40th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering: Full Schedule

The 40th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering—Be the Poem. Be the Song.
#cowboypoetrygathering #westernfolklifecenter #ncpg2025

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Schedule is subject to change. We recommend double-checking Sched regularly for the latest updates.

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8:30am PST

Music Open Mic Signups

Friday January 31, 2025 8:30am - 9:00am PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Want to share your talents with the Gathering audience? Do you have poems to recite or songs to sing? Take the stage at an open mic session and let your voice be heard, PLAN AHEAD! Signups start at 8:30am each day (Thu-Sat and close when slots are full for the day. Sign up outside the respective open mic rooms.

More details: NationalCowboyPoetryGathering.org/open-mics-jams

Friday January 31, 2025 8:30am - 9:00am PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Signup, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

8:30am PST

Poetry Open Mic Signups

Friday January 31, 2025 8:30am - 9:00am PST

Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Friday January 31, 2025 8:30am - 9:00am PST
Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Signup, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

9:00am PST

Dave & Tris Munsick

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 9:45am PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Artists & Special Guests

Dave & Tris Munsick

Father and son Dave and Tris Munsick hail from northern Wyoming, where they have ranched and made music together for most of their lives, often as The Munsick Boys with Dave’s other two sons Sam and Ian. Tris trains horses and works in the ag industry, while Dave has run mountains... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 9:45am PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

9:00am PST

Doug Figgs

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 9:45am PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Artists & Special Guests

Doug Figgs

Doug Figgs is an AFA Certified Journeyman Farrier, horseman, and western music singer-songwriter from New Mexico. For more than three decades, Doug has lived close to his greatest love—horses! He has shod tens of thousands of steeds, started around a hundred colts, raised cow ponies... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 9:45am PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

9:00am PST

The Lost Cowboy

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 9:45am PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

J.B. Zielke is an author, speaker, and agricultural expert known for his experience as a working cowboy on six continents, which is chronicled in his renowned book The Lost Cowboy. Born into a family without a history of farming or ranching, J.B.’s passion for the art of livestock management and travel sent him on a whirlwind tour of the United States and ultimately the world, collecting stories and accolades. Join J.B. for a discussion moderated by Arizona cowboy and world traveler Gail Steiger, to hear tales of wide-open spaces in faraway places.

Artists & Special Guests

Gail Steiger

Gail Steiger, foreman of the 50,000-acre Spider Ranch in Yavapai County, Arizona, has been playing guitar and writing songs for over 30 years. He has released two albums, The Romance of Western Life and A Matter of Believin’. A talented filmmaker, Gail produced and directed the... Read More →

J.B. Zielke

J.B. Zielke is an author, speaker, and agricultural expert. Despite being born into a family without a history in farming or ranching, J.B. developed a deep passion for the art of livestock management. Coupled with his love of travel, this led him on a whirlwind tour working as a... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 9:45am PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Talk/Discussion, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

9:00am PST

Celebrating Landscapes of the West

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry/Prose, Music

Artists & Special Guests

Amy Hale

Amy Hale is an award-winning author who lives and works on the Spider Ranch, a 50,000-acre cattle operation in central Arizona. She and her husband Gail Steiger cowboy together, spending many nights sleeping on the ground in remote camps, cooking over an open fire, and gathering cattle... Read More →

Matt Robertson

Raised in Wyoming, Matt Robertson grew up on the back of a horse, starting colts as a young teen and riding broncs through his youth. He has been writing and playing music since the age of 16 and credits Ian Tyson and Chris LeDoux for his inspiration. In his earlier years, Matt made... Read More →

Dick Warwick

Dick Warwick lives with his wife Sue on the old home place amid the rolling hills of the Palouse country of eastern Washington state. Dick writes about the foibles and follies of his own life, the land, relationships with nature, and issues regarding the West and rural lifestyles... Read More →

Wylie & the Wild West

Wylie Gustafson is an American original. He was born into a fourth-generation ranching family on the empty sprawl of northern Montana. A singer, songwriter, rancher, horseman, and world-famous Yahoo! Yodeler, Wylie has led the musical outfit known as Wylie & the Wild West for over... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

9:00am PST

The Little Things

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Artists & Special Guests

DW Groethe

DW Groethe is the son of a son of pioneers. He was born and raised in the west of Dakota and has lived the past 25-plus years across the border in Montana. It is the same land...same folks...same weather...same heartbeat. The lyrics may change, but the rhythm stays true. He is a ranch... Read More →

Betty Lynne McCarthy

Betty Lynne McCarthy has three award-winning volumes of poetry and has been sharing her work for decades throughout the United States and Canada. She grew up along the banks of Cedar Creek in Eastern Montana, on the range the XIT Ranch left Texas to get to. A lifetime of ranching... Read More →

Henry Real Bird

Henry Real Bird, a member of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation, grew up ranching on the battlegrounds of the Little Bighorn. He still lives on the Crow Reservation in Montana, saying “this is it, I’m not going anywhere.” A former rodeo cowboy and bronc rider, now a renowned poet... Read More →

Sandy Seaton Sallee

Sandy Seaton Sallee grew up at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone Park where she drove four-up stagecoaches. She was born into a Montana ranching family and worked ranches in New Mexico after college. Sandy and her husband Scott live in a log cabin above the Yellowstone River in Paradise... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

9:00am PST

Bring Them Home

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PST

Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Ervin Carlson (consulting producer), Sarah Clarke (producer),
Daniel Glick (director, producer), Ivan Macdonald (director, producer),
Ivy Macdonald (director), Tyson Runningwolf (associate producer)
1hr 25min | 2024

A small group of Blackfoot people are on a mission to establish the first wild buffalo herd on their ancestral territory since the species’ near-extinction a century ago, an act that would restore the land, re-enliven traditional culture, and bring much-needed healing to their community. Narrated by Academy Award-nominated Blackfeet/Nez Perce actor Lily Gladstone, this documentary is the winner of the Big Sky Film Award.

