Performers by Name

Saddle Strings is a cowboy band with roots that run deep into the Cowboy lifestyle. Members include Kurt Argyle, bass guitar, rhythm guitar, and vocals. Cindy Argyle, vocals and percussion, Bud Brown, drums, Laurie Morgan, vocals and percussion. Jodi Thackeray plays fiddle, sings and yodels. Brian Arnold sings, performs poetry, and plays rhythm/lead guitar. Each has ranching and/or rodeo experience, and are at home performing around a cow camp fire or on stage.

Warner Sankman was born and raised in rural Connecticut and moved to Texas in 1959. While attending the University of Texas, he developed an interest in folk music, which soon grew to include other forms of traditional music such as bluegrass and western music. Now a Californian for over 30 years, Warner has performed as a single, and as a member of several bands playing a variety of traditional country, folk, and western music.

Jim has been entertaining audiences since he was a boy. In the late 1940s he formed a western band, "The Frontiersmen," which promoted western music for 45 years. Since the band's retirement in the late 1980s, Jim has continued to promote western music as a solo performer.

Jay Snider was born and raised in southwest Oklahoma and calls Cyril, Oklahoma home. Jay appeared on Country Music Television’s Christ in Cowboy Country hosted by Clint Black. He was a Silver Buckle winner at Kanab, Utah’s Cowboy Poetry Rodeo in 2004 and was a feature cowboy poet at the Ozarks Fall Roundup Cowboy Gathering hosted by Shepherd of the Hills Outdoor Theater in Branson, Missouri. Most recently, Jay was awarded the “Best of the Best” trophy at Kanab’s Cowboy poetry rodeo.

Mark and Jacob Henkel are a father and son musical duo that enjoys singing songs of the old west. Mark was raised in Willcox, Arizona, where the influence of Rex Allen and local ranchers gave Mark a lifelong love for the open land, western music, and real cowboys. He has passed this passion for all things western on to his son, Jacob, 16-years-old. Together, these two sing about and live out the values that were taught by their western heroes.

Sons of the Sage is made up of native Oklahomans Jim Garling, Greg Burgess, and Richard Sharp, who offer the hottest combination of old-time fiddling, good old down-to-earth cowboy western music, and western swing. These guys excel in their musical ability, so much so that you'd believe they were born with instruments in hand. Put this combination of first-quality musicians together and you have music that will make you smile, tap your toes, and swing your partner.

WMA Awards:
1997 Duo/Group of the Year
1998 Duo/Group of the Year
1998 Songwriter of the Year (Jack Hannah)
1998 Song of the Year
1999 Duo/Group of the Year
1999 Songwriter of the Year (Jack Hannah)
2000 Songwriter of the Year (Jack Hannah)
2000 song of the Year 2001 Duo/Group of the Year
2001 Songwriter of the Year (Jack Hannah)
2001 Song of the Year
2001 Traditional Western Album of the Year

Singer/guitarist Ed Stabler is well-known to Western Music fans for his fine voice and finger-style guitar playing. Stabler has been a force in Western Music since 1990, when he retired from law enforcement in Colorado and became a full time performer. Stabler served a three-year term on the Western Music Association Board of Directors in the mid-1990s, holding the vice-presidency for two years. He has recorded several solo projects and has played on other performer's recordings.

WMA Award:
2000 Male performer of the Year

Nominated For:
1997 Male Performer of the Year
1998 Male Performer of the Year
1998 Songwriter of the Year
1998 Song of the Year ("Montana" by Dave Stamey)
1999 Male performer of the Year
1999 Songwriter of the Year
1999 Song of the Year ("Montana" by Dave Stamey)
2000 Songwriter of the Year
2001 Male performer of the Year

What do you get when you cross a good-looking, award winning singer/songwriter/male vocalist with a good-looking award winning singer/songwriter/yodeling/husband/wife team? Give up? DON'T! You get STAMPEDE! And when you get STAMPEDE!, you get Western Music and Entertainment at its' best. You get the great sound of traditional Western Music plus outstanding original songs. You get harmony. You get yodeling. You get humor. In short you get ENTERTAINED!!

Gail has been singing far a long time on stages, at campfires and corporate events. Her life has been based on the western ways as she has traveled, worked with ranchers and helped bring the romance of the West to folks that just wanted an experience to remember.  The Cattle Drives, the Chuck Wagons, and the time on the trail have helped the past meet the present.  These experiences have given her the soul that is needed for an authentic western serenade.

Nominated For:
1997 Song of the Year ("The Wagon Tongue")

Ken played with a variety of musical groups over the years, but eventually he returned to his roots performing and writing western style folk music. He formed his own “Desert Sage Band”, played with “The Red Rock Wranglers”, and currently performs with his new group “LATIGO” as well as performing solo. His musical voice and melodic guitar have been familiar sounds at countless concerts, club dates, private parties and church gatherings.

The true essence of the Singing Cowboy. Rich has been a guitar player, singer/songwriter, actor, 1994 World Champion NSPRA Bull Rider, horse trainer, and teacher. He is retired now and living in town for the first time in 50 years and pursuing entertainment work throughout the U.S.A.

The duo - Ron and Anna Green joined WMA in the year 2000. They entertain young and old with Western, Folk and old Country music we all remember. Everyone can join in singing on many songs and often laugh along as well. In 2004 they were inducted into the Old Time Traditional Country Music Hall of Fame, honored as performers, educators and coordinators of a family music camp where all can play and sing along around the campfire.