Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Westerners: a CD review

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

Westerners Cover

Westerners

We’ve just previewed Westerners, a newly released album of western and cowboy music by Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue (Bruce and Sue Matley of Prescott, Washington). They offer some of their own compositions as well as a generous touch of traditional songs for a total of seventeen tracks.

Their selection of music and their unique renditions make it easy to understand why they are in such great demand on the Northwestern fair circuit, serving up nearly 175 performances in 2009. Fans will love this album which concludes with a thirty-eight second flashback to years of yore as 4-year-old Slim sings his own composition, “Buddy and Me,” and new listeners will certainly become fans.

My own bias leans toward “Border Affair” which is a musical rendition of a poem by a 1940 acquaintance of mine, Charles “Badger” Clark, the classic cowboy poet who was then Poet Laureate of South Dakota. Then, too, my wife and I especially enjoyed “Don’t Fence Me In” which was our junior class theme song in 1944-45. Great stuff!

The tracks are: I Ride the Range the Modern Way, Show Me Mister, Cattle Call, The Cowboy That Made Me Blue, They Call The Wind Mariah, Common Wisdom, Border Affair (Spanish is the Loving Tongue), Don’t Fence Me In, Coyotes, Home to You, The West, I’ve Got Spurs, Waitin’ For Ice Cream, The Ranch That I Can’t See, Happy Trails, and Buddy and Me

The album can be previewed and purchased at CD Baby and there’s more about this dynamic western duo on their website.

Columbia River Gathering

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

I’ve just been confirmed for appearances at the 7th Annual Columbia River Cowboy Gathering & Music Festival in Kennewick, WA on April 9 through 11.

There’s quite a lineup of other talent: Stonewall Jackson, Jimmy Fortune, Sourdough Slim, Sage Keifer, Smoke Wade, B. J. Smith, Sam Deleeuw, Zac Grooms, Joshua Crosby, Shiloh Sharrard, Rod Erikson, Bodie Dominguez, and Coyote Joe Sarton.

Wyoming Gig

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

We recently returned from a tour in Wyoming. The highlight was a Cowboy Dinner Show sponsored by Open Range Magazine in Glenrock, WY on September 24.

It was my pleasure to be on stage with Michael Martin Murphey, the top western and country singer in the U.S. Other performers at the event were cowboy poets Mason Tibbs, DJ and ranch manager, and Dave P. Fisher, award-winning author and poet.

Photographs taken at the show by Amanda Smith, internationally renowned western photographer,are posted in my Photo Album.

Other events were appearances for Senior Associations in Glenrock and Torrington, WY. Seniors are always a great audience!

» Latest poem: The Lonely Asterisk
» Latest book: Views from the Saddle
» Chapbook: Eight Viewpoints: western poetry

Chopin’s Minute Waltz

Monday, August 24th, 2009

One of my poems, “Chopin’s Minute Waltz,” has been accepted by Moonrise Press of Los Angeles, California for inclusion in a forthcoming anthology of contemporary poetry, Chopin with Cherries: a tribute in verse, edited by Maja Trochimczyk. The bilingual book, with poems in both English and Polish, is a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Polish pianist-composer, Fryderyk Chopin. Formal presentation of the book is to be at the 3rd International Chopin Congress in Warsaw, Poland, February 24-March 1, 2010.

» Latest poem: Red Prairie Rose
» Latest book: Views from the Saddle
» Chapbook: Eight Viewpoints: western poetry

WMA Awards

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

Update 8/21/09: The number of cowboy poetry books now under consideration for the 2009 WMA award has been reduced to four, one of which is my book, Western Images.

The Western Music Association (WMA) is now balloting for a variety of awards one of which is for the best cowboy poetry book of the year. My book, Western Images, which won the 2008 Will Rogers Medallion Award, is one of the six top cowboy poetry books nominated for this year’s WMA award. The winner is expected to be announced in November.

» Latest poem: My Hero, Earl
» Latest book: Views from the Saddle now available!
» Chapbook: Eight Viewpoints: western poetry, now available!

Country Music Ending?

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

A Newsweek article on the internet asks if the end of traditional country music is in sight. Goodness, it was just a few days ago that they asked a similar question about poetry. For sure, the subject matter of country music has been abused by some over the past several years but the genre will continue as long as there are six packs, plastic caps, gun racks, and pickup trucks.

Much of traditional country music can be enjoyed by the general public, just as that public enjoys traditional poetry, and that (in my mind) insures it’s continuance! It’s up to composers and performers to get good country music into, and keep it in, the public arena…not relenquishing it to a cult following.

» Latest poem: Trailin’
»
Latest book: Views from the Saddle scheduled for June release