Cowboy Poetry and Music event rides again

Cowboy Poetry and Music event rides again

By Christine Steele

SILVER CITY - Cowboy poetry and music is not just for cowboys, says performer and wrangler Mike Moutoux.

"If you think it's an old cowboy with an out of tune guitar singing about his dead horse, you're wrong," he said. "It's a lot more contemporary than that. I tell people, this music is for everyone that lives in the West or loves the West. Guys will be singing about sunrises and sunsets and shadows on the hills and all that neat stuff that makes up what we call the West."

So if you have never been to a cowboy poetry or music event, now's your chance.

This weekend will be the fourth annual Tyrone Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering. Last year, Moutoux was talent wrangler and emcee for the event. This year he'll be performing, while organizer Dianne Kennedy will take the emcee duties.

There will be a boatload of cowboy talent from across the Southwest coming to play the event.

"It's getting a reputation," Moutoux said. "I've always called it the fastest growing festival of it's kind in the southwest. I'm thrilled that it has survived his first and second years. We are starting to see the same people coming back every year and even the performers are realizing it is the place to be in the Southwest in the spring."

The festival was founded and organized by Pete Kennedy and his wife Dianne. The two grew fond of attending cowboy poetry events when they lived in western Colorado. They moved to Silver City in 2000 and were sad to discover the event that had been held 

here had been discontinued. So they did what any good cowboy would do - they pulled up their bootstraps and started another one.

The first year, in 2008, they had just one performance, and it was a sell-out.

"We had standing room only," Kennedy said.

Over the years they have expanded the event to include two days of cowboy singing and poetry - most of it free - with the exception of the Saturday evening headliner show, which costs $10.

More than 250 people attend over the course of each day, Kennedy said, and about 150 for the evening show.

This year the event includes two raffles, one for an original oil painting by Bill Bolton, a Tyrone resident who left all his paintings to the Tyrone Community Center when he passed away, and another for an acoustic Fender guitar that will be autographed by all the performers. Raffle tickets are just $1.

"Pete has done all the work this year when he would rather just get up and perform," Moutoux said. "He's really proud of his community down there and proud to bring some of his friends and acquaintances together at the same time," Moutoux said.

Moutoux will play twice, once during the day, once during the evening show, and may even unveil a new song he co-wrote with Jim Jones, who will also be performing, and who played the first cowboy concert Moutoux organized last year at the Opera House.

Some of the highlights of the weekend, Moutoux said, will be a performance by John Messenger.

"He's one of the best at delivering a song, in that ability to evoke a feeling. When you listen to John, if the windmill is lonely then John's lonely and pretty soon we are all lonely," he said.

Poet Bud Strom is also one to watch, Moutoux said.

But all of the performers are sure to delight.

So put your boots on, and saddle up down to Tyrone, and take in some of the best music the West has to offer.

Christine Steele can be reached at (575) 538-5893, ext. 5802.

If you go

•What: Fourth annual Tyrone Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering

•When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, plus headliners performance 7 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Cowboy church at 10 a.m. Cowboy poets and musicians join the Tyrone Community Fellowship.

•Where: Tyrone Community Center, 50 Malachite Ave, Tyrone.

•Cost: Daytime events free, Saturday evening performance $10, Tickets available at Morning Star and Circle Heart or at the door.

•Information: Cowboy poetry and music all day, top regional and local performers. Barbecue lunch by Copper Creek Ranch. Proceeds from Saturday evening's show benefit the Tyrone Community Playground Fund. (575) 534-0741 or visit www.tyronecowboygathering.com.

Schedule

Saturday

•10 a.m.: Color Guard Ceremony and Introduction

•10:15 a.m.: Copper Creek Wranglers Cowboy Band

•11 a.m.: Bud Strom & Lynn Stokes

•11:30 a.m.: Eddy Harrison

•Noon: Jim Wilson

•12:30 p.m.: Dean Foster

•1 p.m.: Pete Kennedy & Bud Strom

•1:30 p.m.: Jim Jones

•2 p.m.: Washtub Jerry

•2:30 p.m.: Jon Messenger

•3:00 p.m.: Lynn Stokes & Pete Kennedy

•3:30 p.m.: Mike Moutoux

•4 p.m.: Joe Bethancourt

•4:30 p.m.: Eddy Harrison & Dean Foster

Evenings

•7 p.m.: Introduction

•7:05 p.m.: Jon Messenger

•7:30 p.m.: Lynn Stokes & Bud Strom

•8 p.m.: Intermission

•8:15 p.m.: Mike Moutoux

•8:45 p.m.: Jim Wilson, Jim Jones, Washtub Jerry

•9:30 p.m.: Finale - All Performers