Introduction
Cowboy poetry has been telling
the stories of cowboying and ranching life for over a century. It's a
vibrant folk form, shared among the people of the working West and those interested in that life and its heritage.
The BAR-D Roundup represents some of the best examples of cowboy
poetry's oral tradition, from its earliest days through today. The past is
often present in the contemporary poems: in tribute, in contemplation, and
in the poets' firm roots. The specter of the future sometimes comes into
view, where "progress" is an ever-increasing threat to ranching
life. Throughout, there is characteristic humor, philosophy, and a strong
attachment to a proud way of life.
The BAR-D Roundup opens with Jack Thorp's "What's Become of the
Punchers?," a poem first published in 1920, more than a quarter century
after the end of the great trail drives that spawned the American cowboy
profession. It is a lament, a "last of the breed" story, a theme
that endures in cowboy poetry tens of decades later. Thorp was America's
first collector of cowboy music and poetry. He traveled among working
cowboys, and a little book he first published in 1908 grew to be a standard
reference for cowboy poetry and song. "What's Become of the
Punchers" is recited by Mark L. Gardner, a musician, historian and
writer who recently researched and edited a landmark volume, Jack Thorp's
Song of the Cowboys (The Press at the Palace of the Governors, Museum of New Mexico,
2005). The track is from the book's
accompanying CD that includes performances of the poems and songs by Gardner
and Rex Rideout, with music played in the style of the period, on
instruments from Thorp's time.
Texas Poet Laureate Red Steagall's "Born to This Land" follows, a
heartfelt anthem with a dignity grown from generations of hard work and
unwavering principle. Words from working ranch hands come next. DW Groethe is a
proud representative of the "last of the breed," a Montana cowhand
who introduces listeners to his charges with his humorous poem, engagingly
performed, "Yearlin' Heifers." A. Kathy Moss acknowledges the
working women of the West, in "The Truth," a tribute to her friend
and fellow ranch hand Billie Flick. Dennis Gaines, who long drew wages
as a cowboy, contributes his zany flight of fancy, "The Spandex
Cowboy," where his acrobatic wordsmithing rivals the spectacles at
Colonel Potter's Big Top Tent and Wrestling Rodeo, the poem's colorful
setting.
The auction and the banker are ever-present parts of ranching life.
Ranch-raised Jane Morton tells of her mother's dangerous greeting at the
auction, in "Yoo-Hoo." Pat Richardson, who has lived and worked
around cattle all his life, takes a wry look at reality in "Cowboy
Banker." When the banker is at South Dakota rancher Yvonne Hollenbeck's
door, she wonders "What Would Martha Do?," in one of today's most
popular poems on the cowboy poetry gathering circuit.
From north of the Medicine Line, top poet Doris Daley introduces the
visiting Pierre to ranch delicacies, in "French Fries," with her
trademark humor and panache. Packer and cowboy Chris Isaacs recites
"Change on the Range," a comic commentary by his good friend, a
widely respected cowboy, the late Sunny Hancock. Beloved poet Colen
Sweeten, born on an Idaho ranch over 85 years ago, gives his perspective on
"wrecks," in "Cow on the Fight."
British Columbia rancher Mike Puhallo looks back to a historic day,
witnessed by cowboys from a remote camp, in "Man in the Moon."
Working ranch hand and horsewoman Virginia Bennett speaks to her roots in a
stirring piece, "Dad Was Like a Colt." Working cowboy
Georgie Sicking captures the lure of "mustanging" in "The
Greatest Sport." The track is from an
award-winning documentary about the tough and admirable 80-plus-year-old
Cowgirl Hall of Fame inductee, "Ridin' & Rhymin'" (Far Away
Films, 2005).
The late Larry McWhorter's eloquent piece about an Oklahoma cowboy,
"Johnny Clare," is informed by his own long
cowboying experience. He mesmerizes the listener with his artful telling and
lyrical verse, "In north central Oklahoma, in the land known as
the Osage, the spring and early summer rest so easy on the eye. Where the
lush, green,
rolling carpet marks the passing of Mariah, as she dances, sometimes gently
with the clouds which dot the sky..."
Mick Vernon's own music backs up a pensive poem that came from a day
gathering cattle, "Picayune Valley." Also wistful, Linda Kirkpatrick looks back to the days on the Texas ranch where she grew up, a
time when she was too young to make a hand, but not too young to want to, in
her poem, "When Roundup Time Comes 'Round."
