Southwest Colorado Livestock Association,
a recognition of her commitment to the beef industry.
A February 17, 2009
article
and photo in the Cortez Journal reports the news.
Barb Richhart's Cowtrails
program
includes Western and cowboy music, classic country, faith-inspired
music, and cowboy poetry. Inaugurated in 2002,
CowTrails
is streamed live at
www.ksjd.org.
Read more about the show in our feature
here.
Posted 2/17
A February 9, 2009 article in Wyoming's
Cody Enterprise,
Concert on April 4 fills void left by Cowboy Songs,
gives some background information about the recently announced "Songs
of the Cowboy" event (April 4,
2009), organized by musician Leslie Keltner. Find
event details here.
Posted 2/13
Top
cowboy singer and songwriter
Michael Martin Murphey (www.michaelmartinmurphey.com)
will be honored by the
Texas Heritage Songwriters' Association
along with Willie Nelson,
Guy Clark, and
Allen Shamblin
at the organization's
fifth annual
Homecoming Concert,
at the historical Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas on March 1, 2009.
Read more about the event and find ticket information at
Michael Martin Murphey's
web site
and at the
Texas Heritage Songwriters' Association web site.
Visit
Michael Martin Murphey's
web site
for videos, audio, and more; you can sign up for his regular
newsletter.
Posted 2/10
Linda
Kirkpatrick's most recent
Texas
Escapes
column, "The Day I Rode with
the Newton Boys," a tale of notorious bank robbers and more. Read the column
here.
Linda Kirkpatrick is a regular
contributor at
Texas Escapes, with her monthly Somewhere
in the West column, which concentrates on the rich history
of the Texas Hill Country.
Texas Escapes
is an on-line magazine, filled with travel and history columns and
features, articles about over 1500 Texas towns and ghost towns, historical
photos, and more. Visit the
Texas Escapes
web site.
Linda Kirkpatrick recites Bruce Kiskaddon's "The
Bronco Twister's Prayer" on
The BAR-D
Roundup: Volume Three
.
[photo of
Linda Kirkpatrick by Jeri L. Dobrowski;
see her gallery of western performers and others
here.]
Posted 2/9
Australia's Merv Webster has won
the Tamworth Songwriters
Association's National Country Songwriting Contest with his
song, "How the Times Have Changed So Quickly."
Merv tells us that in the last four years he "has
obtained 11 out of the 23 nominations available in the Lyrics Section
and won 3 out of the 4 years."
Read some of Merv's poetry and lyrics
here
and visit
his web site.
Updated 2/6
Popular South Dakota radio and rodeo
broadcaster and journalist
Jim Thompson takes part in
BlueHighways TV's
American Journeys: Medicine Wheel Approach to Horsemanship,"
Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 6 PM Eastern.
From a media release:
BlueHighways TV TV
(BHTV), an international cable, satellite and Internet network
focusing on roots music, back roads travel and Americana
culture, will air a special in the series American Journeys:
Medicine Wheel Approach to Horsemanship, Saturday,
February 7th at 6 PM Eastern. This show features Native
American trainer Phillip Whiteman, who serves as an
interpreter for the horse.
“Horses are circular thinkers,” says Phillip Whiteman. “I
communicate with them during the training in a silent circular
motion. This is a philosophy that uses the Native American
Medicine Wheel as its model.”
Additional featured guests on the
Medicine Wheel Approach
to Horsemanship episode are Jim Thompson,
nationally known pro rodeo announcer with a daily syndicated
radio rodeo program and Deb Black, Publisher of Today’s Horse Magazine.
American Journeys: Medicine Wheel Approach to Horsemanship
will repeat again on February 13 and then in May. This episode
will be available nationwide on BlueHighways TV’s Video on
Demand selections for the months of February and March. Check
www.bluehighwaystv.com for the full schedule of days and
times and cable and satellite systems that carry the network.
BlueHighways TV is also streamed internationally in 171
countries over TVU Networks and can be accessed from the same
web site.
BHTV programming features roots music, including bluegrass,
blues, folk, western, gospel and traditional country, outdoor
adventure and agriculture, lifestyle, cooking, equestrian and
a variety of other subjects valued by a wide and growing
audience....
