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What They're Saying about The BAR-D Roundup
Jeri Dobrowski, Cowboy Jam Session
"The 2008 Bar-D Roundup takes listeners across the breadth of the North American West: from the days of the early Texas cowboy to the Yukon gold rush, from once-legendary cattle ranches to modern-day family outfits. Like the two previous volumes which received critical acclaim, Volume Three is a must for the comprehensive Western audio collector or the person just learning about cowboy poetry."
"If you hear somebody wonder at the 'why' of perpetuating the Western ethic, the Cowboy Way and particularly 'why cowboy poetry,' here's the answer for all of it. This collection clearly says what this important, artful communication of the heart conveys at its best."
Rick Huff, Best of the West ReviewsJoe Baker, The Backforty Bunkhouse
The Bar-D Roundup compilations represent the finest poets and the best in cowboy poetry. They are the real deal and a real contribution to not only to promoting and preserving our heritage but also in representing the cowboy arts."
"This is a CD to own and listen to often. It's like a full-course meal with each dish adding to the flavors and textures. The last poem is like dessert: the voice of Robert Service reciting his own 'The Cremation Of Sam McGee.' The previous two CD were good. This one is great."
PJ and Dallas McCord, hosts of The Cowboy Culture Corner
The Bar-D Roundup: Volume Three is a great meld of past and present. Anytime you can hear both Buck Ramsey and Robert Service in their own voices, plus Red Steagall, Paul Zarzyski and, well, me, you know you're running the iambic gamut! Another great ride.
Mick Vernon, Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival Artistic Director and Radio Ranch host
Comments about The BAR-D Roundup:
Volume Two (2007):
"Prepare for a trip through time. There are classics and pieces written about times long gone. Also included are glimpses into the lives of modern cow hands, ranchers, ranch wives, farriers, and poets...Close your eyes and be carried along with an ebb and flow of emotions and imagery. Wrapped within the subject matter and interpretations there’s sincerity, intimacy, good-natured joshing, wisdom, respect, hogwash, poignancy, and spirituality."
Jeri Dobrowski, Cowboy Jam Session
"...something for everyone who appreciates tales of ranching, riding, and roping..."
Associate Editor Kyle Partain, Western Horseman
"...a treasury in every sense of that word..."
Rick Huff, The Western Way
"Cowboypoetry.com has done it again. Volume 2 of The Bar D Roundup continues to celebrate life in the west with all the picturesque phrasing and expressions delivered as only real, live, hard-working cowboys can. Highlighted by Charles Badger Clark, Jr. reciting his own "Ridin'," every cut on this album is a revealing look into true cowboy living. You'll want to listen to this one over and over."
Marvin O'Dell, Around the Campfire
"The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Two is a ride well worth the taking. Feel a saddle gently rock between your legs, smell pine trees or the sagebrush in bloom, taste strong black coffee and trail dust, and see — truly see — the West come to life in your mind's eye."
Mick Vernon, Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival Director and Radio Ranch host
"On a scale of 1 to 10, The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Two rates an 11."
, producer of the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo
Sam Jackson
Read more about The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Two (2007) here.
Comments about The BAR-D Roundup
(2006)
"For those of us who love cowboy poetry, this is perhaps the best anthology we've yet heard." Cowboy Magazine
"The BAR-D Roundup provides a fine collection of classic and contemporary poetry offerings that'll please any fan of the genre." Western Horseman
"...one not to miss." O. J. Sikes, host of Western Music Time
"I know of no better compilation of cowboy poetry anywhere."
Marvin O'Dell, Around the Campfire"This is a keeper!" Toe Tappin' Tommy Tucker, The Western Heritage Show
"What a fine compilation of cowboy poetry; makes you want to listen 'just one more time'!" Waynetta Ausmus, Waynetta's Western Roundup
"...a super compilation of contemporary recordings of some of today's best classic and contemporary cowboy poetry...If you like cowboy poetry, I'd say this is a must-have CD." Mark McMillan, British Columbia Cowboy Heritage Society
Read more about The BAR-D Roundup (2006) here.
