Cowboy Legacy & Western Ways

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

September brings many great long-standing cowboy poetry and music events, including Colorado’s 22nd Annual Durango Cowboy Gathering; the 22nd Annual National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, Texas;  Saskatchewan’s 21st Annual Maple Creek Cowboy Poetry Gathering; New Mexico’s 18th Annual Nara Visa Gathering;  the 18th Annual Gila Valley Cowboy Poetry & Music Gathering in Safford, Arizona; the 19th Annual Nebraska Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Old West Days in Valentine; Wyoming’s  Devils Tower 16th Annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering; the 13th Annual Badger Clark Hometown Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering in Hot Springs, South Dakota; and the San Juan Western Heritage Festival and 13th Annual National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo, held together in  Montrose, Colorado.

At the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo (September 17-18, 2010)—conceived by and produced by poet Sam Jackson—poets compete for prize money, silver buckles, and trophies. This year’s "riders" will come from 14 states, Canada, and Australia. Sam states the event’s aim as "excellence through competition." That goal is reflected in the impressive list of past competitors and winners, who include top poets and reciters such as Pat Richardson, Doris Daley, Jerry Brooks, Jane Morton, Janice Gilbertson, Yvonne Hollenbeck, Dennis Gaines, DW Groethe, Linda Kirkpatrick, Andy Nelson, Jay Snider, Ken Cook, and Diane Tribitt.

The National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo also includes evening entertainment, and the popular, respected Western singer and songwriter Brenn Hill headlines at the Saturday evening show. In his songs, Brenn is known for capturing real Western life with stunning clarity. These lyrics, from his Endangered album, are a fine example:

PICKUP TRUCK CAFÉ

Talk about the weather
And the prices of cattle
Your wife's worthless brother
And his brand new saddle

Talk about women
The heart-breakin' kind
And lay it all on the table
Get it off your mind

Down at the Pickup Truck Café
We drink coffee here every day
We sit and talk the morning away
Down at the Pickup Truck Café

'Cross the county line
And out on the very edge of town
You'll never see the sign
Facin' down on the ground

The world's movin' on
The mornin' radio
Twenty years long gone
Nobody knows where they go

Down at the Pickup Truck Café
We drink coffee here every day
We sit and talk the morning away
Down at the Pickup Truck Café

It don't matter what you wear
It don't matter who you are
Cuz most things they don't care
But don't you dare drive a car

Down to the Pickup Truck Café
We drink coffee here every day
We sit and watch the time just fade away
Down at the Pickup Truck Café

© 2004 Red Cliffs Press Music (BMI) / Silversongs West (BMI), All rights reserved

Though he is as accomplished with horses as he is with his music, Brenn doesn’t like to call himself a “cowboy”; he says he has too much respect for the real cowboys and their work, and is grateful to be able to help out when he can on friends’ ranches.

Brenn is thoughtful about all of the work he does. He is featured in an extensive profile in the September, 2010 issue of Western Horseman, where he’s quoted as saying, “I believe the Western genre commemorates a way of life that’s unique to the West, and I consider it a sacred duty to carry forth this genre as those before me have done.”

Brenn Hill’s brand new CD, Equine, is already a runaway favorite with listeners and reviewers alike. Find more about Brenn and all of his music at www.brennhill.com.

Learn more about the gatherings mentioned above at CowboyPoetry.com, where you’ll also find hundreds of cowboy poets and Western musicians and their works. It's an on-going gathering, with continual news, features, poetry, lyrics, gathering reports, and an extensive event calendar. Come by and stay a while.

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