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Below:
2007 Western Music Festival Winners and Top Five Nominations 2006 Western Music Festival Winners and Top Five Nominations
Elsewhere at CowboyPoetry.com: Photos and more from the 2007 Festival Report and photos from the 2006 Festival
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Winners of the Western Music Association (WMA) awards were announced at the organization's 19th Annual Western Music Festival, held November 15-18, 2007 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. WMA members select the nominees and winners.
In 2006, the WMA introduced three new awards for cowboy poetry: Female Poet of the Year, Male Poet of the Year, and Best Collaboration of Poet and Musician. For 2007, the organization has added two additional awards: Best Cowboy Poetry Book and Best Cowboy Poetry CD. (See a list of the top five nominees in all categories here at the BAR-D.) The winners in poetry categories are:
MALE POET OF THE YEAR: Les Buffham
FEMALE POET OF THE YEAR: Yvonne HollenbeckCOWBOY POETRY CD OF THE YEAR: What Would Martha Do by Yvonne Hollenbeck
COWBOY POETRY BOOK OF THE YEAR: From My Window by Yvonne Hollenbeck
photo by Lori Faith Merritt, www.PhotographyByFaith.com
Yvonne Hollenbeck, with her awards presented by Jim and Andy NelsonBEST SONG COLLABORATION OF POET AND MUSICIAN: "El Fuego" by Curly Musgrave & Virginia Bennett
photo by Jeri Dobrowski, www.jeridobrowski.com
Curly Musgrave and friends Susan Parker, Margo Metegrano, and Belinda Gail
call Virginia Bennett to give her the news
Winners in music categories are:
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR: Lynn Anderson
photo by Jeri Dobrowski, www.jeridobrowski.com
Joe Baker presented Lynn Anderson's award
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR: Dave Stamey
photo by Jeri Dobrowski, www.jeridobrowski.com
Dave StameyTRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Red Rock Moon by Curly Musgrave & Belinda Gail
photo by Jeri Dobrowski, www.jeridobrowski.com
Belinda Gail and Curly MusgraveTRADITIONAL DUO/GROUP: Sons of the San Joaquin
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR: Dave Stamey
SONG OF THE YEAR: "I Hope She'll Love Me" by Juni Fisher & Joe Hannah
photo by Jeri Dobrowski, www.jeridobrowski.com
Joe Hannah and Juni FisherINSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR: Tim Johnson - Sons of the San Joaquin
WESTERN SWING DUO/GROUP: The Texas Trailhands
photo by Jeri Dobrowski, www.jeridobrowski.com
Devon DawsonWESTERN SWING ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Cowgirl by Lynn Anderson
CRESCENDO AWARD: The Quebe Sisters Band
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR: Riders in the Sky
photo by Lori Faith Merritt, www.PhotographyByFaith.com
Riders in the Sky with Steve TaylorRADIO STATION OF THE YEAR: KWMW - Ruidoso, NM
RADIO DJ OF THE YEAR: Marvin O'Dell
photo by Jeri Dobrowski, www.jeridobrowski.com
Marvin O'Dell with Bill BarwickAdditional awards of tribute were presented, selected by the Board of Directors:
Pioneer Trail Award: Marilyn Tuttle
photo by Lori Faith Merritt, www.PhotographyByFaith.com
Marilyn Tuttle with Joe Hannah and Ranger DougHall of Fame: Rex Allen Jr., Fleming Allen
photo by Jeri Dobrowski, www.jeridobrowski.com
Johnny Western presents Rex Allen Jr. with the Hall of Fame AwardThe Bill Wiley Award: Margo Metegrano
The popular, well attended event welcomes the public, and offers entertainment, seminars, youth programs, open stages, vendors, a members' meeting, jam sessions, and more. More than eighty poets and musicians perform on daytime stages and nightly concert venues. The 2007 festival was attended by over 350 registered attendees and the public. Special evening shows included concerts by Riders in the Sky and by Lynn Anderson, a "Barn Dance" show featuring more than 30 entertainers, and "Best of the Best" closing show featuring top poets and musicians.