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Three (2008) is a compilation of vintage and contemporary recordings of some of yesterday's and today's best classic and contemporary cowboy poetry. A wide range of voices present tales that express this venerable art form, words that uncover "the heartbeat of the working West."
This third CD opens with a firm stand in the present, with respected Texas horseman, and poet Joel Nelson reciting his poem, "Shadow on the Cutbank," from his Grammy-nominated CD, The Breaker in the Pen. Baxter Black commented that the CD, "raised the bar for cowboy poetry for 1000 years."
Next, rancher and poet Jay Snider casts a look back at the cowboy life, reciting "The Good Old Cowboy Days," by Luther A. Lawhon (1861-1922), one of the founding members of the Trail Drivers Association, a poem included in the Trail Drivers of Texas (1920).
Noted packer, reciter and poet Ross Knox, keeping in the past, weighs in with a cowboy's wry observation of his way of life, with "The 'D2' Horse Wrangler," written by cowboy and chronicler D.J. O'Malley (1867-1943).
Alberta poet Doris Daley offers her timeless, humorous poem, "Bones," that could describe cowboys of any era, who conversely "love the life 'cause it's so darn healthy."
The inimitable Pat Richardson takes listeners to another place altogether, in his amusing and inventive tale of a cowboy and his unlikely companion, "Bigfoot."
There is a return to the reality of cowboy and ranching life in the next poems. Beloved octogenarian, cowboy (a term she prefers), and poet Georgie Sicking tells what it takes "To Be a Top Hand." Fifth-generation rancher Deanna Dickinson McCall (her grandfather is pictured on the CD's cover) has some "Advice" for a one of the family's cowboys. Another sort of family perspective comes in "Urban Daughter," the exceptional poem by Montana rancher, poet, and National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow Wallace McRae. Wyoming poet, humorist, emcee, and popular radio host Andy Nelson touches on another family connection in his poem, "The Old Crockett Spurs."
Cowboys and horses are explored in master reciter and horseman Randy Rieman's recitation of Henry Herbert Knibbs' (1874-1945) classic, "Where the Ponies Come to Drink." Montana ranch hand, songwriter and poet DW Groethe's moving "My Father's Horses" limns the bond between man and horse. Utah rancher and poet Paul Kern's poem, "At Codding's Place," continues with the wistful and bittersweet theme. South Dakota rancher and poet Ken Cook has something as meaningful to say, with a bit of humor, in "Bloodlines."
There's a return to the past, in respect and sentiment in "The Memories in Grandmother's Trunk," by past Texas Poet Laureate, multiple Wrangler Award winner, singer, songwriter, and poet Red Steagall. The subject is further explored by South Dakota ranchwife, champion quilter, and top poet Yvonne Hollenbeck in her moving story of "Prairie Patchwork." (Yvonne's husband, Glen Hollenbeck, represents today's ranchers with his photo that is inside the CD.) Working cowgirl, writer, and poet Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns enjoins, "Step lightly, this is holy ground...made so by those who've gone before..." in her "Fiddleback Headquarters."
Bill Siems—scientist, musician, editor, and chief collector of the stories and poems of Bruce Kiskaddon (1878-1950)—gives life to the classic bucking horse story, "The Strawberry Roan," by Curley Fletcher (1892-1954). It's the perfect introduction to "Luck of the Draw," a stirring salute to rodeo, by the incomparable Paul Zarzyski, the self-described "Polish-hobo-rodeo-poet," recipient of the Montana Governor’s Arts Award for Literature.
Top reciter and former miner Jerry Brooks brings her impressive interpretation to "The Free Wind," by Charles "Badger" Clark (1883-1957). That notion of freedom underlies Grass, the master work by the late Buck Ramsey. In a third annual excerpt from that book, "Chapter Two," the story of a cowboy's life continues. Buck Ramsey, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, is recognized as the modern spiritual leader of the genre. (The 2006 edition of The BAR-D Roundup includes the well-known and widely known Prologue to Grass, "Anthem," a poem that has been called "the finest contemporary piece of writing in this tradition." The 2007 edition of The BAR-D Roundup includes "Chapter One.")
