Jim Jones is an award-winning singer/songwriter, an author of Western novels and Children’s books, and an aspiring filmmaker. His songs and books are about the West … cowboys, horses & cattle, cattle rustlers, the coming of the train … songs about people and land, rivers and mountains, the beauty of the Western sky. Jim has produced thirteen Western/Folk albums and three award-winning Children’s character education videos. His Western novels include the Jared Delaney series, Rustler’s Moon, Colorado Moon, Waning Moon and Halo Moon, and the spin-off series including The Big Empty (2016) and The Lights of Cimarron (2019), published by Speaking Volumes Press. In addition, his novella, “Scarecrows,” part of a four piece anthology from Five Star called Perilous Frontier, was released in 11/21. His Children’s book, Bolo the Brave, illustrated by Kamee Young, was published in 11/20 and was a 2021 Western Writers of America Spur Finalist. Bolo the Brave: True Friend was published in 2/22. Solo albums include “Race with the Wind,” “Headin’ Home,” compilation CD, “Favorites,” “Good Days Are Comin’,” “Words & Music,” and in January of 2024, “Storyteller: Tales From the West.”
Jim’s awards include three-time Western Heritage Wrangler Award Winner & Western Writers of America Spur Winner, NM/AZ Book Awards: 2023 Adventure category: Halo Moon, International Western Music Association: 2019 Song of the Year- “It’s a Cowboy I Will Be.”, International Western Music Association: The Cowboy Way- Group of the Year, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, International Western Music Association: 2019 Traditional Album of the Year, “Go West”, Academy of Western Artists: 2016, 2022 Western Song of the Year, Western Music Association: 2014 Male Performer of the Year, Academy of Western Artists: 2008 Male Vocalist of the Year, New Mexico Music Awards: 2009 Best Western Song- “Cowboys of New Mexico”
Nestled in the rolling hills northwest of Amarillo, Texas, Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch is a residential community open to at-risk children ages 5 to 18. While, at first glance, the campus might appear much like any other Texas Panhandle town, it is much more. Every person in our community understands the importance of healthy relationships.
Cal Farley’s provides professional programs and services in a Christ-centered atmosphere to strengthen families and support the overall development of children.Cal Farley’s provides professional programs and services in a Christ-centered atmosphere to strengthen families and support the overall development of children.
Joel Alden White is a singer/songwriter from West Texas. Nominated for the IWMA (International Western Music Association) 2023 Songwriter of the Year, with 2 songs nominated for Cowboy Song of the Year. Joel has cowboyed and managed ranches in West Texas, been a Yard Manager for a West Texas Commercial Feedyard and a cattle buyer in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Arizona. Currently Joel is “technically” retired spending time with his wife, Kelly, in their Amarillo home, making music, traveling, and performing. White’s first 2 albums found success in the Roots Americana Country Charts with singles charting as high as a number one and 2 number 2’s. His newest EP of western songs has been enthusiastically received charting as high as #2 on the IWMA Western Radio chart.
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.
She’s a two-time Academy of Western Artists 2-time Female Performer of the Year, an inductee of two western swing halls of fame, and recipient of the International Western Music Assoc. Curly Musgrave ‘Spirit of the Cowboy’award. With a vintage rhythm guitar style, Miss Devon is the singin’, yodelin’ voice for 'Jessie' on the Grammy winning
Disney CD "WOODY'S
ROUNDUP feat. RIDERS IN THE SKY”, inspired by the Toy Story series.
Outlaw Jessie Del, a 2023 inductee as a ‘western music hero’, for the Cowtown Society of Western Music is a rascally gent who just may steal your funny bone. With a fine tenor to baritone voice, a saxophone, a harmonica, a few alias personalities, and a few tricky moves, ya better watch him close!
With two award-winning recording projects, plenty of fresh, intricate song arranging, and 16 years onstage as a duo, they are MISS DEVON & THE OUTLAW, the seriously western-swingy, award-winning entertainers from Fort Worth, TX, who are havin’ more fun than puttin’ socks on a rooster! * 2023 nominee, and IWMA Group of the Year (2013 & 2014) *IWMA harmony contest winners (six times winners)
*National Western Heritage ‘Wrangler’ Horizon award/ Cowboy Hall of Fame
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.
Lori Beth Brooke is an accordionist, yodeler, singer, and song-writer from Austin, Texas. A native Texan with German heritage, she grew up on a dairy farm in Nordheim, just southeast of San Antonio.
Lori Beth started playing piano before she started elementary school. Then, at seven she was finally big enough to hold an accordion and learned to play her first polka from the Palmer Hughes series. By age 12 she was writing her own songs.
Lori Beth graduated with a B.A. in Music and a M.S. in Computer Information Systems. She now works in the computer industry managing a database team for the data analytics division at an Austin-based company.
Born and raised in Texas, George Ray Russell was inspired to cowboy living by a grandfather and uncle in the horse and mule business. He also had a poetry-reciting dad. He wrote his first poem in the first grade and hasn’t stopped since. Steeped in the history and culture of cowboys of the American West, Russell’s work is a love song to horses, hard times, humor, music, and mules. Wrangler of Rhymes, Volume 1, was released in July 2021; Volume 2 in December 2022. Both available wherever you get your music!
Bruce is originally from the Midwest (Illinois and Missouri), but the pull of the Rocky Mountains took him to Colorado, where he has lived for the past 45 years. He and his wife Marcia live on an 18 acre “hobby ranch” south of Berthoud, CO.
He and Marcia, a retired music teacher, perform and host a monthly Music Open Stage at the Left Hand Grange #9 in Niwot, CO, where he first met George Ray Russell. He travels with and plays guitar and harmonica for George Ray Russell.
He enjoys country/western music and dancing; and enjoys the culture of the West - music, history, art, literature and poetry. While he lives in Colorado, he is drawn to explore the prairie and the hills of Kansas and Nebraska. He loves being a grandpa to two beautiful little girls, Jolie and Sierra.
Sarah Pierce, the daughter of a cowboy, raised in a family of cattlemen, was born in Rockford, Illinois and raised in rural West Texas. In the 6th grade she was kicked out of the children’s choir because she sang too low...her incredible alto voice already making itself be known. She would later get on her mare and sing to the cattle in the fields, as Pierce says “They didn’t seem to mind”. Sarah's dream of becoming a legitimate singer began to take shape at age 12, singing in her stepfathers band.
Always studying voice, after receiving her degree in medical science she began her musical journey. One that she is still traveling today. Sarah's new CD, I Wanna Go Home, is slated for release in April 22, 2024.
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