Cowboy Poetry

Coming in September 2010! (Click on the image for more info.)

Saturday, September 25, 2010

3pm at Emandal

Not JUST Cowboy Poetry

To benefit the Western Folklife Center, Elko, Nevada

Featuring

Stephanie Davis

Doris Daley

Richard Chon and The Saddle Cats

$20/person or $25 at the gate

Limited VIP Tickets: $125

(Nibbles and drinks during the show; preferred seating; dinner with artists after)

Overnight Accommodations available: $175

(Cabin, dinner, show, brunch)

Stephanie Davis is passionate about great writing, especially great songwriting. "It's a mysterious blend," the unassuming singer-songwriter says of her trade, "part magic, part craft, and part keeping your butt in the chair. Songwriting is hands-down the most aggravating, exhilarating, enlightening, challenging, and exasperating thing I have ever done... and that's probably why I am so crazy about it."

"The song, especially a great one, is king, and the singers are its subjects."

The fourth-generation Montanan spent several years in Nashville, honing her craft and having her songs recorded by such artists as Garth Brooks, Roger Whittaker, Shelby Lynne, Martina McBride, Sam Moore, Maria Muldaur, Trisha Yearwood, and Don Edwards. In addition, she has gained respect as a soulful vocalist and talented multi-instrumentalist, both live and in the studio.

After moving back home to her small ranch in south-central Montana, Stephanie keeps busy writing, touring, and heading up her own small label, Recluse Records. Daily ranch life provides Stephanie constant inspiration. "Each season brings distinctive chores and changes," she says. "Springtime to me means calving and branding, rejoicing at the sight of the first crocus, and listening for the distinctive trills of returning sandhill cranes. Summertime brings herding cows to new grass, haying, gardening, and putting up pickles and jellies with the neighbor ladies. With fall comes gathering, sorting and shipping calves, extra blankets on the bed at night, blazing yellow displays of quaking aspen, and flocks of southbound geese. Winter means feeding hay, chopping ice, wearing three or more layers of clothes, and some serious cribbage games at the kitchen table. One night last January while trudging to my writing cabin, I looked up to see a green curtain of northern lights rippling across the sky, accompanied by a choir of coyotes. Who wouldn’t be inspired?"

Doris Daley has been rhyming little poems and stories since her folks gave her a rhyming dictionary in Grade 4.

“ Cowboy poetry is about passion, pride and privilege. Passion to write and recite well, pride in my western roots and a way of life that endures despite great odds, and a privilege to be out on the road meeting wonderful people all over the United States and Canada.”

“My two favourite gigs are the one I was just at and the one I’m going to next.”

“Lots of poets can write, many can recite, but Doris writes, recites and really communicates. Spontaneity, wit, meaningful words and a winning smile make this lady a performer you’ll always remember.”

~Hugh McLennan, Kamloops, Western Broadcaster, Entertainer, and host of Spirit of the West

Award-Winning Cowboy Poet
Doris has been an emcee and featured performer at every cowboy festival in Canada as well as several in the United States, including Texas, California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Montana and Oregon. In 2004 she was named Best Female Cowboy Poet in North America by the Academy of Western Artists, the first time any Canadian, male or female, has won the cowboy poetry category. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 she was named one of the Top 5 cowgirl poets in North America by the Western Music Association, with other Top 5 nominations for best collaboration and best cowboy poetry CD. At the November, 2009 WMA Awards Show, Doris won top honours for Best Female Cowboy Poet and best cowboy poetry CD. As with her AWA Will Rogers Awards, she's the first Canadian to bring home top honours in the cowboy poetry categories.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch
Born and raised in Southern Alberta ranch country, Doris Daley writes cowboy poetry that celebrates the humour, history and way of life of the west. Her great grandfather came west with the North West Mounted Police in the 1870s; her family has been ranching in the Alberta foothills for five generations.

Impressive Gene Pool!
Doris comes from a gene pool that includes ranchers, cowboys, Mounties, good cooks, sorry team ropers, Irish stowaways, bushwhackers, liars, two-steppers and saskatoon pickers.

“Doris Daley walks on stage and the energy level automatically goes up. Poised, professional, and yet as relaxed as the “girl next door”, she engages the audience in such a way that they forget she is a performer and feel as if she’s one of the family,” says Gary Brown of Monterey, California. While she is chasing rhymes and building poems, her husband Bob Haysom, a fly-fishing guide and outfitter, snags brown and rainbow trout out of Alberta’s world-renowned Bow River.

The Saddle Cats are a Western Swing pocket orchestra that is enlivening Cowboy and Western Music with infectious joy and high spirits. With a repertoire that draws from the rich tapestry of traditional American music, this four-piece ensemble embraces the worlds of swing, cowboy ballads, blues, Tin Pan Alley, honky-tonk, string band music, polka and just about any traditional style under the sun.