Ranch-raised poet and writer Smoke Wade bridges the past and present in his "A Change of Season," which introduces a group of classic poems. California writer and poet Susan Parker presents "The Homemade Cigarette" by rancher and poet A.V. Hudson (1873-1949). A bit of politics—timely in this year of political of history—finds its way into that poem and into "Bill's in Trouble," a light piece written by James Barton Adams (1843-1918) and recited by Nevada poet Hal Swift. "Jack Potter's Courtin'" by S. Omar Barker (1895-1985) continues the fun mood, recited by California poet and musician Mick Vernon, who is also the Artist Director of the Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival. Ranch-raised Texas poet and writer Linda Kirkpatrick brings the classic selections to a close with a reverent recitation of "The Broncho Twister's Prayer," by Bruce Kiskaddon, 1878-1950).
A special vintage recording of Robert Service (1874-1958) reciting his classic poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee," is introduced by Gene Kern, the Washington radio host who discovered the fragile recording and saved it and others from disintegration by transferring them to a modern medium. Service hired on as a cowboy for a short time and some of his tales were colored by that experience. The strong rhyme and meter of his poetry have inspired many cowboy poets.
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Three CD includes a radio Public Service (PSA) Announcement by Francie Ganje, radio host and director of South Dakota's Heritage of the American West show (listen below).
The 2008 CD's striking cover is a photo of Perry Preston ("P. P.") Dickinson, circa 1912, Texas cowboy, rough-string rider, Marshall, and Texas Ranger special agent. Perry Preston was the grandfather of Deanna Dickinson McCall, and great grandfather of poets and reciters Rusty McCall and Katie-McCall Owens.
Andy Nelson engineered and co-produced the 2006, 2007, and 2008 editions of The BAR-D Roundup.
Joe Baker of the Backforty Bunkhouse distributed the 2006, 2007, and 2007 CDs to his extensive network of western radio stations.
Poems and permissions were generously donated by poets, musicians, families, publishers, and filmmakers.
The Center's Cowboy Poetry Week celebration—recognized by unanimous U.S. Senate resolution—is held each April during National Poetry Month. Each year, The BAR-D Roundup CD and the celebration's poster (by top Western artist William Matthews in 2008) are offered to libraries in the Center's Rural Library Project. The outreach program is a part of the Center’s commitment to serve rural communities and to preserve and promote our Western heritage.
Special thanks for the 2008 edition go to Andy Nelson, the McCall family, the Hollenbeck family, Bette Ramsey, Steve Green, the Western Folklife Center, Jeri Dobrowski, Jo Baeza, Stuart Spani, Joe Baker, Alf Bilton, and to all the poets, reciters, families, publishers, and organizations who lent poetry and permissions.
The BAR-D Roundup CDs are produced by the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry, made possible by generous funding support from sustaining donors.
The BAR-D Roundup CDs are dedicated to all those who proudly carry on the ranching tradition.
