A non-profit outfit dedicated to preserving & promoting Cowboy & Western Ways & Life through Events, Activities, History, Worship, Poetry & Music!

All Star Cowboy Poetry and Music Show

Saturday, July 20, 2024*
Encampment K-12 School Gym, Encampment, WY

Featuring

Kevin Davis

Kevin DavisKevin Davis is an award winning singer songwriter from Walters, Oklahoma. He has co-written songs in Nashville with some of the best writers they have to offer with several songs being published, as well as countless songs penned by himself.

A self taught guitar player, he has 3 albums to his credit. His first love is horses and the western way of life that he is consumed with: He is a yearling man, a rep for Superior Livestore, cattle inspector for a bank and very proud to be known for the horses he rides. "What else could a man ask for than to spend every day horse back?"

Yvonne Hollenbeck

Yvonne HollenbeckSouth Dakota ranch wife, Yvonne Hollenbeck, lives on a Clearfield area ranch where she and her husband, Glen Hollenbeck, raise angus beef cattle and registered quarter horses. Hollenbeck writes about a lifetime as a rancher’s wife, whether she is helping outside with the livestock, putting up hay, paying the bills, or feeding a crew, and puts real life experiences (sometimes humorous) into her poetry, stories and weekly articles in the Tri-State Livestock News.

Sometimes referred to as the “Erma Bombeck” of Cowboy Poetry, Hollenbeck delights her audiences with both humorous and serious poetry, and has performed at nearly every major western entertainment venue in America and Canada, having been invited to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering at Elko, Nevada, a record 20 times.

More about Yvonne Hollenbeck

Daron Little

Daron LittleDaron Little cowboys for a living on the TA Ranch north of Saratoga, Wyoming. He also plays cowboy music that he writes from his experiences living the day to day life and he was named 2009 Top Male Vocalist in the Western category by the Academy of Western Artists. He has performed at many cowboy gatherings throughout the west. He is a regular performer at the Working Ranch Cowboys Association World Championship Ranch Rodeo.

More about Daron Little

Additional Performers

Doug Figgs

Doug FiggsDoug Figgs is an AFA Certified Journeyman Farrier, day working cowboy, and a Western music singer/songwriter from Lemitar, New Mexico. He has won numerous awards for his music including two “Wrangler Awards” from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum along with 2023 IWMA Entertainer of the Year and 2021 and 2018 IWMA Male Performer of the Year. He is inspired by the cowboy/Western life he lives, writing songs from his experiences while drawing from the history of the West. He has performed his music all over the West and continues to turn out his own variety of Western music – from hard driving music with a hint of southern rock, to beautiful ballads, and everything in between.

More about Doug Figgs

Cora Rose Wood

Cora Rose WoodCora Rose Wood developed a love for singing and writing songs at the young age of four years old. When she wasn't busy singing and writing cowboy poetry, she was pushing cows horseback with her dad, or participating in youth horse shows and rodeos. In 2008, she released her album “Cora’s Cowgirl Yodel”, and was the Western Music Association’s Youth Yodeler of the Year in 2008 and 2010. Her involvement in western music, cowboy poetry, 4-H events and horse shows, and her time spent in the saddle on the ranch has not only kept her busy, but has also made an impact on her songwriting. In 2012, her family relocated to a ranch in southern Montana, where she became more involved in sports and symphonic band, playing the flute and piccolo. Her experiences with high school marching and symphonic band helped shape her passion and appreciation for music as a whole, and inspired her to attend Sheridan College in Sheridan Wyoming. In Spring of 2022, she graduated with her Associates of Fine Arts (Music), her Music technology Certificate and her Arts Administration Certificate. Today, she draws on all of her experiences and influences to write music that is raw, relatable, and tells a story, while also keeping the voice of the American Cowboy alive.

More about Cora Rose Wood

STAMPEDE!