Jim Thompson is a great friend to cowboy poetry, and his daily
Live with Jim Thompson radio
program often features cowboy poetry. The show is available
on the
web, live and in archived on-demand broadcasts. His Creative
Broadcast Services (CBSI) also produces the monthly
Heritage of the American West show in
Spearfish, South Dakota, a show that features top Western music and
cowboy poetry entertainment. Find more information at
www.livewithjt.com.
Posted 2/5
Poetry.LA,
"a video roundup of Southern California poets and venues,"
presents performances on video by seven contributors to
RATTLE's
2008 Winter Issue tribute to Cowboy and Western Poetry. Featured
poets are: Robert A. Ayres, Thea Gavin, Mark D.
Hart, Ciara Shuttleworth, Luke Shuttleworth,
Jeff Streeby,
and Donald Mace Williams.
Poetry.LA
is an online video resource of poets reading their work at
various venues throughout Southern California. Poet Hilda Weiss
and videographer Wayne Lindberg started the site as a way to
bring broader exposure to poets beyond the intimate venues where
the readings were taped. The site also spotlights the venues and
hosts of various local reading series.
From our previous
description of the RATTLE issue:
The widely-read poetry journal,
RATTLE
,
"celebrates the poetry of the
Western range" in its Winter, 2008 issue, with work
by 24 cowboy and Western poets. Among those included are
J.V. Brummels,
Thea Gavin,
DW Groethe,
Al "Doc" Mehl,
Rod Miller,
Red Shuttleworth,
Jeff Streeby,
Larry D. Thomas,
and Paul Zarzyski.
The feature includes illustrations by Ciara Shuttleworth;
the cover illustration, "Long Day," is by Mike Callahan.
Rod Miller contributes a far-reaching
and provocative essay, "A Brief Introduction to Cowboy
Poetry, or, Who's the Guy in the Big Hat and What is He Talking
About?," which includes history of the genre and commentary on
contemporary cowboy and Western poetry. He steps into the free
verse fray, "So, when a Great Basin buckaroo like
Rod McQueary, an experienced rodeo
hand like
Paul Zarzyski,
a ranch woman like Linda
Hasselstrom, or a ranch hand like
DW Groethe chooses to describe cowboy life in words
that don't rhyme (or meter) it's difficult to argue convincingly
that what they're doing isn't cowboy poetry." He continues with
the comment that "...cowboy poetry doesn't end with 'cowboy'
poems....Which brings us back to Zarzyski, who has written about
racism and the Holocaust. Wallace McRae has made poems about
environmentalism and strip mining, Rod McQueary about war, DW
Groethe about romantic spiritual connections,
Doris Daley about answering machines
and acronyms, Pat Richardson about
ducks..."
The issue also includes
Alan Fox' conversation with three-term Poet Laureate
Robert Pinsky. Among other subjects, Pinksy talks about
writing and listening to poetry, the Favorite Poem Project (www.favoritepoem.org)
he founded (the inspiration for our Favorite
Western and Cowboy Poem Project), intellectual property
rights, and how editors choose poems for publications: "...you
pretty much inevitably are making mistakes; some of those people
who think you have blundered are right...Sometimes something
remarkable and distinguished will escape your notice. Sometimes
you'll be fooled by something that looks good but is really just
plausible. That's the nature of the process."
RATTLE's Winter, 2008 issue includes an additional
Alan Fox conversation, with Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha
Trethewey, 60 pages of open poetry, and the 11 winning poems
from the 2008 Rattle Poetry Prize.
Read more about the
issue
here
and find order information
at the RATTLE web site.
RATTLE publishes print issues each June and December, with
200 pages of poetry and essays, plus two interviews with
contemporary poets. Electronic supplements in March and September
are available as free PDF downloads, and there is a free
e-newsletter. The
RATTLE web site
includes poetry, news and reviews.
Posted 2/3
California poet
Pat Richardson,
returning to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering for the tenth
time in 2009, is featured in a January 24, 2008 article by
Elizabeth McMunn-Tetangco, "Merced's
Cowboy Poet," in the Merced Sun-Star. The
feature article also includes video, audio, and photographs.