Read a recent media release about the event in our feature here.
See more photos from the 2007 event here.
Visit the WMA web site for more.
The Top-Five Nominees
2007
The top five nominees in all cowboy poetry categories are:
MALE POET OF THE YEAR
Les Buffham
DW Groethe
Don Kennington
Andy Nelson
Jay Snider
FEMALE POET OF THE YEAR
Virginia Bennett
Buckshot Dot (Dee Strickland Johnson)
Doris Daley
Sam DeLeeuw
Yvonne Hollenbeck
BEST SONG COLLABORATION OF POET AND MUSICIAN
"Born to Be a Cowboy" by David Anderson & Sam DeLeeuw
"Dining Out" by Jean Prescott & Yvonne Hollenbeck
"El Fuego" by Curly Musgrave & Virginia Bennett
"Shades of the West" by Doris Daley & Eli Barsi
"Where the Wild Horses Run" by Terri Taylor & Curly Syndergaard
COWBOY POETRY CD OF THE YEAR
16 Horses by Van Criddle
Good for What Ails You by Doris Daley
Harvey's Moon by Andy Nelson
Of Horses & Men by Jay Snider
What Would Martha Do by Yvonne Hollenbeck
COWBOY POETRY BOOK OF THE YEAR
Arizona Women by Buckshot Dot (Dee Strickland Johnson)
From My Window by Yvonne Hollenbeck
In the Company of Horses by Virginia Bennett
Unhobbled by Pat Richardson
West River Waltz by DW Groethe.The top-five nominees in other categories are:
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Lynn Anderson
Kip Calahan
Belinda Gail
Juni Fisher
Jean Prescott
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
David Anderson
Bill Barwick
Don Edwards
Curly Musgrave
Dave Stamey
TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Born to Be A Cowboy by David Anderson
Cowgirl by Lynn Anderson
Cowgirlography by Juni Fisher
Red Rock Moon by Curly Musgrave & Belinda Gail
Sweethearts in Carhartts by Jean Prescott
TRADITIONAL DUO/GROUP
Call of the West
Curly Musgrave & Belinda Gail
Riders In The Sky
Sons of the San Joaquin
STAMPEDE!
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR:
Liz Anderson
Les Buffham
Juni Fisher
Jack Hannah
Dave Stamey
SONG OF THE YEAR
"Cowboy Standard Time" by Bill Barwick
"The Creakin' of the Leather" by Curly Musgrave & Belinda Gail
"I Hope She'll Love Me" by Juni Fisher & Joe Hannah
"I Rode In as a Stranger" by Liz Anderson
"Where the Wild Horses Run" by Terri Taylor & Curly SyndergaardINSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR
Jean Cahill - Call of the West
Douglas B. Green - Riders In The Sky
Tim Johnson - Sons of the San Joaquin
Curly Musgrave
Washtub Jerry
WESTERN SWING DUO/GROUP
Asleep at the Wheel
The Quebe Sisters Band
STAMPEDE!
The Texas Trailhands
Wylie and the Wild West
WESTERN SWING ALBUM OF THE YEAR
American Fiddler by Tim Johnson
Colorado Swing by Nancy Thorwardson
Cowgirl by Lynn Anderson
Far Away by George Dickey & Nancy Lee
Western Sky by Judy Coder & Pride of the Prairie
CRESCENDO AWARD
The Booher Brothers
Jon Messenger
The Quebe Sisters Band
Trails & Rails
The Yampa Valley Boys
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Bill Barwick
Kip Calahan
Riders In The Sky
Sons of the San Joaquin
Dave Stamey
RADIO STATION OF THE YEAR
KFDI - Wichita, KS
KWMW - Ruidoso, NM
KRRM - Rogue River, OR
KRLC - Lewiston, ID
KSJD - Cortez, CO
RADIO DJ OF THE YEAR
Al Krtil
Andy & Jim Nelson
Marvin O'Dell
O.J. Sikes
Johnny Western
2007 Media Release
IT AIN’T COUNTRY: WESTERN MUSIC ALIVE AND WELL!
