This episode of Live From Elko brings you the late Melvin Whipple's "Lonesome Nights" poem, performed in the 1986 Cowboy Poetry Gathering, and a partial interview of Whipple in 1984 by folklorist Jim McNutt.
Length: 7:36 ~ Listen or Podcast from iTunes.
In 1984, Melvin was writing cowboy poetry and working in a feedlot in Hereford, Texas. Originally from Utah, and having worked as a cowboy all over the West, Whipple was brought to Elko in January 1985 to help represent Texas for the Gathering. "Lonesome Nights" was drawn from the Western Folklife Center's archival audio material of 1986 Cowboy Poetry Gathering performances.
