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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 16, 2011 Contact: Darcy Minter, 775.340.4240 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |
Wylie Gustafson and Paul Zarzyski Perform at the Ellen Theater July 8 Montana Roots Roadshow Tour Showcases Poetry and Music from the Big Sky State |
Bozeman, Montana—Two of Montana’s finest performers will grace the stage of the Ellen Theatre in Bozeman, Friday, July 8. Cowboy troubadour Wylie Gustafson (of Wylie & The Wild West) and word-spurrin’ poet and lyricist Paul Zarzyski will perform an acoustic show combining poetry, song and storytelling that reveals the connections between poetry and music and showcases the brilliant collaboration and friendship between these two artists. Tickets are $17 and can be purchased online at www.theellentheatre.com. The show starts at 8:00 pm; doors open at 7:00 pm and beer and wine will be available in the lobby.
While Gustafson and Zarzyski each have individual careers, they have collaborated on songwriting and have been performing together around the country, most notably at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, and at the Kennedy Center. Gustafson’s album Hang n’ Rattle includes seven songs co-written with Zarzyski. Both are kinetic, physical performers and when they're interacting with each other the energy level can be explosive. American Cowboy Magazine says they are "like Lennon and McCartney in cowboy hats." Like two old-time cowpokes sitting around a campfire making up verses together, Gustafson and Zarzyski are firmly rooted in tradition, but what they are creating is contemporary and what Zarzyski calls "rock 'n' rowel."
About the performers:
Singer, songwriter, rancher and horseman Wylie Gustafson was born in Conrad, Montana. He learned to sing and yodel from his father, R.W. "Rib" Gustafson, a rancher and retired large-animal veterinarian, who sang cowboy songs and folk songs in the living room of the family home. Gustafson has also absorbed influences from other sources, including rock 'n' roll, which he seamlessly incorporates into his music. He founded his band, The Wild West, in 1989 in Los Angeles at the world famous Palomino Club, where they performed on Ronnie Mack's Barn Dance. Gustafson is a virtuoso yodeler and infamously recorded the "Yahoo-oo-oo!" for the Yahoo commercial. He has recorded more than 17 albums, performed more than 50 times on the Grand Ole Opry, and appeared on the Conan O'Brien show. An accomplished horseman, Gustafson breeds, trains and shows cutting horses, and claims that tending to his livestock is what keeps him grounded and is the backbone of his art. Wylie & The Wild West’s latest album is Raven on the Wind.
Rodeo poet Paul Zarzyski was born in Wisconsin but early on moved west to spend fifteen years riding bareback broncs on various rodeo circuits. He now lives in Great Falls, Montana, and has now been "spurring the words wild" for 35 years. He has established himself as one of the country's premiere cowboy poets. Unlike much of traditional cowboy poetry, most of Zarzyski’s poetry is free verse. He says his poems tend to "rhyme a skosh more in the middle than they do out on the jagged ends of the lines." He has published more than ten books of poetry. His Wolf Tracks on the Welcome Mat received the 2004 Spur Award from the Western Writers of America, and All This Way for the Short Ride: Rough Stock Sonnets, won the 1997 Western Heritage (Wrangler) Award from The National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. Zarzyski was the recipient of the 2005 Montana Governor's Arts Award for Literature. In addition to his poetry and writing songs with Wylie Gustafson, he has co-written songs with Ian Tyson, Tom Russell and Don Edwards. Zarzyski has recently published a collection titled 51: 30 Poems, 20 Lyrics, 1 Self-Interview.
Gustafson and Zarzyski are touring as part of the Montana Roots Road Show, a traveling concert tour produced by the Western Folklife Center and featuring nationally acclaimed poets, songwriters and storytellers from Montana. In addition to the show at The Ellen, Gustafson and Zarzyski will perform at the Montana Folk Festival in Butte July 9-10 together with acclaimed singer/songwriter Stephanie Davis, and cowboy poet Wallace McRae. Also part of the Montana Roots Road Show is an exhibition and concert at the Missoula Art Museum called Expressing Montana which features Montana artists who make social, environmental and political commentary through their art. The Missoula concert will feature Montana Poet Laureate Henry Real Bird, old-time songwriter Ray Jacobs, satiric songwriter and rancher Sandy James, and Tongue River songwriter Martha Scanlan.
Montana Roots Road Show is produced by the Western Folklife Center and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Barrick Golden Sunlight and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. For more information about the performance at the Ellen Theatre call 406-585-5885 and for tickets visit www.thellentheatre.com. For more information about the Montana Roots Road Show and Expressing Montana, call 775-340-4240 or visit www.westernfolklife.org.
Photographs available upon request.