ALBUQUERQUE – October 24, 2007 – The Duke City and the state of New Mexico are preparing to host the Western Music Association’s huge International Music Festival for the fourth consecutive year. This year’s event is the WMA’s 19th annual get-together for Cowboy musicians and poets from across the United States, Canada and as far away as Great Britain and will be held November 15th through 18th at the Marriott Albuquerque Hotel & Convention Center.
“We’re really excited to have the festival return here,” said WMA board member Rick Huff, one of two national representatives from New Mexico. “Apparently we’ve impressed everyone with the growth of the event since it moved here.”
More than eighty different Western Music acts and Cowboy Poets will perform on daytime stages and nightly concert venues. Special shows with Riders In The Sky and Lynn Anderson with Taos’ popular South By Southwest are also scheduled along with Award Showcases for other top national performers.
As Huff enthusiastically points out, “Western Music…and I mean the real stuff…songs about Cowboy life, loves, lore and locale…is America’s forgotten indigenous music. Every year more and more people learn not only that it’s not dead, but it’s actually growing bigger than ever as it flies under the media radar! The world knows it, and America is finally finding out!”
Cowboy Poets will have increased visibility this year as well. From her office in California Margo Metegrano, the founder of the nation’s foremost website for the genre, CowboyPoetry.com, praised the WMA’s outreach, saying “the Western Music Association respects the long tradition of ‘bards and balladeers.’ Their (five) additional awards exclusively for poets are indicative of the level of commitment, and I join the large number of poets who are looking forward to taking part in the 2007 Festival.”
Event tickets and day passes will be available at the door and the schedule is on the WMA website www.westernmusic.org. For more information, local contact numbers are (505) 265-1582 or (505) 232-3184.
WMA Welcomes Cowboy Poets
Cowboy poets have long been welcome as members in the Western Music Association (WMA), and in 2006 the organization strengthened that acceptance by introducing three new awards: Female Poet of the Year, Male Poet of the Year, and Best Collaboration of Poet and Musician. For 2007, the organization has added two additional awards: Best Cowboy Poetry Book
and Best Cowboy Poetry CD. Awards are selected by the organization's members in two rounds of mail voting.
The Best Collaboration of Poet and Musician award is particularly fitting in its recognition of poets' important contributions to Western music, as many of today's best songwriters work with poets to create top songs. The first-ever winners of the award in 2006 were poet Yvonne Hollenbeck and songwriter Jean Prescott for their song, "How Far is Lonesome." The song, which is on Jean Prescott's Embers of Time CD, began as a poem, included in Yvonne Hollenbeck's award-winning book, Where Prairie Flowers Bloom.
Other finalists in the Best Collaboration category included the poet and songwriter pairs of Joel Nelson and Curly Musgrave ("Men Who Ride No More"); Les Buffham and Mike Ley ("Nobody Kisses Their Horse Any More"); Les Buffham and Dave Stamey ("Spin that Pony"); and Debra Hilll/D. Enise and Jon Messenger ("Spirits of Truth").Yvonne Hollenbeck was also named the 2006 Female Poet of the Year. She comments, "It is not only exciting to win an award, but to be the first ever recipient of the Female Poet of the Year award by the Western Music Association was a particular honor, and wonderful. This is especially true after having attended the best-organized convention I have ever witnessed and seeing firsthand the hard work and dedication by the many talented people who make up the organization. It was a double pleasure to have won the song collaboration award with Jean Prescott, to have the opportunity to get to work with various singers and musicians, and also to see the WMA recognize the marriage between songwriters and poets through this award. I feel truly blessed to be a part of the Western Music Association and what it stands for."