Other Showing Locations/Times:

G Three Bar Theater - Free
Wed, Jan 29 | 2:15-3:45pm

Lamoille Room, Elko Conference Center - Pass Required
Thu, Jan 30 | 1:30-3pm

Northeastern Nevada Museum - Pass Required
Sat, Feb 1 | 1-2:30pm

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PST
Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Film, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

9:00am PST

Diehards Ride Hard for the Gathering

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 11:00am PST

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

If you’re our type—the kind who is up and at ’em before the first birds, we’ll see you at this special morning show featuring Doris Daley, Hot Club of Cowtown, and Brigid & Johnny Reedy, with appearances by Waddie Mitchell and other guests. Kick off your Friday right with a chance to participate in a live auction and give in support of the Western Folklife Center’s mission. As a nonprofit, we are committed to keeping tickets affordable and accessible, but ticket revenue only covers a third of all we do. The rest comes from the generous support of folks like you!

A special show of support!

Artists & Special Guests

Doris Daley

"Doris Daley writes like Fanny Sperry Steele rode broncs—with skill, grace, and a lot of class," says Dave Stamey. Born and raised on the family ranch in the Alberta foothills, Doris is a favorite on stages throughout North America. She has performed at the Smithsonian Folklife... Read More →

Hot Club of Cowtown

Hot Club of Cowtown has been stunning audiences worldwide for over 20 years with its trademark blend of hot jazz, western swing, American songbook standards, and music from 1930s Paris and the American West. Elana James (fiddle, vocals) grew up in a musical family, and early on spent... Read More →

Waddie Mitchell

Waddie Mitchell was immersed in the cowboy way of entertaining on the Nevada ranches where his father worked. By age 10, he too was reciting poetry after long days of pushing cows and living off the land. Waddie recites the older classics as well as his own works, eloquently expressing... Read More →

Brigid & Johnny Reedy

Brigid Reedy is a singular young voice representing her beloved home state of Montana. A charismatic performer since the age of two when she first yodeled at the Pioneer Saloon, she has traveled widely, carrying with her boundless enthusiasm, grace, passion, and soul. An accomplished... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 11:00am PST
Elko Convention Center - Auditorium 700 Moren Way, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

9:00am PST

Wiegand Gallery & Gift Shop

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:00pm PST

Step into the heart of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering with Be the Poem. Be the Song.--a heartwarming exhibit honoring the individuals and special moments that have animated the Gathering over the past 40 years. This exhibit not only highlights the rich history of cowboy poetry and song, but also brings to life contemporary western experience and expression. Featured artists include Jeff Mundell, Sue Rosoff, Sean Sexton, R. James Shoshone, Don Weller, and gearmakers from around the West.

Stop by the Gift Shop to take a bit of the Gathering home with you, from high-quality western art to whimsical cowboy poetry momentos. Find official National Cowboy Poetry Gathering merch and memorabilia, as well as products from Gathering artists and local artisans. Gathering posters, silk wild rags, one-of-a-kind jewelry, CDs and books from your favorite poets and musicians, mugs, magnets, and more!

Friday January 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:00pm PST

Other, Free

Ticket Type Free

9:30am PST

Poetry Open Mic 5

Friday January 31, 2025 9:30am - 10:30am PST

Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

More details: NationalCowboyPoetryGathering.org/open-mics-jams

Friday January 31, 2025 9:30am - 10:30am PST
Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Open Mic, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

10:00am PST

Rodeo Swing

Friday January 31, 2025 10:00am - 12:00pm PST

Flag View Intermediate School

SOLD OUT

If your toes are tapping but you need some good moves, this is a perfect dance for you. Rodeo swing is the easiest form of swing dancing and the style you'll see at rodeo dances around the West, as well as at Gathering dances. Amy Mills will teach you the moves and keep you smiling, while Sam Platts & the Plainsmen provide live music. Geared to beginning and intermediate dancers, but all levels are welcome. You don't need a partner to attend.

Artists & Special Guests

Amy Mills

Amy Mills, a soul who simply cannot stay still when music is playing, returns to the Gathering every year to share her love of traditional dance with others. She is an accomplished dancer of many traditional styles, ranging from ballroom to Balkan, swing to Scandinavian. A past National... Read More →

Sam Platts & the Plainsmen

Sam Platts and the Plainsmen is an energetic Americana band that brings traditional country and western swing to modern audiences. Sam’s songwriting is in the vein of “old” country music, and his inspiration comes from rural, agricultural life and his family’s western heritage... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 10:00am - 12:00pm PST
Flag View Intermediate School 777 Country Club Dr, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Workshop, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

10:00am PST

Makila Carving

Friday January 31, 2025 10:00am - 3:00pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Room 150

SOLD OUT

Learn the significance of carving makilak (Basque walking sticks), and make your own, in this educational, hands-on workshop. A prestigious symbol and instrument for both trekking and defense, the traditional makila can take years to make—from the initial cut in a living tree, to the time-consuming curing process, to carving designs and attaching silver tippings. Bob Echeverria will pare it down for you, providing harvested sticks pre-prepped for carving. You’ll also be introduced to other ingenious, practical items that provide the canvas for carving. Never get caught unprepared for downtime in the sheep camp again. Bring your favorite carving tool (pocket knife). All ages welcome.

