Cowboy Legacy & Western Ways

Cowboy Poetry at the BAR-D Ranch
by Margo Metegrano, Editor, CowboyPoetry.com

February is filled with great events, including the 24th Annual Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Alpine; the 18th Annual Cochise Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering in Sierra Vista, Arizona; the 10th Annual Saddle Up! Celebration in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; the 6th annual Spirit of the West Cowboy Gathering in Ellensburg, Washington; and Moab's Western Stars in Moab, Utah.

Dublin-born top musician, singer, and songwriter Ray Doyle has been a part of the popular Wylie & the Wild West band for over 20 years. He's also in demand as a solo performer (he performed solo in January at the 21^st annual Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Arvada and at the 26^th annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada). He is featured as a solo performer at the 10^th Annual Saddle Up! Celebration in Pigeon Forge (February 25-28). Ray's 2008 CD, The Emigrant Trail, has received wide airplay and wide acclaim. "The Jewel," one of its enchanting songs, won the Western Folklife Center's Yellowstone and Tetons song contest and was included on their Deep West Songs of Yellowstone and the Tetons CD.

The Jewel

There's a place upon this good green earth
like nowhere else you've ever seen
where misty mountains soar above, majestic and serene
clear and gentle waters flow, past grazing elk and buffalo
like a picture from the past, inside a dream

But sleeping restless deep below the summer sun and winter snow
there lies a secret waiting to be told
and with a shudder and a rumble wakes,
as pulses race and timber shakes
like they did as mighty ages rolled It's the meeting of the water and the fire
a merging of a heaven and a hell
a land of wonder and surprise
where water flows up to the skies
a place of sulfur, smoke and ash
where God must surely dwell

If you believe in heaven high
then you should go before you die
and see the jewel we call Yellowstone If I could paint a canvas right
like Remington or Russell might
you'd see my little picture bright and true
But I've just got words to close the deal
a piece of wood and strings of steel
this postcard sent with love, from me to you           chorus

 © 2007, Ray Doyle, All rights reserved

The Emigrant Trail is available for $18 postpaid from Ray Doyle, PO Box 661111, Mar Vista, CA 90066; and at CDBaby. Find more, including a great video at www.raydoyle.net.

Find more about hundreds of cowboy poets and Western musicians at CowboyPoetry.com. It's an on-going gathering, with continuous news, features, poetry, lyrics, gathering reports, and an extensive event calendar. Come on by and stay a while.