Baxter Black Cowboy Poet

Baxter Black, ready to ride. Photo: Cindy Carpien

December 6, 1999 -- Certain voices have become signatures of Morning Edition's first 20 years, but none is more recognizable than the cowboy twang of poet, philosopher and large-animal veterinarian Baxter Black. Black's cowboy rhyme and reasoning have engaged or enraged Morning Edition listeners since 1988. His missives on NPR focus on ranch and rural life, animals large and small and a political philosophy steeped in the cowboy culture of the American West.

Howard Berkes with Baxter's sorrel roping horse, Sonny. Photo: Cindy Carpien

Morning Edition turns the tables on Black, with a story about him instead of by him. NPR Senior Correspondent Howard Berkes teamed with producer Cindy Carpien of member station KNAU (Flagstaff, AZ) for an admittedly self-indulgent look at the real Baxter Black. They reveal that Black is also heard on commercial radio and is featured in newspapers nationwide. They describe Black as an entertainment enterprise that goes well beyond his NPR essays.

Baxter on his horse, Sonny, and Howard on Coyote. Photo: Cindy Carpien

Howard and Cindy's report answers these questions: Is Black really a cowboy? What exactly is a large-animal veterinarian and why does NPR call him that? Does he really talk that way? How did he go from coaxing calves out of the birth canals of cows to coaxing words to rhyme and story-telling?

Listen to Howard and Cindy's visit with Baxter Black at his ranch in Benson, Arizona.