Artists & Special Guests

Bob Echeverria

Bob Echeverria is a long-time resident of Elko, Nevada. After becoming a decorated veteran, Bob worked as an educator for many years, first at the Nevada Youth Training Center, where he taught social studies, and then at the Elko County School District’s Alternative School, where... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 10:00am - 3:00pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Room 150

Workshop, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

10:15am PST

Music Open Mic 3

Friday January 31, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

More details: NationalCowboyPoetryGathering.org/open-mics-jams

Friday January 31, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Open Mic, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

10:15am PST

More Banjo

Friday January 31, 2025 10:15am - 11:45am PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Artists & Special Guests

Buffalo Kin

Seldom will you find a duo weaving high and lonesome sounds with such ease as Buffalo Kin. The West comes alive with their blending of traditional cowboy folk tunes and haunting original pieces. At home in rural Oregon, Buffalo Kin is Seth Brewster on guitar, banjo, and vocals, and... Read More →

Hal Cannon

Hal Cannon is a folklorist, musician, and founding director of the Western Folklife Center and the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Now a decade into retirement, he is revisiting his fieldwork to explore the incredible impact of the Lomax family in emphasizing the artistic contributions... Read More →

Pipp Gillette & Lloyd Wright

Distinguished singer and musician Pipp Gillette lives and works on the family ranch near Lovelady, Texas, where his grandfather raised cattle and cotton. His lifelong interest in western history and music was fostered as a kid through the stories told to him by his grandfather and... Read More →

Sourdough Slim & Robert Armstrong

.Sourdough Slim and Robert Armstrong joyously rekindle the cowboy classics, country blues, vintage jazz, and string band favorites from 1920s and ’30s prewar America. Whether capturing the haunting refrain of a Jimmie Rodgers’ blue yodel or swinging out a hot novelty number, everyone... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 10:15am - 11:45am PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

10:30am PST

Brenn Hill

Friday January 31, 2025 10:30am - 11:15am PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Artists & Special Guests

Brenn Hill

For more than three decades, Brenn Hill has stood under a cowboy hat and behind a microphone on countless stages blending his voice with bending guitar strings in a performance style all his own. He uses lyrical language to peel back the layers of life in the West to reveal a more... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 10:30am - 11:15am PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

10:30am PST

Test Our Mettle

Friday January 31, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry/Prose, Music

Artists & Special Guests

Maria Lisa Eastman

Maria Lisa Eastman and her husband Skip recently retired from their farm and ranch in Wyoming's Big Horn Basin. They now live in Sonoita, located in the high desert grasslands of southeast Arizona. Maria Lisa is really enjoying the softer weather and more time to continue her lifetime... Read More →

Lara Manzanares

Lara Manzanares is a bilingual singer-songwriter from Northern New Mexico. She grew up singing the traditional New Mexican boleros, rancheras, and corridos of her sheep-ranching childhood, and composes her own style of music in both English and Spanish. Through a combination of storytelling... Read More →

M.L. Smoker

M.L. Smoker is Nakoda, Dakota, and Lakota, a citizen of the Fort Peck Tribes, and rooted in her family’s homeplace Tabexa Wakpa (Frog Creek). M.L.’s poems speak to themes of personal struggle and identity, drawing from Native American culture, language, and history. “Being... Read More →

Jessie Veeder

Jessie Veeder writes and sings about the Badlands of western North Dakota where she grew up as the fourth generation on her family’s cattle ranch. She released her first original album at 16 and has gone on to tour nationally, releasing five more original albums and two books about... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

10:30am PST

Nature Calls

Friday January 31, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Artists & Special Guests

Dick Gibford

Dick Gibford is still working horseback on the Walking R Ranch in south Central California. He has cowboyed around the West for 30 years, with the past 20 spent on this rough and rugged chunk of real estate that has become his adopted home. With a string of four mountain-raised horses... Read More →

Jonathan Odermann

Jonathan Odermann grew up on a ranch north of Medora, North Dakota. After a short time working as a mechanical engineer in the city, Jonathan and his wife Marie returned to the Badlands to raise cattle on the family ranch. Much of Jonathan’s poetry is inspired by the mechanical... Read More →

Kye Rieff

Kye Rieff’s poetry comes from years spent on the ranch and in the arena, and provides an authentic look into the joy, humor, heartbreak, and hardship of the cowboy life. Kye has ridden saddle broncs, been a professional bullfighter, trained racehorses, started colts, and dayworked... Read More →

Jake Riley

Jake Riley grew up, for the most part, in the upper Arkansas Valley of the Colorado mountains. He began roping and rodeoing as a kid, which led to helping out at local ranches, which spawned his love for cowboy culture. Jake has always enjoyed rhyming, publishing some of his first... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Poetry/Prose, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

10:45am PST

Learning From the Land: Women in Ranching

Friday January 31, 2025 10:45am - 10:55am PST

Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Katie Klann (director, producer)
10 min | 2018
A network of women ranchers in the West is pioneering an ethos of nurturing and sustainability across the region. One of these women, Julie Sullivan, is championing these practices in southern Colorado. She wants to paint agriculture as more than just a job or even some sort of passing adventure. It’s a way of life.

Other Showing Locations/Times:

G Three Bar Theater - Free
Wed, Jan 29 | 10:15-10:25am

Lamoille Room, Elko Conference Center - Pass Required
Thu, Jan 30 | 11:15-11:25am
Sat, Feb 1 | 11:45-11:55am

Friday January 31, 2025 10:45am - 10:55am PST
Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Film, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

10:55am PST

First Came Collaboration: Managing for Riparia

Friday January 31, 2025 10:55am - 11:10am PST

Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Steve Kinion (director),
United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (producer),
University of Nevada Cooperative Extension (producer),
Intermountain West Joint Venture (producer),
Western Landowners Alliance (producer),
Open Range Consulting (producer)
15 min | 2025

The stories of the Cottonwood and Boies ranches in northeastern Nevada are stories of innovation, collaboration, and landscape recovery. Since the 1990s, the two families, in partnership with federal and state agencies, have developed a collaborative grazing plan that integrates ecological, economic, and social considerations. The result: healthier rangelands with restored willow-lined creeks, expanding beaver ponds, and healing waterways.

Other Showing Locations/Times:

G Three Bar Theater - Free
Wed, Jan 29 | noon-12:15pm

Lamoille Room, Elko Conference Center - Pass Required
Thu, Jan 30 | 11-11:15am
Sat, Feb 1 | 11:30-11:45am

Friday January 31, 2025 10:55am - 11:10am PST
Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Film, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

11:00am PST

Poetry Open Mic 6

Friday January 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:00pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

More details: NationalCowboyPoetryGathering.org/open-mics-jams

Friday January 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:00pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Open Mic, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

11:00am PST

Bones

Friday January 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:15pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Room 132

Learn the knack of clacking the bones! Described as the American Songster, Dom Flemons draws on his extensive old-time and folk music knowledge to teach the history and skill behind this popular traditional rhythm-maker. No bones needed—you’ll be provided with your own pair to use in the workshop and to take home with you to practice. All ages welcome.

Artists & Special Guests

Dom Flemons

Dom Flemons is a GRAMMY-winning songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music scholar, slam poet, podcaster, and creator and host of the American Songster Radio Show on WSM in Nashville. Carrying on the songster tradition, Flemons strives to mix a repertoire covering over one hundred years... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:15pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Room 132

Workshop, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

11:30am PST

Badger Clark: Poet Among the Pines

Friday January 31, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Brad Dumke (director, producer)
56 min | 2023

With interviews, captivating imagery, and heartfelt readings of Badger Clark’s timeless verses, this film paints a vivid portrait of a man who immortalized the spirit of the Old West through his poetic legacy.Other

Other Showing Locations/Times:

G Three Bar Theater - Free
Wed, Jan 29 | 9-10am

Lamoille Room, Elko Conference Center - Pass Required
Fri, Jan 30 | 3:15pm-4:14pm
Sat, Feb 1 | 9-10am

Friday January 31, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Film, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

11:45am PST

A Horse Tougher Than Me

Friday January 31, 2025 11:45am - 12:30pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Artists & Special Guests

Doug Figgs

Henry Real Bird

Tom Sharpe

Born and raised in south central Colorado, Tom Sharpe grew up working in the family packing plant and feedlot. Convinced from birth that one must be good with horses to be good with cows, he has spent his life studying horses and following cows. Tom has worked the beef industry vertically... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 11:45am - 12:30pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

11:45am PST

Music Open Mic 4

Friday January 31, 2025 11:45am - 12:45pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

More details: NationalCowboyPoetryGathering.org/open-mics-jams

Friday January 31, 2025 11:45am - 12:45pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Open Mic, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

12:00pm PST

Just a Little Misunderstood

Friday January 31, 2025 12:00pm - 12:45pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Artists & Special Guests

Dakota Holdaway

Dakota Holdaway is a storyteller and poet out of Nephi, Utah. His introduction to the cowboy lifestyle began like many before him—on the back of a horse or mule, with his father and friends, in the mountains and deserts surrounding his home. He learned many of life’s lessons and... Read More →

Melanie LaRue

Melanie LaRue is a self-proclaimed desert rat, wildflower picker, part-time doodler, paparazzi for the working cowboy, and western singer-songwriter and word-slinger. She grew up on the high desert of Baker, Nevada, surrounded by sagebrush and big blue mountains. Now living and working... Read More →

Katie McCall-Owen

Cowboy poet Katie McCall-Owen grew up reciting classics, first with her family and then at gatherings. Katie works in town, but still brands and works cows with friends and family every chance she gets. After stepping away from the poetry side of things for nearly 20 years, she is... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 12:00pm - 12:45pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

12:00pm PST

Michael Martin Murphey

Friday January 31, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Artists & Special Guests

Michael Martin Murphey

For more than 40 years, Michael Martin Murphey has left an indelible mark on the American music landscape by topping the pop, country, bluegrass, and western charts with hits like “Wildfire,” “Carolina in the Pines,” “Geronimo’s Cadillac,” “Boy From the Country... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

12:00pm PST

Cowboy Connections

Friday January 31, 2025 12:00pm - 1:30pm PST

Great Basin College - Greenhaw Tech Arts Room 130 (Bldg 8 on map)

Join Gail Steiger—musician, poet, filmmaker, and foreman of Arizona’s Spider Ranch—for an engaging discussion on the power of cowboy poetry and music in global cultural exchange. As a cultural ambassador, Gail’s impact extends far beyond the ranch. He has traveled the world, sharing the art of cowboy poetry at the invitation of the Western Folklife Center and the United States State Department in places like Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, France, Hungary, Mongolia, Spain, and Turkmenistan. Join Gail for stories and videos from these travels, highlighting how cowboy poetry and music transcends borders, fostering understanding through music, storytelling, and shared occupational ties.
Sponsored by Nevada Humanities and the Humanities Center at Great Basin College, made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Artists & Special Guests

Gail Steiger

Friday January 31, 2025 12:00pm - 1:30pm PST
Great Basin College - Greenhaw Tech Arts Room 130 (Bldg 8 on map)

Talk/Discussion, Free

Ticket Type Free

12:15pm PST

Pretty Good Help

Friday January 31, 2025 12:15pm - 1:15pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Artists & Special Guests

Adrian Brannan

Adrian Brannan is a chart-topping singer-songwriter who is equally at home in the branding pen, on stage, or on a bucking horse. An author and musician, she is also known for her successful series of publicly written “Dear Cowgirl” letters on social media that spurred an online... Read More →

