Morgan Buckert turned a childhood admiration of handmade cowboy boots into a career as a custom cowboy bootmaker. Morgan consciously weaves traditional bootmaking with her deep knowledge of the people and places of the West. In this Q&A, we talk with Morgan about her experience making boots and connecting with other makers at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

In this month's Ask a Cowboy Poet column, the cowboy poets talk about a person who is part of their Cow Town State of Mind community alongside their family and crew. And, we want you to answer the question too!

We’re heading back to Las Vegas this December for the National Finals Rodeo, and you’re invited to join us at the Ahern Hotel, Dec. 10–13, for National Cowboy Poetry Gathering on the Road!

“You can express, you can carve whatever you want,” says acclaimed saddlemaker Pedro Pedrini in his Q&A with the Western Folklife Center. Pedro came to Elko from France in the 1970s to study saddlemaking. Now, five decades later, Pedro has his own saddle shop in Spring Creek, Nevada, and works with his son Tony. Pedro and Tony will be co-teaching a leather carving workshop at the 41st Gathering.

“Sharing poems and songs about those aspects of our agrarian lives that were personal and deeply felt did a lot to humanize us,” writes Gail Steiger as he reflects on what cowboy poetry means and the connections it opens up.