KVMR News correspondent April Glaser took off for Elko, Nevada this year to attend the 40th anniversary of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, where people from ranches and lovers of cowboy culture from across the country gather every year to keep this rich oral tradition of cowboy poetry and song alive.
Drawing from original interviews with some of the greatest living cowboy poets and archival audio from the gathering, April produced a KVMR Public Affairs special radio documentary.
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The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is a production of the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada. Thank you to the Western Folklife Center Archives for the audio of works by Andy Hedges’, Buffalo Kin, Amy Hale and Dom Flemons.
To learn more about the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, visit nationalcowboypoetrygathering.org.The recording of Gail Steiger’s song My Son was from a 1987 PBS documentary made by the Steiger Bros called Ranch Album.
Works used:
- “Goodbye Old Paint” by Charlie Willis. Performed by Jess Morris in 1942
- “From Town” by Charles Badger Clark. Performed by Andy Hedges in 2025
- “Tennessee Stud” performed by Buffalo Kin in 2025
- “The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry. Performed by Amy Hale in 2016 at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
- “My Son” written and performed by Gail Steiger for the 1987 PBS documentary Ranch Alum
- “Lone Ranger” written and performed by Dom Flemons in 2017 at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering