Ball Family Singers
After a scrumptious Texas dinner, sit back and enjoy the music at the Ball Ranch. The family has sung together with their children for over 20 years! You could say it was destiny for the family as Gary and Sue both came from a heritage of authentic western music! Gary's dad was a renowned guitar and fiddle player, playing the old western classics for over 50 years, passing his love of the harmonies and lyrics of these well-loved melodies to his son.
Doc Blakely
Doc Blakely of Wharton, Texas is one of the most acclaimed humorists in the speaking world today. Author of seven books and a regular weekly columnist of the popular humor column "Pokin' Fun" (see "Fans of Doc Blakely and Pokin' Fun" on Facebook) and a member of the National Speaker's Association Hall of Fame, Doc Blakely has been wowing audiences for over 30 years. All done with good, clean humor!
Teresa Burleson
Teresa is an award winning cowgirl poet whose poems are inspired by her personal experiences, her heritage, and the Western way of life. This Texas native has an appreciation for the agricultural industries and the people who make their lives in it. Teresa's "zest" for life is evident in her poetry as well as her ability to make people laugh and touch their lives. She has been nominated by the Western Music Association (WMA) and the Academy of Western Artists (AWA) and was the AWA 2010 Cowgirl Poet of the Year. Her new CD, A Path For Me to Follow, should be released in mid-2013.
Allan Chapman
Allan Chapman is a three time Grammy nominee, with songwriting credits going back thirty years for performers like The Oak Ridge Boys, Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, George Jones and Western performers like Jim Jones and The Texas Trailhands. A sixth generation Texan, Allan was raised on the west Texas ranch that his great-grandfather settled in the 1880s, his love of the land and the western way of life runs through every line in his music. His CD release, Sixth Generation (tales of the west) was nominated for Western Album of the year in 2009. His songs are favorites on western radio. Allan's newest CD, West of the 98th Meridian, is a celebration of the stories and the life of the recent West.
Chuck Cusimano
Chuck started writing Country Music during the 60’s, but kept them to himself. He joined the US Navy in 1968. He continued songwriting and even began singing his own songs to his shipmates, along with the songs of that era by other artists. Cusimano met a great influence while in southern California, a man by the name of Billy Mize. Chuck used to set in with Mizes' band. By the time he left the Navy in Long Beach California in 1972, He had decided he wanted to pursue a career in Country Music.
Miss Devon (Devon Dawson)
Devon Dawson, aka "Miss Devon" of Fort Worth, Texas, is top entertainer in western music, and has been recognized by the Academy of Western Artists "Female Performer of the Year 2009”. Noted for her very rhythmic vintage 'sock-rhythm' guitar style, and warm 'swingtime cowgirl' vocals which bring to mind Dale Evans, Rosalie Allen, and Patsy Montana, her lively onstage persona intrigues and engages both kids and the adults in her audience. She is a founding member of the long-time WMA favorite 'cowboy swing' group, THE TEXAS TRAILHANDS, and is the MUCH prettier half of MISS DEVON & THE OUTLAW, a duet she founded with 'Outlaw Jessie Del' Robertson in 2008. She holds a Grammy certificate for her participation in the Disney CD 'Woody's Roundup featuring Riders in the Sky', as the singing voice of Toy Story 2’s “Jessie, the Cowgirl”. She has performed in and out of that character coast-to-coast, and all across the American West, including at the renowned Grand Old Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, and at Pixar Studios in Emeryville, California. Currently, she can be heard on her well-received recording project, KEEPIN' YOUR HEAD ABOVE THE WATER' (2007), as well as all three of the WMA award-winning Texas Trailhands' CDs. Devon has appeared at rodeos 'n railroads, dances 'n dog shows, schools 'n saloons, cowboy gatherings, libraries, parties 'n festivals, with Radio Disney, Imagination Celebration, walk-ons with Riders In the Sky and Michael Martin Murphey, and has played rhythm guitar with the legendary "Texas Playboys". This western-swingin' cowgirl, frequently spotted on Encore's 'The Westerns Channel' and RFD-TV, is cookin' up the most fun this side of the chuckwagon camp!