Doris Daley

Darrell Holden

Darrell Holden is a proud fifth-generation rancher who raises cattle on Utah’s West Desert. He started writing cowboy poetry in high school, but he only started performing after gentle nudges from his family (“nudges” may have been slightly veiled threats of bodily harm.) He... Read More →

Dave Stamey

Dave Stamey has been a cowboy, a mule packer, and a dude wrangler. Now, he is one of the most popular western entertainers working today. Dave has made it his life's work to celebrate the rural American West. In the past two decades, he has recorded 11 albums of original music, traveled... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 12:15pm - 1:15pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

12:30pm PST

Poetry Open Mic 7

Friday January 31, 2025 12:30pm - 1:30pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

More details: NationalCowboyPoetryGathering.org/open-mics-jams

Friday January 31, 2025 12:30pm - 1:30pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Open Mic, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

12:30pm PST

Deep West & Ranch Communications

Friday January 31, 2025 12:30pm - 2:30pm PST

Western Folklife Center - Black Box Theater

Hal Cannon (producer), Taki Telonidis (producer)
58 min · 2002

From 2000-2019, the Western Folklife Center collaborated with people across the rural West to produce short videos that captured their experiences living and working the land. These homemade productions are simple yet elegant—they are not glossy or commercial, but from the heart. Revisit a curated selection of these short films that tell the stories of those living deep in the heart of the West.

Produced by Western Folklife Center Media and the many filmmakers, in collaboration with Edge of Discovery, the Owyhee Combined School on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, Dave Baker, Carol Dalrymple, Karem Orrego, Colene Paradise, and Taki Telonidis. Made possible with support from the R. Harold Burton Foundation, the Golden Rule Foundation, and the John Ben Snow Foundation.

Friday January 31, 2025 12:30pm - 2:30pm PST
Western Folklife Center - Black Box Theater 501 Railroad Street, Elko, NV, USA

Film, Free

Ticket Type Free

12:45pm PST

Indian Relay

Friday January 31, 2025 12:45pm - 2:00pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Charles Dye (director, producer), Aaron Pruitt (executive producer)
54 min | 2013

Follow teams from the Shoshone-Bannock Nation in Idaho, and the Crow and Blackfeet Nations, both of Montana, as they prepare for and compete across a grueling Indian relay season—all hearts set on the glory and honor of winning the National Championships. As the young relay racers face triumphs and setbacks, their strength and determination shine through, and serve as a beacon of hope for their families and communities.

Other Showing Locations/Times:

G Three Bar Theater - Free
Wed, Jan 29 | 10:45-11:45am

Northeastern Nevada Museum - Pass Required
Thu, Jan 30 | 1-2pm

Lamoille Room, Elko Conference Center - Pass Required
Sat, Feb 1 | 10:15-11:15am

Artists & Special Guests

M.L. Smoker

Friday January 31, 2025 12:45pm - 2:00pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Film, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

1:00pm PST

Tip of the Hat

Friday January 31, 2025 1:00pm - 1:45pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Artists & Special Guests

Marleen Bussma

As a young girl, long hours spent on horseback herding cattle stirred Marleen Bussma’s imagination and sparked a desire to emulate Dale Evans. Marleen, described as a formidable storyteller, draws from the lessons she learned growing up on her North Dakota farm. She believes that... Read More →

Pipp Gillette & Lloyd Wright

Zach Martinez

Musician and horseman Zach Martinez is a true western original. Raised alongside horses, mecate reins, and old spade bits, and steeped in the heritage of his Spanish ancestors, Zach developed a profound connection with the rural West from an early age. Influenced by the stunning landscape... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 1:00pm - 1:45pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

1:00pm PST

Cattle Calling & Mountain Hollering

Friday January 31, 2025 1:00pm - 2:15pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

Cowboys are no strangers to situations that call for a good yodel. Like most cowboy necessities, yodeling has been elevated into an artform stamped with regionally distinctive touches and performed with range, skill, and showmanship. Montana hollerer Wylie Gustafson will wow you with his mastery of the phrase “little old lady who.” Kristyn Harris carries on in the ilk of “The Queen of the Yodellers” Rosalie Allen. And, Gary & Kurin Haleamau share paniolo yodeling like that that took root when cows took hold of Hawai’i. Get ready for a pitch-defying, coyote-crying, lung-frying yodeling extravaganza.

Become a member and get free tickets to this show!

Artists & Special Guests

Gary & Kurin Haleamau

Gary Kawiliau Haleamau of Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i began his musical career at an early age; first as a solo artist, then traveling with Hawaiian music groups throughout the world sharing his amazing talent. Gary is a recipient of the 2008 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for “Best Religious... Read More →

Kristyn Harris

Kristyn Harris is a singer, songwriter, and entertainer known for her western swing spin on original and classic songs of the rural lifestyle. Her music is heavily influenced by her own ranch life experiences and her love for Texas and the West. She has received accolades and recognition... Read More →

Wylie & the Wild West

Friday January 31, 2025 1:00pm - 2:15pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Auditorium 700 Moren Way, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

1:00pm PST

Cowboys Without Borders

Friday January 31, 2025 1:00pm - 2:30pm PST

Northeastern Nevada Museum

Gaston Davis (director), Ilissa Nolan (producer)
1hr 23 min | 2020

Follow along with Gaston Davis, a sixth-generation Texan from a ranching background, as he explores ranches from Montana all the way down to Argentina, working alongside American cowboys from North America to Central and South America. Although these cattle operations are thousands of miles apart and decades separated in technology, the heart of the American cowboy remains the same, forever serving their people on their respective frontiers.