Track list for The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Three (2008)
1. Joel Nelson, "Shadow on the Cutbank" 1:26
2. Jay Snider, "The Good Old Cowboy Days" (Luther A. Lawhon) 4:25
3. Ross Knox, "The 'D2' Horse Wrangler" (D.J. O'Malley) 2:05
4. Doris Daley, "Bones" :56
5. Pat Richardson, "Bigfoot" 3:14
6. Georgie Sicking, "To Be a Top Hand" 1:18
7. Deanna McCall, "Advice" 1:00
8. Wallace McRae, "Urban Daughter" 2:40
9. Andy Nelson, "The Old Crocket Spurs" 1:02
10. Randy Rieman, "Where the Ponies Come to Drink" (Henry Herbert Knibbs) 2:38
11. DW Groethe, "My Father's Horses" 1:56
12. Paul Kern, "At Codding's Place" 1:38
13. Ken Cook, "Bloodlines" 2:18
14. Red Steagall, "The Memories in Grandmother's Trunk" 3:19
15. Yvonne Hollenbeck, "Prairie Patchwork" 1:56
16. Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns, "Fiddleback Headquarters" 3:30
17. Bill Siems, "The Strawberry Roan" (Curley Fletcher) 3:45
18. Paul Zarzyksi, "Luck of the Draw" 2:41
19. Jerry A. Brooks (Brooksie), "Free Wind" (Badger Clark) 3:38
20. Buck Ramsey, "Chapter Two" from Grass 5:25
21. Smoke Wade, "A Change of Season" 1:12
22. Susan Parker, "The Homemade Cigarette" (A.V. Hudson) 1:59
23. Hal Swift, "Bill's in Trouble" (James Barton Adams) 1:55
24. Mick Vernon, "Jack Potter's Courtin'" (S. Omar Baker) 3:02
25. Linda Kirkpatrick, "The Broncho Twister's Prayer" (Bruce Kiskaddon) 3:07
SPECIAL CLASSIC RECORDING26. Introduction to "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Gene Kern 2:00
27. Robert Service, "The Cremation of Sam McGee" 9:27
28. Francie Ganje, Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry Public Service Announcement (PSA) :30Liner notes: Detailed track descriptions with references (separate page)
All rights are reserved by the artists and owners of the included tracks.
The BAR-D Roundup is produced by the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry, with generous funding support from sustaining donors.
Acknowledgments: Special thanks to Andy Nelson, engineer and co-producer (with Margo Metegrano; the McCall family, the Hollenbeck family, Bette Ramsey, Steve Green, the Western Folklife Center, Jeri Dobrowski, Jo Baeza, Stuart Spani, Joe Baker, Alf Bilton; and to all the poets, reciters, families, publishers, and organizations who lent poetry and permissions.
Dedicated to all those who proudly carry on the ranching tradition.
Order Information for The BAR-D Roundup
Volume Three (2008)
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Three (2008) is available, postpaid, for a $20 donation, and is offered to new and renewing supporters of the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry at the Partner level and above.
Proceeds from The BAR-D Roundup support the Center. CowboyPoetry.com is a project of the Center.
You can order by mail using the form here or send $20 (check or money order in U.S. funds) per copy to:
CowboyPoetry.com
PO Box 330444
San Francisco, CA 94133Postage is included for the U.S. and Canada. Add $5 US for other countries.
You can also pay by a secure, on-line credit card payment (a Paypal account is not required):
CowboyPoetry.com is a project of the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry, Inc. a non-profit, tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service Act. Contributions are fully deductible for federal income tax purposes. The BAR-D Roundup fair market value is $15 and no amount of the $20 donation for its postpaid delivery is tax deductible as a charitable contribution.
:Find information for
The BAR-D Roundup (2006)
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Two (2007)
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Three (2008) on this page.
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four (2009)
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Five (2010)
Find order information here, including special discount offers.
About the cover art for The BAR-D Roundup: Volume 3 (2008):
The BAR-D Roundup: Volume 3 (2008) CD cover art is a photo of Perry Preston ("P. P.") Dickinson, circa 1912, Texas cowboy. Perry Preston was the grandfather of Deanna Dickinson McCall, and great grandfather of poets and reciters Rusty McCall and Katie-McCall Owens.
Deanna McCall comments:
The picture was a post card (that was quite a fad), of my grandfather Perry Preston Dickinson. He went by "P.P." He was born in Denton County, Texas in 1896 to a ranching family. He got itchy feet and rode to AZ at the age of 12 and stayed there quite awhile. He "courted" my Granny back in Texas and had the card made for her. The picture was taken in the vicinity of Grand Canyon. It is signed "The 10X Bronc fighter," as he was the rough string rider and was working on the 10X ranch at the time. (Men weren't boys for very long in those days!) He was a great influence in my life and taught me many of the old stories, songs, and how to ride. He later was a Marshall and a special agent of the Texas Rangers.
This photo was featured in our Picture the West feature on November 13, 2006.