STAMPEDE!From West of the freeway in Northern Utah comes Western Music Association (WMA) performers, STAMPEDE!, a multiple award winning Western music duo that brings good music, classic and original, harmony, humor and just down right good fun to the stage. From state fairs to county fairs; large gatherings to small neighborhood BBQs, STAMPEDE! delivers the absolute best every time and will leave you laughing or crying but you’ll go away knowing you have been entertained by one of the best groups in Western Music today. The group is made up of the husband/wife team of Steve Taylor, “The Safest Driver in the West” and pretty darn good on that upright bass and Terri Taylor, dubbed “The Epiglottis Goddess” and labeled “a Triple Threat” by Ranger Doug of Riders In The Sky who also gives her credit for being the inspiration for his song, “Jessie, the Yodeling Cowgirl” from the movie, Toy Story 2.

Terri is a 2-time award winning yodeler and an award-winning singer/songwriter and received the Song of the Year Award from the WMA in 2005 for her song titled, “Colors (of the West)”. In 2006, she was listed in the Top 5 for Collaboration of the Year between poet and musician with Curly Syndergaard for “Where the Wild Horses Run”. In 2009 and 2010, she again made the Top 5 in the Song of the Year category for her song, “The Wyoming Waltz”. Several of her songs have been recorded by other artists including Horse Crazy, GT Hurley, Judy Coder and others.

Honors they have received include:
    • Female Yodeler of the Year (International) - WMA 2000
    • Yodeler of the Year - Academy of Western Artists 2003
    • Golden Note Award - Cowboy Poets of Idaho 2003
    • People's Choice Cowboy Band - 2005, 2006, 2010
    • Crescendo Award - WMA 2006
    • Top 5 Best Duo/Group - WMA 2012

For the year 2014, they are listed among the Top 100 Most Played Western Albums, Top 100 Most Played Western Artists and the Top 100 Most Played Contemporary Artists as reported by a list of International DJs.

They have also been honored in their local community by the American Red Cross, The Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Boy Scouts of America

STAMPEDE! has been performing since 2000 on stages across the country in venues coast to coast and border to border and in Canada and has been going strong since then averaging well over 300 performances a year. They have opened for major headliners including Riders In The Sky, Roy Rogers, Jr., The Sons of the Pioneers, Dan Seals, Rex Allen, Jr., Wylie and the Wild West, Baxter Black, Red Steagall, Bill Barwick, Don Edwards, Waddie Mitchell, Belinda Gail, Suzy Bogguss, Gary McMahan and Dave Stamey. They have headlined in major shows in every state in the Intermountain West.

Caitlynn Taussig

NameCaitlyn Taussig is a fourth-generation rancher from Kremmling, Colorado. She runs cow-calf pairs with her mother on their high-country cattle ranch. Caitlyn’s interests include travel, cattle care, learning to be a better roper, and studying up on bridle horses in the Californio tradition.

Caitlyn has been singing since childhood and has performed at ranch brandings, cowboy gatherings, private events, guest ranches, bars and ranch ropings. She draws inspiration for her songwriting from Colorado's rugged and beautiful landscapes, her experiences summering cattle at 9,000 feet, cowboying in rough high country and dark timber, working on the family ranch and feeding cattle in the harsh winter months, and listening to her late father’s wild stories. An article about the Taussig family appeared in the February 2016 issue of Western Horseman, and in January 2019 Caitlyn and her mother Vicki were featured in the front-page NY Times Sunday business section story "Female Ranchers are Reclaiming the American West".

Caitlyn's debut album, The Things We Gave Up, was released in January 2015.

More about Caitlynn Taussig

Many Strings

Many StringsTony and Carol Messerly are “Manystrings & Co”. Their music is referred to as Western Folk, sometimes quirky and rarely serious. Tony was named Male Yodeler of the year in 2013 by the International Western Music Association and they are recipients of the Academy of Western Artists 2018 western duo of the year. You can be sure that the musical duet of Manystrings & Co. will take you back to yesteryear with their whimsical ballads, cowboy songs and mountain man originals. This Wyoming/Utah duo has six CDs and has performed at venues across the west.

So, pour yourself a cup, toss another log on the fire and enjoy the tunes.