Other Showing Locations/Times:

G Three Bar Theater - Free
ed, Jan 29 | 12:30-2pm

Lamoille Room, Elko Conference Center - Pass Required
Thu, Jan 30 | 11:45am-1:15pm
Sat, Feb 1 | 12:10-1:40pm

Friday January 31, 2025 1:00pm - 2:30pm PST
Northeastern Nevada Museum 1515 Idaho St, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Film, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

1:00pm PST

Baile with Lone Piñon

Friday January 31, 2025 1:00pm - 2:30pm PST

Flag View Intermediate School

Get moving to the music of Lone Piñon, who will teach you a few simple and fun traditional dance steps and figures. Dances like La Camila, la varsoviana, el valse de los paños, la vaquera, and others have been danced in New Mexico weddings and dance halls for centuries. These dances have a deep history in the Spanish-speaking ranching communities of Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado and they are a proven recipe for lots of fun. Earn the rancheros’ respect (or try to!) with these waltzes and figure dances from the Upper Rio Grande Valley. Suitable for all ages.

Artists & Special Guests

Lone Piñon

Lone Piñon is a New Mexican string band, or orquesta típica, whose music celebrates the integrity and diversity of their region’s multicultural and rural roots. The group spurs creativity around the oldest sounds of the region's traditional string music, which had all but disappeared... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 1:00pm - 2:30pm PST
Flag View Intermediate School 777 Country Club Dr, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Workshop, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

1:00pm PST

Harmony Singing

Friday January 31, 2025 1:00pm - 3:00pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Room 132

Webster defines harmony as “an interweaving of different accounts into a single narrative.” Join Dave Munsick, patriarch of The Munsick Boys, to explore how singing different parts makes a whole. Unison, two-part, three-part, and even four-part structures will be addressed along with ideas that will help you to find your note in a crowd of voices. Whatever your experience level, age, or register, you always have a part in group singing. Let this seasoned singer give you some tips on knowing when, why, and how to go about the business of making one out of many.

Artists & Special Guests

Dave & Tris Munsick

Friday January 31, 2025 1:00pm - 3:00pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Room 132

Workshop, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

1:15pm PST

Music Open Mic 5

Friday January 31, 2025 1:15pm - 2:15pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

More details: NationalCowboyPoetryGathering.org/open-mics-jams

Friday January 31, 2025 1:15pm - 2:15pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Open Mic, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

1:15pm PST

Grace & Grit

Friday January 31, 2025 1:15pm - 2:15pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Artists & Special Guests

Maria Lisa Eastman

Patricia Frolander

Wyoming Poet Laureate Emeritus Patricia Frolander is author of award-winning books including Married Into It and Second Wind. For more than 50 years, she has ranched in the Black Hills, enjoying a profession that brings families closer to livestock and nature, and that develops pride... Read More →

Betty Lynne McCarthy

Sandy Seaton Sallee

Friday January 31, 2025 1:15pm - 2:15pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Poetry/Prose, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

1:30pm PST

Yvonne Hollenbeck

Friday January 31, 2025 1:30pm - 2:15pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry/Prose

Artists & Special Guests

Yvonne Hollenbeck

Yvonne Hollenbeck is a South Dakota cattleman’s wife who writes poetry about her life on a beautiful, remote ranch where she has spent years putting up hay, feeding a crew, doing bookwork, or working cattle. Although her poetry is often humorous about situations that were not humorous... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 1:30pm - 2:15pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry/Prose, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

1:45pm PST

Don't Squat With Your Spurs On

Friday January 31, 2025 1:45pm - 2:30pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Artists & Special Guests

Jarle Kvale

Jarle Kvale turns his experiences with horses, rodeo, and North Dakota rural living into humorous verse. He's been writing cowboy poetry for over 25 years, sharing his stories with friends and family members over trail ride campfires, at various community events, and at cowboy poetry... Read More →

Andy Nelson

Andy Nelson is an energetic and high-spirited cowboy poet and humorist from Pinedale, Wyoming. As a second-generation farrier raised in Idaho, he traveled the Great Basin with his father on farrier jobs. Now, he and his brother Jim co-host the Clear Out West (C.O.W.) Radio Show weekly... Read More →

Sourdough Slim & Robert Armstrong

Friday January 31, 2025 1:45pm - 2:30pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

2:00pm PST

Don Weller

Friday January 31, 2025 2:00pm - 2:45pm PST

Western Folklife Center - Wiegand Gallery

Artists & Special Guests

Don Weller

As a boy, Don Weller drew horses and cowboys when he wasn’t exploring with his horse along the Palouse River or rolling hills near Pullman, Washington. After graduating Washington State University with a degree in Fine Art, he sold his horses and moved to Los Angeles where he spent... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 2:00pm - 2:45pm PST
Western Folklife Center - Wiegand Gallery

Talk/Discussion, Free

Ticket Type Free

2:00pm PST

Poetry Open Mic 8: Reciting the Classics

Friday January 31, 2025 2:00pm - 3:00pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Let’s hear it for the classics! Share (and hear) cowboy poetry classics at this special open mic session designated Reciting the Classics. Session 2 of 2, See also, January 30, 12:30-1:30pm.