Oklahoma rancher Jay Snider, who says he's always thought he was "born
a hundred years too late, as do most cowboys," leads listeners into a
vivid past with "300 Miles to Go." Andy Hedges recites a
classic poem about those times, Henry Herbert Knibbs' humorous "Boomer
Johnson," about a surly camp cook who gets his comeuppance from a
fed-up cowboy. Rod Nichols' "Yep" is a timeless portrait of
cowboys. Cowboy Trey Allen recites another master's classic poetry, the
thoughtful poem, "Alone," by Bruce Kiskaddon, also timeless in its
theme.
Buck Ramsey, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, known as "the
spiritual leader of cowboy poetry," left an important legacy when he
died in 1998. Hal Cannon, founding director of the Western Folklife Center,
home of
the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, has commented that "His work
'Anthem' is probably thought of as the finest
contemporary piece of writing in this tradition..." The
"Anthem" recording on The BAR-D Roundup is the first
recording ever made of the poem. The track is from a CD that accompanies the
book, Buck Ramsey's Grass, with essays on his life and work (Texas
Tech University Press, 2005). "Anthem" is the prologue to the
book-length poem, Grass, which follows the life and experiences of
Billy Deaver, who leaves the farm at 15 to pursue a cowboy's life. Poet Joel
Nelson describes the poem, "From the leaving of home and kin, through
the stirrings of adolescence, to the making of a hand in a tribe of men who
'the gods had chosen well,' there is nothing a cowboy could ever want to say
that Buck hasn't covered in Grass."
Reciter Dick Morton's reverent delivery of Charles Badger Clark Jr.'s
"A Cowboy's Prayer," backed by the music of Rex Rideout, leads
into the last part of The BAR-D Roundup. The poem is familiar to
many, "Oh Lord, I've never lived where churches grow..." Clark was
a South Dakota native and he became that state's poet laureate. As a young
man, he spent time in the southwest, and his cow-tending experiences there
informed much of his poetry. Dee Strickland Johnson ("Buckshot
Dot") likewise celebrates "the designer of nature" in her
graceful poem, "The End of the Day."
But ranchers don't ride off into a Technicolor sunset. Fifth-generation
rancher Deanna Dickinson McCall addresses the precarious state of ranching
in her poem, "Endangered." As The BAR-D Roundup comes
to end, there is no question about who will tell the stories of the working
West. Andy Nelson's poem, "The Cowboy Poet," holds that answer.
Track 1: Mark
Gardner, "What's Become of the Punchers?" by Jack Thorp
Below:
About
the track, "What's Become of the Punchers?"
About the poet, Jack Thorp
About the reciter, Mark L. Gardner
About the music
The poem, "What's Become of the Punchers"
About the poem
Additional links
About the track, "What's
Become of the Punchers?"
"What's Become of
the Punchers?," a poem by Jack Thorp and recited by Mark L.
Gardner, is from Jack Thorp's Songs of the Cowboys
(The Press at the Palace of the Governors, Museum of New Mexico, 2005), a book edited by Mark L. Gardner,
with an accompanying CD with performances of Thorp's poems and songs by Mark L. Gardner and Rex Rideout.
Permission for inclusion of
this track was
kindly granted by The Press at the Palace of the Governors, Museum of New
Mexico.
About the poet,
Jack Thorp
"Jack" Thorp (N. Howard
Thorp, 1867-1940) collected cowboy songs and poems across the West for nearly 20 years, starting in the late
1800's. He first published them in 1908, in a small book called Songs
of the Cowboys. Thorp also wrote poems and songs; "Little Joe the
Wrangler" is perhaps the
most well known. There have been
several editions of Songs of the Cowboys. Read more in our feature
about Jack Thorp's Songs of the Cowboys here.
[photo of Jack Thorp, c. 1930, courtesy John and Joyce Stauffer
from Jack Thorp's Songs of the Cowboys, used with
permission]
About the reciter,
Mark L. Gardner
Mark Gardner and Rex Rideout, photo by Steve Butler
Mark L. Gardner is a
professional historian, author, and musician with a broad range of
publications—both popular and scholarly—focusing on the American West.
He has published numerous books with several university presses and
has authored six interpretive guides for National Park Service historic
sites, including Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Washita
Battlefield National Historic Site, Fort Union National Monument, and
Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site. Most
recently, he has written two biographies of Western figures for the NPS: George
Armstrong Custer: A Biography (2005) and Geronimo: A Biography
(2006). As a public historian, Mark
has served as a consultant for many history-related projects, from
documentary films to museum exhibitions.
He has worked as a consultant with PBS Television, National
Geographic Magazine, the National Park Service, and a number of
museums and historic sites across the West.