The other finalists for Female Poet of the Year were Buckshot Dot (Dee Strickland Johnson), Doris Daley, Linda Kirkpatrick, and Sam DeLeeuw.
Wyoming's popular poet, emcee, humorist, and radio co-host Andy Nelson was named Male Poet of the Year. Andy expressed his reaction to receiving the award, "As a WMA Board member who has been working with the whole Western Music Association membership to strengthen the participation of and acceptance of cowboy poets, receiving this award was a nearly indescribable experience. The idea that all the hard work of so many people culminated in only one person (me) receiving the award gave me unforgettable feelings of gratitude and humility."The other finalists for Male Poet of the Year were Don Kennington, Gary Robertson, Les Buffham, and Jay Snider.
The 2006 awards for poets, musicians, and others were presented at a standing-room-only event at the Western Music Association Awards Show and Festival in November in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The popular festival, which welcomes the public, offers entertainment, seminars, youth programs, open stages, vendors, a members' meeting, jam sessions, and more.
In announcing the two new, additional awards for cowboy poets in 2007, Best Cowboy Poetry Book and Best Cowboy Poetry CD, WMA President Steve Taylor commented, "We received so much positive reaction that we felt it was well deserving to add the additional award categories," He reminded poet members,"... This is your organization and every vote counts."
For their first year in 2007, the book and CD awards have a two-year window of eligibility; books and CDs released in 2005 and 2006 are eligible for nomination. Nominees must be WMA members.
The WMA's commitment to poets is further reflected in its quarterly magazine, The Western Way. The magazine carries a top-ten cowboy poetry playlists from member DJ's and includes reviews of cowboy poetry books and recordings. The Western Way now also includes a regular column, "Before the Song," which focuses on cowboy poetry and Western music collaborations and includes a roundup of recent cowboy poetry books and recordings.
The WMA is a thriving organization, with nearly 700 members. In recent years, attendance at the Awards Show and Festival has increased exponentially. In 2006, the awards luncheon and evening shows—all top-quality events featuring poets and musicians— were filled beyond capacity.
A version of this article by Margo Metegrano, appears in the May/June, 2007 issue of Cowboy Troubadour and the June, 2007 edition of the Backforty Bunkhouse newsletter
The 2006 Western Music Association Award Winners
The WMA put out a warm welcome to poet members, and also introduced awards that recognize cowboy poets: Female Poet of the Year, Male Poet of the Year, and Best Collaboration of Poet and Musician.
The winners in all categories for 2006:
Female Poet of the Year: Yvonne Hollenbeck
photo by Lori Faith Merritt, www.PhotographyByFaith.com
Yvonne HollenbeckMale Poet of the Year: Andy Nelson
photo by Lori Faith Merritt, www.PhotographyByFaith.com
Andy NelsonBest Collaboration of Poet and Musician:
"How Far is Lonesome," Jean Prescott/Yvonne HollenbeckTraditional Duo/Group: Belinda Gail and Curly Musgrave
photo by Lori Faith Merritt, www.PhotographyByFaith.com
Belinda Gail and Curly MusgraveFemale Vocalist of the Year: Juni Fisher
photo by Lori Faith Merritt, www.PhotographyByFaith.com
Juni FisherMale Vocalist of the Year: Dave Stamey
Traditional Album of the Year:
Sons of the San Joaquin: Way Out YonderInstrumentalist of the Year: Joey Miskulin
Radio DJs of the Year: Andy and Jim Nelson, Clear Out West (C. O. W.) Radio
photo by Lori Faith Merritt, www.PhotographyByFaith.com
Andy and Jim NelsonWestern Swing Duo/Group: The Texas Trailhands
Western Swing Album of the Year: Wylie and the Wild West: Live at the Tractor
Crescendo Award: Eli Barsi and STAMPEDE! (tie)
photo by Lori Faith Merritt, www.PhotographyByFaith.com
Kip Calahan with STAMPEDE! (Terri Taylor, Steve Taylor, and David Anderson)Songwriter of the Year: Jack Hannah
photo by Lori Faith Merritt, www.PhotographyByFaith.com
Lindalee Green and Jack HannahSong of the Year: "For the Freedom"—R. W. Hampton
Entertainer of the Year: Dave Stamey
Radio Station of the Year: KNMB—Ruidoso, New Mexico
The WMA awards, given to their members, are voted on by members. Additional awards of tribute were presented:
The Bill Wiley Award: Stan and Alma Tussing
Pioneer Trail Award: Liz Anderson
Hall of Fame: Sons of the San Joaquin, Carl T. SpragueWillie Schooler was given a tribute by Jon Messenger
The Top-Five Nominees
2006
The top-five nominees in all categories for 2006:
Female Poet of the Year:
Buckshot Dot (Dee Strickland Johnson)
Doris Daley
Linda Kirkpatrick
Sam DeLeeuw
Yvonne HollenbeckMale Poet of the Year:
Andy Nelson
Don Kennington
Gary Robertson
Les Buffham
Jay SniderBest Collaboration of Poet and Musician:
"Men Who Ride No More," Joel Nelson/Curly Musgrave
"Nobody Kisses Their Horse Any More," Les Buffham/Mike Ley
"Spin that Pony," Les Buffham/Dave Stamey
"Spirits of Truth," Jon Messenger/Debra Hill/D. Enise
"How Far is Lonesome," Jean Prescott/Yvonne HollenbeckTraditional Duo/Group
Belinda Gail and Curly Musgrave
Judy Coder and the Pride of the Prairie
Riders in the Sky
Sons of the San Joaquin
STAMPEDE!Female Vocalist of the Year
Belinda Gail
Jean Prescott
Juni Fisher
Kip Calahan
Terri TaylorMale Vocalist of the Year
Curly Musgrave
David Anderson
Dave Stamey
Don Edwards
R. W. HamptonTraditional Album of the Year
Eli Barsi: Shades of the West
Jon Messenger: Spirit
Les Buffham: Les Buffham and Friends
R. W. Hampton: I Believe
Sons of the San Joaquin: Way Out YonderInstrumentalist of the Year
Curly Musgrave
David Anderson
Jeanne Cahill
Joey Miskulin
Rich O'BrienRadio DJ of the Year
Andy and Jim Nelson
Joe Baker
Johnny Western
Marvin O'Dell
OJ SikesWestern Swing Duo/Group
Asleep at the Wheel
Open Range
STAMPEDE!
The Texas Trailhands
Wylie and the Wild WestWestern Swing Album of the Year
Bobbie Flores Band: Too Many Ribers
Lon Hannah: Cause I Always Wanted to
Nancy Thorwardson: Colorado Swing
Scotty Fitch: A Hundred Years Too Late
Wylie and the Wild West: Live at the TractorCrescendo Award
Eli Barsi
Lost Canyon Rangers
O'Brien Family Band
STAMPEDE!
The Quebe SistersSongwriter of the Year
Curly Musgrave
Dave Stamey
Donnie Blanz
Jack Hannah
Les BuffhamSong of the Year
"A Cowgirl's Dream"—Janet McBride
"For the Freedom"—R. W. Hampton
"Lord of the Rollin' Hills"—Sons of the San Joaquin
"Nighttime Out on the Range"—Jerry Campbell/Robert Wagner
"Where the Very Same Cottonwoods Grow"— Jack HannahEntertainer of the Year
Curly Musgrave and Belinda Gail
Dave Stamey
Riders in the Sky
R. W. Hampton
Sons of the San JoaquinRadio Station of the Year
KBEC—Waxahatchie, Texas
KFDO—Wichita, Kansas
KIIM—Tucson, Arizona
KNMB—Ruidoso, New Mexico
KRLC—Lewiston, IdahoSee the Western Music Association web site for information about membership, the annual festival, and more.