The Saddle Cats have at their heart the suave, elegant artistry of Bobby Black, whose steel guitar poetics have inspired generations of musicians and fans. A revered figure in the music world whose roots go straight back to the honky-tonk era of Hank Williams and Lefty Frizell, Bobby was a key figure in the rediscovery of Western Swing in the 1960s and '70s. His membership in such bands as Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen and Asleep at the Wheel was decisive in introducing the sound of Western Swing to a new generation of listeners.

Bobby is joined by fiddler and vocalist Richard Chon (Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, the Sons of the San Joaquin and a veteran of the Bakersfield honky tonk scene). Together, Bobby and Richard form the nucleus of a Western Swing combo that uncannily recreates the textures and drive of the Western Swing bands of the golden era.

The driving rhythm of guitarist Gordon Clegg and the eloquent, rock-solid foundations laid by bassist Bing Nathan support and energize this sleek, silver-toned cowboy outfit, whose repertoire runs from rustic Texas breakdowns to the sophisticated swing concoctions of Benny Goodman and Count Basie, from the high-driving California swing of Bob Wills’ Tiffany Transcriptions and Tex Williams to their own stylish originals.

July 31, 2010

A benefit for the Willits Public Library!

“Cowboy Poetry at Emandal,” July 31, was sensational! Although a precise count was not made, it looked to be around 150 folks scattered about the green lawns, enveloped by the shade of apple and walnut trees, cooled by a light western breeze flowing up river. Occasionally, it’s fun to have note-worthy talent, recognized throughout the country, and over a couple of oceans, in your own back-yard.

Everyone was invited to bring their own picnics. Talk about luscious basket/ice chest fare.... and I'm not referring to just potato salad and fried chicken (which is mighty fine, thank-you!) Saturday afternoon, on blankets and tables and bales of hay, prior to the benefit concert for the Willits Library, one could see just how diverse this community is, when it comes to food! Not only were people diving into burritos and tamales, spring rolls and sushi, salami sandwiches on onion rolls..... but tasty bites of artichoke dip, hot-pepper cheddar cheese squares, and bowls of first-of-the-season red, orange, yellow and green cherry tomatoes, straight from their gardens!

Food was merely a stop-gap measure..... the real show began at 6pm, when Jack Convery took the stage in front of Emandal's picturesque barn. He's been playing banjo since childhood, and his skills as a musician were more than apparent. From the beginnings of the banjo in this country in the 1600s to present day, with medlies of songs from each era, his historical tales, and musical virtuosity, enthralled the audience. The grand finale was his rendition of the “William Tell Overture” which, he says, is the most requested version on “Youtube” just after the London Symphonic Orchestra’s.

      The principal performers, Guy and Pipp Gillette, from down near Crockett, Texas, learned music as children from their parents. They diverged, as many did, from American Roots and Western music, when the Beatles first took the stage on the Ed Sullivan Show, back in the early 60’s. Inspired by the foursome, they spent years touring the eastern seaboard, from concert hall to coffee house, with music as their primary purpose. Their heritage took them back to Texas, where they’ve been raising cattle, running their own music venue, and playing the songs they used to play as youngsters….. and with which they entertained us for hours. Besides regaling us with song and story, the brothers played guitar, many sizes of banjos, an Irish drum….. and up to four sets of “bones.” The audience was enthralled, from beginning to end.

The sponsors of the event, along with their guests, and the artists, enjoyed a sumptuous meal after the show. Kashaya Adams, of Kashaya’s Brick Oven Pizza, utilized her wood-fired oven to grill some local wild salmon, which she served with freshly dug new potatoes, tender green lettuce, red-pepper foccacia…… and numerous wines, donated for the dinner by Silversmith Winery, MacFadden Winery, Nelson Family Winery, and Barra of Redwood Valley.

Thanks to Willits Redwood Company, Yokum’s Body Shop, John Ford Ranch, SHN Consulting, Gaia Energy Systems, and Mariposa Produce, the artist’s fees were taken care of, leaving a generous portion of the general ticket sales to the Willits Library.

In spite of the fact that these events are titled “Cowboy Poetry” do know that they embrace much more than the spoken word. On Saturday, September 25, yet another production…. The second of a two-part series, will be hosted by Tamara Adams, at Emandal-A Farm on a River. The beneficiary of the show will be the Western Folklife Center, of Elko, Nevada….. home of the national Cowboy Poetry Gathering, held every January.

Three top names of the “Cowboy Poetry” genre will be performing.

     Stephanie Davis (of Prairie Home Companion fame), a singer, song-writer, limerick lyricist, and poetry reciter;

     Doris Daley, a Canadian poet who will also be giving a class in poetry writing early in the day in Willits;

     Richard Chon and The Saddle Cats…. With fiddle, slide guitar, bass and guitar, they’ll have your toes tappin’ and fingers snappin’ before you know what’s happenin’!

Tickets are available by calling 707-459-9252, or emailing cowboypoetry@emandal.com, and reserving them.   Dinner tickets can be reserved at the same number and email address. Should you wish to spend the night in one of the cabins, the price will include the show, dinner, overnight stay and Sunday brunch.