In addition to his historical research
and writing, Mark studies and performs the popular music of the 19th
and early 20th-century West.
He uses only vintage or reproduction musical instruments and
authentic lyrics and melodies. Mark has entertained
and educated audiences with his period music at numerous venues,
from the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, to the Palace of the
Governors in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mark's
first CD, Songs of the Santa Fe Trail and the Far West (Native
Ground Music), received critical acclaim as an accurate portrayal of the
music of the 19th-century American Southwest. It has been featured on the
soundtracks of several television documentaries, most notably the PBS
documentary "The U.S.-Mexican War, 1846-1848." Mark’s
second CD, Frontier Favorites: Old-Time Music of the Wild West, a
collaborative effort with Rex Rideout, is featured on the soundtracks of
two National Park Service visitor center films.
Mark’s musical instrument of choice is
the open-back 5-string banjo, although he is also a master of the bones
and jawbone! Mark lives with
his family in Cascade, Colorado.
About the music
Mark L. Gardner plays the
banjo during the recitation of the poem. On the original recording, Rex
Rideout joins in at the end on the fiddle. Rex Rideout, the proprietor of Time Travel Music,
is a long-time student of the music and songs of the
19th-century American West. Read more about him here
in our feature about Jack Thorp's Songs of the Cowboys.
The poem
What's Become of the Punchers
What's
become of the punchers
We rode with long ago?
The hundreds and hundreds of cowboys
We all of us used to know?
Sure, some
were killed by lightning,
Some when the cattle run,
Others were killed by horses,
And some with the old six-gun.
Those that
worked on the round-up,
Those of the branding-pen,
Those who went out on the long trail drive
And never returned again.
We know of
some who have prospered,
We hear of some who are broke,
My old pardner made millions in Tampa,
While I've got my saddle in soak!
Sleeping and
working together,
Eatin' old "Cussie's good chuck,"
Riding in all kinds of weather,
Playing in all kinds of luck;
Bragging
about our top-hosses,
Each puncher ready to bet
His horse could outrun the boss's,
Or any old horse you could get!
Scott lies
in Tularosa,
Elmer Price lies near Santa Fe,
While Randolph sits here by the fireside
With a "flat-face" on his knee.
'Gene Rhodes
is among the high-brows,
A-writin' up the West,
But I know a lot of doin's
That he never has confessed!
He used to
ride 'em keerless
In the good old days
When we both worked together
In the San Andres!
Building big
loops we called "blockers,"
Spinning the rope in the air,
Never a cent in our pockets,
But what did a cow-puncher care?
I'm tired of
riding this trail, boys,
Dead tired of riding alone—
B'lieve I'll head old Button for Texas,
Toward my old Palo Pinto home!
by Jack Thorp from Songs
of the Cowboys, 1921 and included in Jack
Thorp's Songs of the Cowboys
About the poem
"What's Become of the
Punchers?" was first published in the August 1920 issue of Poetry:
A Magazine of Verse.
"What's Become of the
Punchers?" is also included in the 1928 book, The Turquoise
Trail: An Anthology of New Mexico Poetry, compiled by Alice Corbin
Henderson. Henderson wrote the introduction to the 1921 edition of Jack Thorp's Songs
of the Cowboys, which also includes "What's Become of the
Punchers?" She was instrumental in the founding of Poetry:
A Magazine of Verse.
The "'Gene Rhodes"
referred to in the poem was Thorp's old friend Eugene Manlove Rhodes
(1869-1934), cowboy, Western writer and novelist. Rhodes' is
widely known for his poem, "Hired Man on Horseback." His
best known—and critically acclaimed—short story is "Paso Por
Aqui," which was serialized in The Saturday Evening Post in
1926. Correspondence from Rhodes to Thorp is preserved in the Thorp
Collection at the Huntington Library.
Thanks to Mark L.
Gardner for much of the above information.
Additional links
Jack
Thorp's Songs of the Cowboys feature at
CowboyPoetry.com
More about Eugene Manlove Rhodes at
CowboyPoetry.com
Mark L. Gardner's Songs
of the West web site
The
Press at the Palace of the Governors, Museum of New Mexico
Rex Rideout's Time Travel Music
web site
Poetry
Magazine
Track 2:
Red Steagall, "Born to This Land"
Below:
About the track,
"Born to This Land"
About the poet, Red Steagall
The poem, "Born to This Land"
Additional links
About the track,
"Born To This Land"
"Born to This Land" was
recorded for The BAR-D Roundup. This poem is also included on Red
Steagall's recording, Born to This Land, winner of the Western Heritage
Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy and Western Museum.
