Last month, the poets faced a tough ask about the classics. This month, they grapple with the follow-up question, “What three poems do you think should be considered “new classics” that every cowboy poet (or cowboy poetry lover) should know? What’s the difference to you between classics and new classics?”

If you’re a cowboy poet looking to learn your classics, where might you start? Who better to know a thing or two about all this than the Ask a Cowboy Poet panel? So, we posed them this month’s question from Seeking Out Standards: “What three classic poems do you think every cowboy poet should know, and why?”

This month, Annie asks “What is the one tip you would give to someone just starting to write cowboy poetry?” The pros burst with generous tips for aspiring writers on the cowboy part of the poetry spectrum. And, their advice holds up even if you’re a bit less cowboy. If you’re poised for poetry, read on for tips on tapping into that “something else” that animates words (and life).

In anticipation of the upcoming Big Skies, New Visions event, the featured gearmakers would like to make your acquaintance. Read on for introductions to Carson Jorgensen (bits & spurs), Clair Kehrberg (leatherworker), and Justine Nelson-Graham (rawhide braider, leatherworker, saddlemaker).

Gearmaker Week starts today! Follow #wfcgearmakerweek on Instagram.

In anticipation of the upcoming Big Skies, New Visions event, the featured gearmakers would like to make your acquaintance. Read on for introductions to James Gullion (bits & spurs), Eric Hannig (leatherworker), and Natalie Teichert (bootmaker).

This month’s musing comes from Jonathan, who asks the poets about the poets they admire. What a great question. Wise knows wise. If someone inspired this crew, that’s someone to consider. (For our part, if we were asked which poet we most admired, it’d be a real laundry list situation. There’s no shortage of muses around here!)

In anticipation of the upcoming Big Skies, New Visions event, the featured gearmakers would like to make your acquaintance. Read on for introductions to Morgan Buckert (bootmaker), Tony Pedrini (leatherworker), and Bryce Williams (saddlemaker). We’ll introduce to you to more of the makers next week!

“We oftentimes miss just who is part of the Archives: it is friends, family members, folks that you’ve seen on stage and in the grocery store aisle or at the other end of the bar. It equally represents some of the greatest artistic expressions in the West and beyond–all tell a story that contributes to this experience.” Read more from, and join in the conversation with, Programs Manager Ian Hallagan in this first of a new series of posts From the Archives.

For this month of Valentine’s, the cowboy poets were asked to reminisce on a special love–the bond between cowboy and critter–by reflecting on their favorite animal. Their bunch of beloveds, not surprisingly, includes staunch cowboy companions and even an unexpected, endearing house pet.

Send in your own questions for the cowboy poets via Facebook, Instagram, or email to media@westernfolklife.org.

We promised you a Wild Ride…

And we’re making good on it, the best way we know how. Read more for a recap of what happened last week. And, a sneak peek at what we’ve got in the chute for the coming months.

Agee Smith joined us this past weekend for his keynote talk, Tales from Cottonwood Ranch. He also participated in a stewardship panel discussion along with his family and the Northeastern Nevada Stewardship Group. Watch both talks again here.

This month, we welcomed a new addition to the Wiegand Gallery—Walter Piehl, Jr.’s original painting of Betsy and Blue Buttes: Cowgirl Suite (2021). The piece, emblematic of Walter’s style, bursts with color and movement… and it’s even more striking on canvas. It's no secret that Walter’s Betsy and Blue Buttes artwork inspires us. Read more about the man behind the muse–renowned, genre-busting western artist Walter Piehl.

On Dec. 18, 2021, we lost a dear friend and esteemed colleague, Jim Griffith. His contributions to the work of the Western Folklife Center, to the field and practice of folklore, and to the understanding of the traditional cultures of southern Arizona and northern Mexico are vast. Read Meg Glaser's remembrance and listen to Jim’s keynote address from the first Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

It’s January. It’s 2022. It’s time for a Wild Ride!

And, it all starts this month! Read on for more details and the January Wild Ride schedule.

Become a member and join us via livestream or in person. We hope you’ll take this Wild Ride with us, wherever you happen to be.

From year one, Meg has been an integral part of the Gathering and the Western Folklife Center. Now, 37 years later, she continues to bring a splash of style to all she does. In honor of Meg’s well-deserved retirement, we asked some folks to say a few words. Nevada Humanities Executive Director (and longtime friend and colleague) Christina Barr recounts some of Meg’s many contributions.

In this month’s edition of the advice column, Saddled-Up and Starstruck asks the sage cowboy poets a straight-shooting, no-nonsense question: "What are the cowboy poets really like?" To which we said, “do you really want to know?” Joking aside (mostly), we rounded up their (mostly) serious responses to this forthright, but rather philosophical, query.

Send in your own questions for the cowboy poets via Facebook, Instagram, or email to media@westernfolklife.org.

When you get together to listen to the musings of some of the great cowboy poets and musicians of the West, it’s easy to find yourself carried away to another place or another time, moved by the power of these artists’ thoughtful words and the pictures they paint for us through their verse. But how does an artist protect themselves from another coming along and taking credit for the work they’ve so thoughtfully crafted over the years? Well that’s the question our friend Jacqueline sent in to us from Facebook this last month, looking to get a better understanding of the way these poet masters operate. It sure intrigued us, and we hope you enjoy what they each had to say in return.

Don’t forget you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram to send in your own questions to ask our cowboy poets! Email submissions can also be sent to media@westernfolklife.org.

It is with heavy hearts that we must announce the cancellation of the upcoming National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, originally planned for Jan. 24-29, 2022. After careful consideration of logistical challenges and financial hurdles due to the COVID pandemic, we have determined it will be impossible to deliver a Gathering experience that resembles anything close to what we have all come to expect.

As Waddie Mitchell said, “We’re all disappointed, but the board has made a wise decision. It's like finding the road's washed out when you’re headed to the yearly dance. You've got a date and you’re on the wrong side and there's nothing you can do about it. It's no one’s fault. You just have to say, ‘Shucks. We’ll try it again next year.’”

The second annual #earsieweek is upon us. And it’s all happening on our Instagram (check us out @cowboypoetrygathering).

What’s an “earsie” you ask? It’s a photo shot by a rider, with their horse’s ears in the frame. So, instead of the ever-ubiquitous social media “selfie” where the camera is turned on oneself, an “earsie” turns the camera out to the world that the photo-taker sees. And, more than that, an earsie specifically highlights the world one sees from horseback.

As summer fades and the reality of snow sets in, do you ever think, “sometimes, I just wish the Gathering could come to me”…? Well, it’s happening! We’re gathering—In. Your. Town.—with our new northern Nevada traveling series that brings family-friendly, sunset film screenings and classic cowboy poetry, music, and humor direct to your backyard.

Drawing on over 30 years of archival footage and a wide network of artists, each stop on the Gathering in Your Town circuit will be unique, just like the towns it visits.