Don Edwards
WMA Awards:
1997 Male Performer of the Year
1998 Male Performer of the Year
1999 Male performer of the Year
2001 Male performer of the Year
Nominated For:
2000 Male performer of the Year
2001 Entertainer of the Year
The English Brothers
They really are brothers: Wes, Ray and Gerald English, born and raised in Texas. The brothers have been performing together in various combinations since the mid 1970s, bringing together finely-tuned vocal harmonies that only family members can achieve. The English Brothers Western Entertainers are the best family friendly hand clappin', knee slappin' music and comedy in the Lone Star State.
Joe Green & Merry Agape
New Yorker Merry Agape and West Texas Joe Green are music and poetry emotion! Merry is a trained singer, musician and songwriter. She sang for over a decade wth R&B legend Maxine Brown. Joe is a cowboy poet and singer/songwriter whose two CDs have been top ten hits on cowboy and western radio. The debut of their collaboration entitled COYOTE: I AM STILL AMAZED played to an overwhelming reception at the 2009 WMA Festival! Keep an ear out for more of this group's heartfelt, poignant and powerful songs at this year's festival.
Kristyn Harris
Kristyn Harris, 18, of Collin County Texas, is the winner of the 2012 Western Music Association CRESCENDO AWARD. She has a passion for all things cowboy and western swing, inspired by the music of classic and contemporary western icons as well as her own ranch life. Kristyn is noted for her singing, songwriting, swing rhythm guitar style, big bass thumping, and yodeling (named the WMA Female Yodeler of the Year in 2012, and WMA Janet McBride Yodeling Award in 2011). Her performances reflect her love and understanding of the land and ranching culture of her native state. Along with her passion for playing western music is her love for her horses. She has trained two wild mustangs and draws inspiration from her horses daily! She has performed on national television as part of RFD-TV’s Shotgun Red Variety Show and on Nickelodeon’s popular game show, “FIGURE IT OUT”. She also appears at venues local and across the United States and Canada. Kristyn never fails to delight audiences with her warm, genuine and energetic personality!
Buck "The Big Man" Helton
Saddle up with Buck”The Big Man”! “I’m a rootin, tootin, six-gun shootin, yodeling cowhand!” (Courtesy of Wylie Gustafson)
These Lyrics describe Buck “The Big Man” to a T! Singer, Songwriter, Yodeler extraordinaire, Award winning Cowboy Poet, Author, Emcee, Voice-over artist, Humorist and Western Actor. The Big Man brings the Music, History and Romance of the West to life before your very eyes! Whether you’re after historically accurate costumes, and songs of the trail (and the stories behind them) or the Golden age of the B-Westerns, with the great tunes from Roy, and Gene, Tex and Rex, Cowboy Poetry for your next gathering, yodels that’ll blow the roof right off ‘yer bunkhouse, Cowboy Comedy, or a great villain or sidekick for your next production, The Big Man is the one to call!
Judy James
Judy James, "The Lady Balladeer of Texas," is a singer/songwriter who lets you feel the West with every sound. Her songs take you back, as you listen and dream of the days gone by. Judy is a previous nominee for WMA Female Vocalist of the Year. Since 1997 she has had her own two-hour live Western Music radio Show, Cowboy Jubilee with Judy James, each Saturday morning, where she is "Keeping Our Western Heritage Alive." Judy relased a new CD, "My God and I" in the summer of 2011.
Dennis Jay
Dennis Jay is a singer, songwriter, guitarist who writes and performs original songs with roots in traditional country western, folk, blues, cowboy songs and Mexican ballads. He has spent years living, working, and traveling in the American West; from Arizona to Oregon, California to Kansas, Montana to New Mexico, North Dakota to Texas. He performs solo as well as with his find backup band, Lonesome Town.
Del Kubena
Information Coming Soon!