More about Many Strings

Floyd Beard

Floyd BeardFloyd Beard has performed for over 30 years to groups and gatherings where his stories and style receive rave reviews. Often compared to Baxter Black, Floyd has a genuine storytelling style, reciting poems born in the craft of everyday ranching.

Loving the public speaking scene and bitten by the speaking bug, Floyd has presented poems, western songs and stories to countless programs, banquets, gatherings and events, all around Colorado and many other surrounding states, and as far away as Stoney Plains, Alberta Canada. Mostly using his own poems, Floyd has also honored the history of the cowboy and rancher by reciting the classics handed down by the masters over the years.

Floyd’s poetry is about his own experiences and his observations of the western way of life. Floyd’s stories are inter-woven with his western code of high ethics and integrity and sprinkled richly with humor. His philosophy is simple: “Life is a journey not a destination, and is best viewed from atop a good horse.”

He has presented from the Mexico border to Stony Plains, Alberta, Canada and has been a main stage presenter at numerous Gatherings including the Arizona Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Prescott, AZ.

Floyd was the Western Music Association (WMA) Colorado Chapter President for three years. Floyd has been honored to win several cowboy poetry awards which include the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo Silver Buckle winner in 2016, the 2016 Shoot Out Champion in Abilene, KS, and the International Western Music Association 2016 & 2017 Male Poet of the Year. His poem, "Ain't a Hermit" was selected as Best Western Poem for 2016 by the Western Writers Association and was awarded the Spur Award.

Floyd has three CDs. His most recent CD, "Short Grass Country" has been on the International Western Music Association's list of Most Played Poetry CDs for the final quarter in 2016 and first quarter in 2017, placing #1 and #3. He has been honored by his fellow Western Music Association artists as a Nominated and Top 5 Finalist for IIWMA Male Poet of the Year and was honored to be name WMA Male Poet of the Year twice for 2016 and 2017.

Floyd's latest CD, Short Grass Country was A Nominee and Top Five Finalist for IWMA Cowboy Poetry CD of the Year for 2017 and continues to be one of the Top 10 Cowboy Poetry CDs played on the radio since its release in 2016.

More about Floyd Beard

Valerie Beard

Valerie BeardValerie is a rancher's wife, teacher, writer, crew cook, quilter, reader and Nana. She and her husband, Cowboy Poet Floyd Beard, live in Southeast Colorado and run cattle with their daughter and son-in-law. They keep a few Border Collies around to stay humble. Valerie released a CD this year, "No Better Life" that debuted with the International Western Music Association in the #1 spot. She also was a top five finalist for IWMA Female Poet of the Year in 2019, 2021, and 2022.

More about Valerie Beard

Terry Nash

Terry NashTerry Nash, Cowboy Poet and Songwriter, has been a top five finalist for the last four years for the Western Music Association Male Cowboy Poet of the Year award. He was raised on a farm/ranch cow/calf operation on the High Plains of Colorado, near Idalia. In the late eighties, Terry drifted to a small ranch near Loma, Colorado, where he and his wife Kathy raise horses, hay and beef, and spend as much time on the mountain horseback as possible. Along with writing and reciting his original cowboy poems, Terry brings classic cowboy poetry to stages throughout the West, and has recently co-written a couple songs. Note: Don’t ask him to sing!

More about Terry Nash

This is a ticketed event. Tickets are $20 per person (kids 12 and under get in free).

Advance Ticket Sales: Checks can be sent to Grand Encampment Cowboy Gathering, PO Box 306, Encampment, WY 82325. Tickets will be held at Will Call at Grandview Park.

Deadline for sending checks is June 30, 2024.

The Cowboy Gathering Committee will make every effort to provide everyone access to our activities and entertainment. The majority of performances are outdoors at Grandview Park on the grass, with the concert being held in the Encampment School gymnasium on Saturday. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out via our email at encampmentcowboygathering@gmail.com or call 307-327-5173. You may also write to us at P.O. Box 306, Encampment, WY 82325.

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