2024 Salado Poetry & Music Gathering Performers (TBD)

 Don Cadden lives with his wife Pam Cook in the mountains south of Alpine, Texas. (Yep, mountains. At 5,300’,higher than Denver!) They run a few cows, and enjoy retirement.  Since 1990, Don has performed his music and poetry at cowboy gatherings around the west. He received the Heritage Award in 2014, from the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering for his dedication to the western way of life. Born in Gonzales, Texas in 1946,  Don grew up in the rural community of Del Valle. He graduated from Southwest Texas State University, served in the military,  and spent most of his adult life in the Austin and Dripping Springs area. He also spent a lot of time in the brush country of South Texas around Cotulla, and in the Big Bend area of West Texas before finally settling there in 2007.

  Teresa Burleson is an award winning poet  whose poems are inspired by her personal experiences, her heritage and  the Western way of life. She 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. With a clear, soft Texas drawl and a  voice that Waddie Mitchell once declared was "like silk”, her poetry is  beautiful, soulful and aimed straight for the western heart or the funny bone, as she tells of drought, rain, faith, legacy, horses, calving, and all the joys and hazards in life. Her  passion for her Western Heritage is also how she makes her living. Her  position as Director of the Stockyards Museum, in the historic Fort  Worth Stockyards, allows her the opportunity to promote and perpetuate  the local history and that of the historic cattle drives that passed  through Fort Worth. She is honored to be voted the  Western Music Association, 2019 and 2017 Female Poet of the Year and her  CD,
The Calf Book, was named 2017 Poetry CD of the Year.
She has been in the Top 5 Nominees for Female Poet of the Year with the Western Music Association (WMA) in 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. In 2010 she was awarded the Cowgirl Poet of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists.

www.teresaburlesoncowgirlpoet.com

 The farther you live from what some people consider civilization, the more self-reliant and innovative you must be.  You have to admire a guy who enters a field and actually creates his own genre by making a musical instrument with which to conquer a niche that any other mortal is afraid to even challenge.  That is exactly what Washtub Jerry has done.  He is the only “tub-bass” player in the field of cowboy entertainment today.   Not only that, but he may also very well be the hardest working man in the business.  Go to any show where Washtub is performing, and you’ll find performers lined up to get him to play backup bass for them.  I have yet to see him turn one of them down.  In addition, he understands more about music theory than any music teacher I know and can illustrate it to you on his unique instrument with the skill of a philharmonic surgeon.  And, to top it off, Wash was named "1999 Instrumentalist of the Year"
by the Western Music Association.
www.washtubjerry.com

 Born in the San Joaquin Valley of California,“Straw” Berry grew up in west central Oklahoma. He was part of the third generation of Berry’s to live and work on the Botchlett Ranch west of Cordell in Washita County. Straw graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State University with a degree in history. After short stints as a musician and police officer, he later settled on a career in the livestock feed, grain and fertilizer industry, while he and his father partnered in a small cow/calf operation. Straw still  keeps a couple of horses around just to smell the” sweat and leather”.  He serves on the board of directors of the Washita County Historical Society and is a member of the Cordell Round Up Club. He and wife, Penny reside in Cordell and stay busy following their eight grandchildren. Straw began to write and recite cowboy poetry in about 2000.  He has performed at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Alpine, Texas and The Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering and Western Swing Festival in Ft. Worth, Texas. Local civic groups and Cowboy Churches also invite Straw to speak and perform. His two CD’s are Red Hill Reflections and Strawberry Preserved. He is looking forward to his association with the Salado Cowboy Poetry Gathering. 

  Jeff Gore has been performing since he was four years old. He has spent  the last 30 years traveling and singing cowboy and gospel music all over  the U.S. and abroad. The recipient of Male Vocalist of the Year award  in Cowboy Music from the Academy of Western Artists (1997), and a  lifetime achievement award for Western Music by the American Cowboy  Culture Association (2005, the youngest ever to receive this award), he  has also produced and acted on television and has appeared in film (most  notabably, in The Good Old Boys and Nail 32) 

 In spite of these and other accomplishments, he is proudest when he  is asked to ride out with a crew of cowboys at the wagon on ranches from  Texas to Idaho. He and his wife Donna of over 38 years have two  daughters who live with their husbands in Abilene, and five grandsons.  Jeff grew up working on ranches and still does, living out and singing  about the cowboy life.

Website: www.jeffgore.org

  Belinda Gail was raised on ranches in Nevada’s Carson Valley and in the  California Sierra Nevada foothills near Sequoia National Park.  She  began singing and writing western songs from her personal experiences  growing up in this farm country.  In 1996 she went on her first tour as  an opening act and she has not stopped.  Since then, she has been named  seven times as the Female Performer of the Year by the Western Music  Association.  She was recently listed as one of the top 50 Country and  Western Entertainers of all time by American Cowboy Magazine in their  collector edition entitled “Legends.”  Her endearing and high energy  performances have earned her the deserved nickname as “America’s Western  Sweetheart.”  https://www.backstorysong.com

  Born in Haskell, Texas and now living in Olney, Texas, Stan Mahler has  cowboyed a little and still raises a few cows with his Dad. He has  performed his music from the Big Bend country to the corners of Texas  and New Mexico. Stan has shared the stage with western artists like Leon  Rausch, Don Edwards, Waddie Mitchell, R. W. Hampton, Dan Roberts, Jeff  Gore, and let's not forget Wrangler Roger Banks and the Pards from San  Angelo.   

Stan's powerful tenor voice and yodeling talent makes him a sure fire  hit with every audience as he sings about the history and lifestyle of  the West. 

https://http://www.cowboycampfiretales.com

   Hailing from Fort Worth, Texas, Miss Devon is a top entertainer in western music, and has been recognized by the Academy of Western Artists as the Female Performer of the Year 2009.  She's noted for her vintage  sock-rhythm guitar style, and warm 'swingtime cowgirl' vocals, which  bring to mind legendary B-western ladies of the silver screen, Dale Evans, Rosalie Allen, Patsy Montana,  etc.  Like them, her lively persona intrigues and engages both kids and  adults in her audience.  She holds a Grammy certificate for her  participation as the singin', yodelin' voice of Jessie, on the Walt  Disney CD, Woody's Roundup featuring Riders in the Sky,  which was the follow-up to the movie, inspired by the characters of Toy  Story 2.  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.  

https://missdevonandtheoutlaw.com

Ol’  Jim Cathey is a native Texan and his young bride Stella is his number  one fan. Listening to his Granddad, Papa Hop, tell stories about growing  up in the Texas Panhandle in the late 1800s and early 1900s gave him  his love for storytelling and he uses this material in his tales and  poems. He won the Silver Buckle and the All-Around Championship Award at  the 2012 National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo in Kanab, Utah. He writes a  weekly column for his local newspaper, the Marlin Democrat.  Most of his  work is in rhyme with a Texas western flair and a natural Texas twang,  garnished with a love and 

appreciation for God’s bounty.