Janet McBride
Janet McBride has been singing as long as she can remember. Janet McBride has released seven CD's and a number of cassettes since she resumed recording in 1981. Her latest CD was released in January 2005. The album features McBride singing an original song, "A Cowgirl's Dream," which includes a clip of Patsy Montana's singing and yodeling that was taken from an undated demo tape found in Montana's house after her death. And what yodeler hasn't dreamed of singing with Patsy Montana?
In 2007, Bronco Buster Records in Germany released a CD "Honky Tonk Ballads & Classic Yodeling" which contained 28 cuts from recordings released from 1960 thru 1968 and in 2009, Janet released her "highly acclaimed" CD #008 titled "Still Loving the Ride" which contained two unreleased master cuts from her first recording session in 1959. It was of Wynn Stewart and his band which included at that time Ralph Mooney. Ralph had totally forgotten that there were two more songs out there and they were immediately added to the vast catalog of this great musician.
Janet's life story is soon to be released. It will contain many photos from her birth in the 1930s thru and including everything up past the death of her husband and stage partner Billy (John) Ingram on December 22, 2010. The title of the book will be "Still Lovin' The Ride", due out by June 2011.
Miss Devon & The Outlaw
In their live performances, Miss Devon and fellow Fort Worthian "Outlaw Jessie Del" Robertson take the stage together as "Miss Devon & The Outlaw." They are the reigning Western Music Association Harmony Duo of the Year, trading off alto/tenor leads, harmony vocals, and even a few yodels while Outlaw steals a few western swing rides on his saxophone he named "Luna Louise." They will appear at rodeos 'n railroads, fairs 'n festivals, cowboy gatherings, churches 'n chuckwagons, politics 'n parties, saloons 'n schools, bar-b-ques 'n buckboards, shoot-outs 'n cookouts, horse barns 'n house concerts, museums 'n motor clubs, ranches 'n rallies, libraries 'n little folks' birthdays. With lively rhythms, vintage western vocals, and an unpredictable sense of fun, they connect with audiences composed of their youngest fans to their senior saddle pals, as they kick up their heels in a rootin', tootin' western roundup!
Mustang Mikki
This 15 year old from Texas has lived all her life on a small ranch and is a true cowgirl with all the Western trimmins. As all good cowgirls should, she carefully trains her golden palomino, Trigger, who is very proud to be Miss Mikki's best friend. She adds to her young resume the abilities of a natural singer, musician, and songwriter. She discovered her true calling when she fell in love with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry movies, and she actually began to teach herself to play along with her cowboy heroes while matching their melodies in her "sweet lilting prairie soprano" (Devon Dawson). There was just one thing missing though....how Roy could yodel! Surely Mikki could find a way to master that art! That was when she met Janet McBride and the 'yodeling queen' was pleased to guide Miss Mikki into the fascinating world of American cowboy-style yodeling. It wasn't long before Mikki began delighting audiences as a youth performer with Cowtown Opry in the Fort Worth Stockyards, chuckwagon dinners, festivals, retirement centers, schools and more. Everyone know that, since music soothes the soul, this little gal, who is often found singing to her four-legged friends in the barn, has NO problem charming an audience once she takes the stage! In November 2010, she won WMA's Youth Harmony Award with Cora Wood and in November 2011, she was the Grand Prize winner of the Hayloft Gang national on-line singing contest (hayloftgang.com). (Photo by Photography by Faith)
Telephone: 214-532-8010
Texas
The New Pioneers
The New Pioneers are a group of Western Musicians who have been admirers and followers of the original Sons of the Pioneers for virtually all their lives. Their music is patterned after that great group dating back to the thirties and forties. As family members, they grew up singing many of the early Western classics made popular by the original Sons of the Pioneers, including the incomparable Bob Nolan and Tim and Glen Spencer. Most of their younger lives they practiced and enjoyed their music privately and casually. Only in recent years have they been persuaded to get more serious and "go public" with the music. Their great love of the pure traditional "old Pioneers" music is evident in everything they do. They hold a life membership in WMA and have been regular performers at the Annual WMA Festival since 1993. They also appear regularly at the National Festival of the West in Scottsdale and at the Annual Cowboy Songs and Range Ballads Festival hosted by the Buffalo Bill Historical Society in Cody, Wyoming. For the last several years they have been regulars at the Cheyenne Cowboy Songs and Celebration in Cheyenne and at various events at the George Ranch Historical Park near Richmond, Texas.