Inside the CD, there's a 2006 photo of South Dakota rancher Glen Hollenbeck, husband of poet Yvonne Hollenbeck, on their ranch near Clearfield, South Dakota. The Hollenbeck ranch is known for its G2 Quarter Horses and cattle. Glen Hollenbeck is a champion calf roper.
We welcome photo submissions for future editions of The BAR-D Roundup. Cover images will be vintage family cowboy and ranching photos, and inside, contemporary ranch family photos will be featured. Email us for information about sharing your family photos.
Listen to the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry Public Service Announcement
includes a radio Public Service (PSA) Announcement by Francie Ganje, radio host and director of South Dakota's Heritage of the American West show.The BAR-D Roundup: Volume Two CD
Listen to the 2008 30-second public service announcement from the CD by Francie Ganje, radio host and director of South Dakota's Heritage of the American West show.
(Listen to the 2007 30-second public service announcement from the CD and to an expanded 60-second version, both by poet, humorist, and radio host Andy Nelson.)
Email us for audio clips for your broadcast or web site (or download them directly).
About The BAR-D Roundup: Volume 3 (2008) and Cowboy Poetry Week
SAN FRANCISCO—The seventh annual Cowboy Poetry Week (April 20-26, 2008) sponsored by the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry (www.CowboyPoetry.com), celebrates a venerable and popular folk form. Cowboy poetry records the voices of the working West, a tradition—stories of cowboys, ranchers, and Western writers—that spans three centuries. The Cowboy Poetry Week celebration includes many events taking place in communities, libraries, and elsewhere.
Center Director and CowboyPoetry.com managing editor Margo Metegrano comments, "Cowboy poetry preserves a history as it tells the stories of our working West. As importantly, it conveys compelling modern accounts of an endangered way of life to those who may have little information about this important segment of our population. Cowboy poets are great ambassadors from the rural world."
Inaugurated in 2002, Cowboy Poetry Week was officially recognized by unanimous resolution of the United States Senate. The celebration, with a special focus on rural libraries, is held during the third week of April each year, in conjunction with National Poetry Month in the United States and Canada. Nineteen states’ governors and other officials have proclaimed Cowboy Poetry Week, and there are activities across the West and beyond.
Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer commented in his 2006 Cowboy Poetry Week letter of support, "In the tradition of written and oral history, cowboy poets preserve our rich cultural history, opening the door for the generations to come to discover the heritage of the years past....we are proud of our numerous well-respected contemporary cowboy poets and look forward to the next generation of storytellers..."
“Waxed Jacket,” a painting by top Western artist William Matthews (www.williammatthewsgallery.com) is this year’s Cowboy Poetry Week poster art. Posters go out to hundreds of libraries as a part of the Center’s Rural Library Project, an important Cowboy Poetry Week outreach activity, part of the Center's mission to serve a mostly underserved community of rural Westerners.
A new edition of The BAR-D Roundup, a compilation CD of the best in classic and current cowboy poetry will be released during Cowboy Poetry Week. The CD is also offered to libraries and available for purchase; proceeds help fund the Center’s programs, including CowboyPoetry.com.
This third annual edition of The BAR-D Roundup showcases contemporary and traditional works, including Robert Service's vintage recording of "The Cremation of Sam McGee"; the poetry of past Texas Poet Laureate Red Steagall, National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow Wallace McRae, and Montana Governor’s Arts Award for Literature recipient Paul Zarzyski; noted reciters Randy Rieman, Ross Knox, and Jerry A. Brooks presenting classic poems by Henry Herbert Knibbs, D. J. O'Malley, and Badger Clark; a third annual selection from Grass, the master work of the late Buck Ramsey, an NEA National Heritage Fellow, recognized as the modern spiritual leader of the genre; and eighteen additional offerings from today’s top poets and reciters.
CowboyPoetry.com is a central resource for cowboy poetry and associated Western arts, a project of the non-profit Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry. Cowboy poetry's enduring popularity is celebrated year round at CowboyPoetry.com, in a growing number of publications and recordings, and at hundreds of regional gatherings, most notably the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, which marked its 24th year in 2009.
Read more about Cowboy Poetry Week, including selected references and links and see news about poets' activities here.
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