More details: NationalCowboyPoetryGathering.org/open-mics-jams

Friday January 31, 2025 2:00pm - 3:00pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Open Mic, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

2:15pm PST

Cow Sense

Friday January 31, 2025 2:15pm - 3:00pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Artists & Special Guests

Venessa Carpenter

Living in Texas for 12 years shaped Venessa Carpenter’s heart and soul, and it profoundly influenced her personal and artistic development. With a rich family background of ranchers engaged in raising oxen, logging, and moonshine production, she views music as an essential means... Read More →

Amy Hale

Trinity Seely

Trinity Seely's life has taken her to many different places, from the Chilcotin of British Columbia to the high deserts of central Wyoming to the Big Belts outside Cascade, Montana. She now lives in Ojai, California, where she is Director of The Thacher School’s Horse Program. Living... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 2:15pm - 3:00pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

2:45pm PST

Ed Peekeekoot

Friday January 31, 2025 2:45pm - 3:30pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Artists & Special Guests

Ed Peekeekoot

Multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and storyteller, Ed Peekeekoot is a skilled and seasoned performer who has received much recognition over the years. He has a timeless kind of cool that appeals to audiences of all ages. Ed’s performances go from blazing guitar work to foot... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 2:45pm - 3:30pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

2:45pm PST

Cowboy Poets

Friday January 31, 2025 2:45pm - 3:45pm PST

Western Folklife Center - Black Box Theater

Bill Jersey (producer), Kim Shelton (producer)
53 min | 1988

Although cowboys had been writing poetry for more than a century, in the 1980s, for many Americans, cowboy poetry was something new and unexpected. This film focuses on three working cowboys and poets from Arizona, Montana, and Nevada, examining the sources of inspiration for their artistry. It features Slim Kite, Wallace McRae, and Waddie Mitchell, who each represent different facets of the cowboy poetry tradition.

Produced in collaboration with the Western Folklife Center with support from the National Endowment for the Arts; Arizona Humanities, Humanities Montana, Nevada Humanities, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; Levi’s Western Wear, Charles Redd Foundation, and George Gund.

Friday January 31, 2025 2:45pm - 3:45pm PST
Western Folklife Center - Black Box Theater 501 Railroad Street, Elko, NV, USA

Film, Free

Ticket Type Free

2:45pm PST

Here's a Story for You

Friday January 31, 2025 2:45pm - 3:45pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Artists & Special Guests

Dick Gibford

Ross Knox

Ross Knox first aspired to be a cowboy as a little boy, when he watched his father work their ranch in central Oregon. At 16, he quit school and moved to Nevada to buckaroo, where he also began writing poetry to occupy his time alone. He has worked at both the Grand Canyon and Saguaro... Read More →

Bill Lowman

Bill Lowman and his wife JoAnn and family own and operate a 20,000-acre generational ranch in the remote North Dakota Badlands, where they are widely known for their love of and respect for the well-being of their livestock and pets. As a multi-talented visual, literary, and performing... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 2:45pm - 3:45pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Storytelling, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

2:45pm PST

Tale of the Jackalope

Friday January 31, 2025 2:45pm - 3:45pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Did you know that jackalopes only mate during lightning storms? Or that they can sing a sweet harmony around the campfire? Join author and jackalope expert Michael P. Branch (On the Trail of the Jackalope) and radiomaker Fil Corbitt (from the podcast The Wind) for a live performance on the elusive yet omnipresent horned rabbit. Originally aired on the podcast 99% Invisible, this live reading will combine interviews, music, and audio clips to tell the story in a live multimedia presentation.

Artists & Special Guests

Michael Branch

An award-winning humorist and high desert writer, Michael Branch is Foundation Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has authored more than 300 essays and reviews, and 10 books, including his Nevada trilogy: Raising Wild, Rants from the Hill, and How to Cuss in Western... Read More →

Fil Corbitt

A few years ago, radiomaker Fil Corbitt found a handsaw in the mountains and built a small desk out in the woods. High in the Sierra Nevada, flanked by an aspen grove and a lodgepole pine stand, this is where Fil makes The Wind—a critically acclaimed podcast that investigates our... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 2:45pm - 3:45pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Talk/Discussion, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

3:00pm PST

Margo Cilker

Friday January 31, 2025 3:00pm - 3:45pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Artists & Special Guests

Margo Cilker

Singer-songwriter Margo Cilker has spent the last few years on the road—from South Carolina to Montana, to the Basque Country and back to the American West. She says she pines for “Basque wine, music, and cowboys.” Forging a path that is both deeply rooted and ever-changing... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 3:00pm - 3:45pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

3:30pm PST

Shootin' the Sh*t

Friday January 31, 2025 3:30pm - 4:15pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Artists & Special Guests

DW Groethe

Olivia Romo

Olivia Romo is a farmer, poet, water rights activist, and proud Taoseña. She has dedicated her work to educating and mobilizing New Mexicans around the risks and uncertainties of their natural resources. Currently, she is the Communications Coordinator for Santa Fe County. A bilingual... Read More →

R.P. Smith

R.P. Smith is the fourth generation of his family to have the privilege to care for a small part of God's creation in central Nebraska. His poetry and stories are drawn from his own experiences and, on occasion, brought to focus through the lens of past and future generations. Thirty-plus... Read More →

Friday January 31, 2025 3:30pm - 4:15pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

3:30pm PST

Poetry Open Mic 9

Friday January 31, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

More details: NationalCowboyPoetryGathering.org/open-mics-jams

Friday January 31, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Open Mic, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

4:00pm PST

Why the Cowboy Sings

Friday January 31, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm PST

Western Folklife Center - Black Box Theater

Hal Cannon (producer), Taki Telonidis (producer)
58 min | 2002
A cowboy’s job has always been low paying, dangerous, lonely, dusty, and gory. One would think this wouldn’t be much to sing about, yet sing the cowboy does. Journey to four remote ranches in the middle of winter, and explore the inspiration behind the music and poetry that accompany ranch life, with Stephanie Davis, Glenn Ohrlin, Henry Real Bird, and Larry and Toni Schutte, along with cameos by Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Wallace McRae, and Waddie Mitchell.

Produced by Western Folklife Center Media in collaboration with KUED-Channel 7 in Salt Lake City, Utah, with support from the Dick Burton Foundation, Wes and Sue Dixon, and Anne Pattee.