The poem is also included in his book, Born to This Land,
winner of the Will
Rogers Medallion Award and the Buck Ramsey Best Poetry Book Award
from the Academy of Western Artists.
About the poet,
Red Steagall
Red Steagall is the 2006
Texas State Poet Laureate.
His entertainment career
has covered a period of 35 years and has spanned the globe. Over 200 of
his compositions have been recorded, and he has recorded nearly 30
consecutive records on the national charts and released more than twenty
albums. He has published four books, and is a six-time winner of
the Wrangler Award for original music from the National Cowboy and
Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. His most recent
Wrangler, awarded in 2006, is for his song with Rich O'Brien, "How
Green Was The Grazin' Back Then," from his recent CD, The Wind,
The Wire And The Rail.
Since 1991, he has hosted The
Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering in the Stockyards National Historic
District of Fort Worth, Texas. This authentic western event, which
draws thousands each year, features a ranch rodeo, chuck wagon cookoff,
children's poetry contest, western swing dances, cowboy music and
poetry, a trappings show, and horsemanship clinics.
Red Steagall's one-hour syndicated weekly radio show, Cowboy Corner,
has aired for over a decade on nearly 200 stations. Cowboy Corner
celebrates the lifestyle of the American West through the poems, songs
and stories of the American cowboy. Past featured guests have included
Reba McEntire, Charlie Daniels, Don Edwards, Waddie Mitchell, Baxter
Black and the late Buck Ramsey, as well as ranching and agricultural
notables.
In 1991, the Texas State Legislature named Red Steagall "The
Official Cowboy Poet of Texas." In recognition of his
significant contribution to the Western way of life, he was inducted
into the Texas Trail of Fame in October 1999, joining other inductees
including Gene Autry, Charles Goodnight, Quanah Parker, and Roy Rogers.
In April of 2003, he was officially inducted into the Hall
of Great Westerners at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in
Oklahoma City. This ultimate acknowledgement of Red Steagall's
lifetime of commitment to the preservation of the western lifestyle is
his most cherished honor.
This is an abbreviated version of Red Steagall's official biography.
Read the entire biography here.
The poem,
"Born to This Land"
Born
to This Land
I've kicked up the hidden
mesquite roots and rocks
From the place where I spread out my bed.
I'm layin' here under a sky full of stars
With my hands folded up 'neath my head.
Tonight there's a terrible pain in my heart
Like a knife, it cuts jagged and deep.
This evening the windmiller brought me the word
That my granddaddy died in his sleep.
I saddled my gray horse and rode to a hill
Where when I was a youngster of nine,
My granddaddy said to me, "Son this is ours,
All of it, yours, your daddy's and mine.
Son, my daddy settled here after the war
That new tank's where his house used to be.
He wanted to cowboy and live in the west
Came to Texas from east Tennessee.
The longhorns were wild as the deer in them breaks.
With a long rope he caught him a few.
With the money he made from trailin' em north,
Son, he proved up this homestead for you.
The railroad got closer, they built the first fence
Where the river runs through the east side.
When I was a button we built these corrals
Then that winter my granddaddy died.
My father took over and bought up more range
With good purebreds he improved our stock.
It seemed that the windmills grew out of the ground
Then the land got as hard as a rock.
Then during the dust bowl we barely hung on,
The north wind tried to blow us away.
It seemed that the Lord took a likin' to us
He kept turnin' up ways we could stay.
My daddy grew older and gave me more rein,
We'd paid for most all of the land.
By the time he went on I was running more cows
And your daddy was my right hand man."
His eyes got real cloudy, took off in a trot,
And I watched as he rode out of sight.
Tho I was a child, I knew I was special
And I'm feelin' that same way tonight
Not many years later my daddy was killed
On a ship in the South China Sea.
For twenty odd years now we've made this ranch work
Just two cowboys, my granddad and me.
And now that he's gone, things are certain to change
And I reckon that's how it should be.
But five generations have called this ranch home
And I promise it won't end with me.
'Cause I've got a little one home in a crib
When he's old enough he'll understand,
From the top of that hill I'll show him his ranch
Cause like me, he was Born To This Land.
© 1989, Red Steagall, reprinted with
permission
This poem may not be reprinted or reposted
without the author's written permission.
Additional links
Red
Steagall feature at CowboyPoetry.com
Red Steagall's Ranch Headquarters web
site
The Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering and Western Swing Festival web
site
Red Steagall's Cowboy Corner web site
