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Robert Wagoner
Born in 1928, Bob Wagoner became interested in the music of the silver screen cowboys early on. He met Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers in the early 1940s and the remained life-long friends. As a teen-ager, Bob, guitarist Billy Strange, fiddler Billy Armstrong and Don Hoag formed a band. Then Bob joined Tommy Duncan's All-Stars and they made the first recording of his composition, "High Country." Later, he worked with the legendary Ray Whitley. In 1951, Foy Willing & the Riders of the Purple Sage offered Bob a job. He turned it down and Foy hired Dale Warren instead. Bob then moved from music to mining, spending several years in the desert where he developed a love for that setting. There, he further developed his skills as a painter of western scenery until he met and joined The Reinsmen. Wth them, he recorded a number of classic sides, appeared on TV specials and he invited them to join him at the annual Death Valley Encampment, an event they continued to headline for many years. He developed a long friendship with Ken Curtis and renewed his friendship with Bob Nolan who spent time with Bob and his family at their home in the high sierras. In 1988, Wagoner was one of the founding members of the WMA and soon became a life member. Though he spends most of his time painting, Bob devoted considerable time in the 1990s to perfecting multiple audio recording in his home studio where he began recording classic western songs and many that might have been lost had he not resurrected them. In the early 1990s he issued a number of cassettes and in recent years has released 5 CDs. For more on Robert Wagoner, see REINSMEN: Painters of the West in Song by Ken Griffis (1997). For his CDs and contents listings, click here. (Photo by M. Sundin)
Sherry Walker
Sherry’s fondest childhood memory is of her dad singing Little Joe the Wrangler, the Strawberry Roan, The Baggage Coach Ahead and other cowboy songs. It’s no surprise those wonderful old tunes would later beckon her to preserve “the cowboy way” through song. Green Valley, Arizona is her home but she has performed throughout the Pacific Northwest, central Arizona, and music festivals far and wide. Sherry loves to re-acquaint people with Western Music or introduce them if they've never met! Whether performing or jamming, she always offers “Music and A Smile”
Barry Ward
Barry Ward, fourth generation farmer/rancher is an accomplished singer/songwriter whose music is a tribute to Western traditions and lifestyles. In 2003 at Carnegie Hall, he was part of The Great American Cowboy in Concert. He later won Male Vocalist of the Year in the Western Division of the Country Gospel Music Association and was a finalist for the WMA Male Performer of the Year. Whispers of the West is currently nominated by the Academy of Western Artists for Song of the Year 2000 along with Barry being nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year for 2011. Also this year he is nominated by the WMA for Male Performer, Outstanding Songwriter, and Song of the Year for Riding Along the Cimarron.
Dick Warwick
Dick Warwick lives on the home place amid the rolling Palouse Country hills of eastern Washington, occasionally sallying forth to recite poetry and sing a song or two in such diverse places as Nevada, Arkansas, Ireland, Australia and even his home town, Oakesdale. He receives poetic inspiration from nature, pastoral and agrarian issues, changing times, animals (including the human variety), and from modern culture’s ever-expanding trove of folly, flummery and foolery. He describes himself as a “barnyard yarnbard” but does not want that to be his epitaph. He would rather be known for having planted a few trees. (photo by Jens Lund)
Washtub Jerry
Washtub Jerry is a recognized authority for building and playing the washtub bass. In 1999 he was named Instrumentalist of the Year by the Western Music Association. Jerry has performed with Patsy Montana, Yakov Smirnoff, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Riders In The Sky, Peter Yarrow, Johnny Gimble, and yes, Don, Waddie, Red, and R. W. (plus hundreds of other musicians!). He is a member of the International Society of Bassists.
Fiddlin' Pete Watercott
Fiddlin' Pete has been playing his own brand of high-energy, traditionally based Western Folk music for over thirty years. Out on the road, hitching, riding freights, and traveling in the "Lone Prairie Schooner" (pick- up/camper). Fiddlin' Pete has become a popular entertainer throughout the Eastern Sierra region, playing at festivals, county fairs, schools, churches, dance halls, ranch gatherings, and for the outfitters who pack stock into and around the Sierra Nevada wilderness.
Barry Whitfill
Originally from Ft. Worth, Barry Whitfill spent most of his working career in the Houston area. He has had a lifetime interest in western history and western lifestyle. Barry currently lives on his small Hill Country ranch near Camp Verde, Texas. He entertains locally and spends a lot of his time in Luchenbach and Bandera. He has a house also in Alpine and gets there whenever he can. Barry released his first CD "Caliche Legacy" in July 2010. He composed all 12 songs on the CD and shares a few stories as well.
Larry Wilder
Western Music Association’s 2008 Male Yodeler of the Year!!!
Along with being a virtuoso yodeler, Larry is an accomplished finger-style banjo and guitar player, with a song repertoire of over 400 tunes in the genres of Cowboy, Bluegrass, Appalachian, Gospel, Americana, and Folk. The Yodelin’ Cowboy Show is fast-paced, highly interactive, family friendly event --- an unforgettable musical experience!
Casey Woods
Retired firefighter and truck mechanic. Lover of Cowboy and Western Music. I enjoy performing cowboy poetry. I write most of what I recite and I have one CD titled "Riding the Range." I am also a member of the Cowboy Poets of Utah. I have performed in several venues (Heber City, Elk0, Valentine, NE) and several smaller shows. Some of my poems are from memories, some from hopes and dreams. One of my favorites is a historically correct story of Lane Frost, the young bull rider who inspired the movie "Eight Seconds."
Joyce Woodson
Currently, Joyce is both the winner of the Best Song of the Year Award from the Western Music Association for her title cut “If I Hadn’t Seen the West” and the Will Rogers Cowboy Award for Best Female Performer for 2008. Having also won the 22nd Tucson Folk Festival Songwriting Contest, she’s played throughout southern California, worked for many years at the legendary McCabe’s Guitar Shop, performed at the Napa Valley Music Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival and is a founding member of the Western Music Association in Tucson, Arizona. She is a regular performer at the Gene Autry Museum in Burbank, California and the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming. She enjoys touring the United States from coast-to-coast, played by invitation from the BBC to perform at the Queens Festival in Belfast, Ireland. She’s toured Wales and Great Britain as well. She’s an instructor at the bi-annual music camps SummerSongs and resides in her home town of San Juan Capistrano, California.
WMA Awards:2008 Song of the Year for "If I Hadn't Seen the West"
Nominated for:
2009 Female Performer of the Year
2008 Female Performer of the Year
Wylie & the Wild West
Forget everything you hate about modern country music, Wylie & The Wild West are old-school cool without being a tired period piece. Singer, songwriter, rancher, horseman, and world-famous Yahoo® yodeler, Wylie Gustafson leads the outfit. Tending livestock daily is the backbone of his art. Whether playing for a crowd of 50 or 5,000, Wylie's goal is the same: "To win a crowd with good music and make 'em feel like they got their money’s worth"
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