Read the article
here.
See our feature about Pat Richardson here, and
visit his web site at www.patrichardsonpoet.com.
[photo by Yvonne Hollenbeck]
Posted 1/26
A January 23, 2008 article by Steve Crump, "One
Very Brave Idaho Cowboy Poet," in Idaho's Times
News, features poet and reciter
Rusty McCall. (Rusty
attended the College of Southern Idaho.) Read the article
here.
Rusty McCall—who
has faced multiple surgeries, radiation, and ongoing treatment for his
neurofibromatosis condition—will perform at the
25th Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering,
despite his serious hearing and balance problems. Rusty made his first
appearance at the gathering at age 3, in 1989. He has performed there
many times since, sometimes along with other the other poets and
reciters in his ranching family, including his parents, Dave and
Deanna McCall, and his sisters Terri and
Katie. Rusty faces major brain tumor surgery soon after this
year's event.
Posted 1/26
Respected poet, writer, and editor
Virginia Bennett's
poetry is featured regularly in
Miniature World Showcase.
The December, 2008 issue includes her poem, "Cowboy Blessings."
Virginia Bennett
began
performing cowboy poetry since 1988. She was regularly featured at the
Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, Virginia and has also shared her work at
the Smithsonian Institute, and has been featured many times on PBS and
NPR specials. She started working on Western ranches in 1971,
alongside her ranch manager husband, Pete. She started colts for the public
for 20 years, has shown hunter/jumpers, driven draft teams for a living,
and drawn cowboy wages on big outfits. A serious horse accident
in 2004 has prevented her from performing in recent years.
Virginia edited
Cowgirl
Poetry, One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin', published by
Gibbs
Smith Publishing. We have a feature about the book and a selection
of poems (including Virginia's "All That is Left") and
Virginia's introduction here. She is also the editor of
Cowboy Poetry:
The Reunion, published by Gibbs
Smith Publishing. The book was printed in celebration of the
20th
Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering at Elko, Nevada. We have a
feature about the book, along with its contents and her introduction
here.
She has published volumes of
her poetry, including Canyon of the Forgotten and Legacy of the Land,
and In the Company
of Horses.
Read some of her poetry and more about her in
our feature here.
Today Virginia and Pete Bennett live in
Goldendale, Washington, where Pete makes custom spurs (www.bennettspurs.com).
A photo of Pete's father, Orville Bennett, Texas
cowboy, 1920, is featured as the cover of the 2007 edition of
The BAR-D Roundup.
Posted 1/26
Two recent news articles feature upcoming gatherings:
The Eastern Arizona Courier
has an article about the
Second Annual Gila River Heritage Round-Up
in its January, 18, 2009 issue. Read the article
here and find event details
here at the BAR-D.
The Sierra Vista Herald has an
article about the 17th Annual Cochise Cowboy Poetry and
Music Gathering in its January 19, 2009 issue. Read the
article
here and find event details
here at the BAR-D.
Posted 1/22
The
latest 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."
Hal says, "In this one,
Shorty sends Logan West to pick up some tablecloths at the stage
office, where he decides it's only common courtesy to spend a few
minutes with Jasper, Ethan and Old Bob—better known as the Drytown
Liars' Club."
You can read it
here.
Many "Old Sage" articles are archived at
Cowboy Country
Traveler.
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]
Updated 1/16
Popular "Polish hobo-rodeo
poet"
Paul Zarzyski
and his recent CDs, Collisions of Reckless Love and
Rock 'n Rowel, are featured in "Wild in Willow Glen" by Gary Singh,
an article in the January 14,
2009 issue of Metroactive. The extensive article tells about his
collaboration with producer Gordon Stevens
and the musicians at San Jose, California's
Open Path Studios, and how the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering brought
them all together.
See our feature about Paul Zarzyski
here.
Read the article
here.
Posted 1/15
The January/February, 2009 issue of
Rope
Burns
is filled with news from the "Cowboy Entertainment and Trade Industry,"
including:
