Cowboy Poets, Celebrating the American West
20th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Corrals Performers, Fans
"Rodeo" poet Paul Zarzyski of Montana, at the 20th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev.
Performances from the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
Poems
Waddie Mitchell Paul Zarzyski - 'Old Sorrel Mare Turning More and More Roan' Paul Zarzyski - 'Bizarzyski Mad Baird and Carpenter Savant of Manchester, Montana, Feeds the Finicky Birds' Wally McRae - 'Things of Intrinsic Worth' Wally McRae - Free-verse tribute to Paul Zarzyski Joel Nelson - 'Equus Caballus' Georgie Sicking - 'Cowboying's No Life for a Lady'Songs
Andy Wilkinson - 'Promises of Rain' Sourdough Slim - I Want My Boots On When I Die Wylie Gustafson and The Wild West - 'Yodeling Fool(Satisfaction)'Cowboy poets, writers, musicians and their fans descended on the small town of Elko, Nev., for the 20th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Who better to report on the sights and sounds of it all than Morning Edition's own resident cowboy poet and commentator Baxter Black.
The performers include Wally McRae, a third-generation Montana rancher who says he enjoys "getting on stage and having that nervous adrenaline and having the rush to get up there." But McRae says he has the advantage -- he knows what's coming and the audience doesn't.
Among the musical performers is Wylie Gustafson, the voice behind that Yahoo! commercial. He hails from from Dusty, Wash. (population 12) and describes himself as a "horseman/cowboy/yodeler/ entertainer/guy that jumps around a lot."
"All we really want is for someone to listen," says Black, himself a performer at the event.
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