Prairie Moon
Prairie Moon began playing and performing together in the mid-1990's, when long-time friends Tim Callaway (acoustic guitar) and Will Sullivan (bass) joined up with Tim's brother, Ron Callaway (acoustic guitar) to play and sing cowboy music. Before long a third Callaway brother, Michael, became the fourth "Quarter-Moon", as he added harmonica and high harmony vocals to round out the group's sound with sweet, campfire melodies. All of Prairie Moon's CD's consist of a combination of classic cowboy songs, best of contemporary cowboy compositions, and songs written by the band members.
Gary Prescott
Virtually raised on horseback, Gary Prescott, writes from the heart and from experience about the American Cowboy of the past and present. His songs take you down to the brush country of South Texas and through the mountains of New Mexico.
Jean Prescott
Multiple award winner Jean Prescott is widely known for her rich melodious voice and vivacious personality. This Texas born singer/songwriter uses her music to weave tales of the cowboy way of life that come from the heart and linger forever in your memory. WMA Award: 1997 Entertainer of the Year
Larry Reese
Larry Reese carried a Roy Rogers lunch box to school, played with cap guns his father gave him and watched every single, black and white cowboy TV program that aired in the 1950's. These days (as a Born-Again-Texan), Larry plays guitar and sings the old familiar songs of his childhood heroes to the Western Music fans in and around Austin County, Texas.
"Outlaw Jessie Del" Robertson
'Outlaw Jessie Del' Robertson, of Fort Worth, Texas, is a WMA lifetime member, and has been known to 'disappear' into several alternate western celebrity personalities. According to witnesses, he's the rowdier half of 'Miss Devon & the Outlaw', the WMA Harmony Duo of the Year 2009. With his fine tenor-to-baritone vocals, swingy saxophone, and a little sleight-of-hand, this western gentleman could be makin' a clean getaway with your funnybone!
Joe Romeo "Cowboy Joe"
Joe rides for the Colbert Ranch in Bertram, Texas, also home to the Mustang Heritage Foundation. Joe first began singing and collecting Western tunes in 1971 when he rode herd on the open ranges of the Navajo Nation with Teddy Draper, a former wind talker in the Pacific Theater of WWII. Later he managed the Diamond Bar Ranch of the West Rim Grand Canyon, learning the rich history of the area and adding to his war bag of trail songs. Joe continued his guitar studies with Ron Anthony, former guitarist of Frank Sinatra and the George Shearing Quintet. His favorite artists and musical influences have been, Freddy Green, Elton Britt, Roy Rogers, Jimmie Rogers, Jim Reeves, and Douglas Green. He can be heard throughout the Austin area, as well as a horseback along the trails of the Texas hill country.
Royce Smithey
Ed Stabler
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.
Red Steagall
Nominated For:
1997 Song of the Year ("The Wagon Tongue")
The Texas Trailhands
Based in Fort Worth, Texas, The Texas Trailhands have been making cowboy music SWING since 1997. They are past winners of the Academy of Western Artists ‘Western Group of the Year, three-time winners of WMA Western Swing Album of the Year, and are WMA 2004/05/06/07 Western Swing Group of the Year. Their repertoire is a collection of western movie classics, old West ballads in English and Spanish, contemporary and original western tunes.
R.J. Vandygriff
"Robert Joe Vandygriff is one part Will Rogers, one part Gene Autry and one part Zig Ziglar." Dallas Morning News
“R.J. is an extremely talented, exciting entertainer. Anyone who has a chance to see his performance thoroughly enjoys the experience. You're great my friend. Keep spurrin'. You're ridin' a good hoss.”
RED STEAGALL
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.
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 westery 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.
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