Friday January 31, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm PST
Western Folklife Center - Black Box Theater 501 Railroad Street, Elko, NV, USA

Film, Free

Ticket Type Free

4:00pm PST

Music Open Mic 6

Friday January 31, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

More details: NationalCowboyPoetryGathering.org/open-mics-jams

Friday January 31, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Open Mic, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

4:00pm PST

The Stories Behind the Art

Friday January 31, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Join Native American artists Kevin Jones, Jack Malotte, R. James Shoshone, and Chief Phillip Whiteman Jr. as they talk about their art and discuss the importance of creativity in their lives. They’ll reminisce and swap stories, revealing insights into their artistic inspirations and how their cultural backgrounds inform their work. As they share stories of personal experiences that have shaped their creative journeys, they explore the role of art in expressing identity and connecting with community.

Artists & Special Guests

Kevin Jones

M. Kevin Jones, of Washoe/Pima ancestry, specializes in acrylic painting, pen and ink, and traditional crafts as well as creating silver jewelry. His designs are featured on the Alpine County flag, the Diamond Valley Elementary School mascot, and various Washoe tribal logos, including... Read More →

Jack Malotte

Jack Malotte, a Western Shoshone and Washoe artist, combines wry humor with serious subjects, rethinking historical narratives and myths of the American West. His work explores the landscapes of the Great Basin and contemporary Native political issues, focusing on environmental and... Read More →

James Shoshone

R. James Shoshone, Jr. was raised Washoe and is a member of the Timbisha Shoshone, based in Owyhee, Nevada, on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. A renowned buckaroo, James has worked on many of the Great Basin’s legendary ranches, including the 25, Cross Ranch, IL Ranch, Spanish... Read More →

Chief Phillip Whiteman Jr.

Friday January 31, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Storytelling, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

4:15pm PST

Tris Munsick

Friday January 31, 2025 4:15pm - 5:00pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Artists & Special Guests

Dave & Tris Munsick

Friday January 31, 2025 4:15pm - 5:00pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

6:00pm PST

Cohorts & Collaborators

Friday January 31, 2025 6:00pm - 7:30pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

SOLD OUT

With more than 40 years of poeting under his belt, cowboy poet icon Waddie Mitchell has penned and performed many a rhyme and verse. Between ranching and hitting the stage, he’s also found time to record a few albums with the friends he's picked up along the way. Enjoy a live performance of Waddie’s album Cohorts & Collaborators featuring Waddie and his partners in songwriting, Juni Fisher, Pipp Gillette & Lloyd Wright, Andy Hedges, Brenn Hill, Trinity Seely, Dave Stamey, and Gail Steiger. From their matchups on this album, to their more recent joint efforts, you’ll be inspired to jot a couple jingles with your pals at this show that celebrates the best of collaborations with the best of collaborators.

Sponsored by John G. Searle Family Trust

Artists & Special Guests

Juni Fisher

Growing up in a central California farming family, Juni Fisher participated in 4-H and FFA. She captained her college horse show team, then worked for a reined cow horse trainer before hanging her own shingle and winning her first Snaffle Bit Futurity. While working for a cutting... Read More →

Pipp Gillette & Lloyd Wright

Andy Hedges

Andy Hedges is a songster, reciter, storyteller, guitarist, and collector of cowboy songs and poems. The son of a schoolteacher and a rodeo-cowboy-turned-preacher, Andy grew up in Tokio, Texas, where his family paid rent on an old farmhouse by looking after a few head of cattle. There... Read More →

Brenn Hill

Waddie Mitchell

Trinity Seely

Dave Stamey

Gail Steiger

Friday January 31, 2025 6:00pm - 7:30pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Auditorium 700 Moren Way, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

6:00pm PST

Everything Old Is New Again

Friday January 31, 2025 6:00pm - 7:30pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Committing to a tradition and making it your own is a delicate endeavor. These fresh voices tread the grounds of heritage oh-so-skillfully, balancing reverence and mastery with originality and spunk. Kristyn Harris takes classic country, folk, and swing at her own speed. Lone Piñon reverently study with elders to recreate and revamp their region’s musical repertoire. Annie Mackenzie writes original rhymes built on the foundation of classic cowboy poetry and life on the range. And, Brigid Reedy recites the poems of her personal heroes and moves forward the art of cowboy music. By lovingly trodding the hallowed ground of their forebears, they’re breaking ground of their own and proving that everything old is new again.

Sponsored by Alaethes Wealth, LLC

Artists & Special Guests

Kristyn Harris

Lone Piñon

Annie Mackenzie

Annie Mackenzie is a fourth-generation rancher and part-time cowboy poet. She was born and raised in Jordan Valley, growing up on her family’s ranch just north of the small town in southeast Oregon. She spends her days helping her family tend cattle, start horses, and manage the... Read More →

Brigid & Johnny Reedy

Friday January 31, 2025 6:00pm - 7:30pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

8:00pm PST

Get Ridin', When You Get the Blues

Friday January 31, 2025 8:00pm - 9:30pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

Two great American musics ride hard across the open range of rural life. Country and blues draw their power from everyday speech, emotional resonance, lived stories, and hard-driving, hard-laboring beats. Both sing with the contributions of Black artists, as does the cowboy trade itself. Join Buffalo Kin, Dom Flemons, Andy Hedges, and Jessie Veeder as they explore the crossroads of these musical styles, from old-timey favorites to contemporary stylings, delivering a bit of blues, a bit of country, a bit of cowboy philosophy. And, one powerful show.

Sponsored by Maverick Casino & Hotel

Artists & Special Guests

Buffalo Kin

Dom Flemons

Andy Hedges

Jessie Veeder

Friday January 31, 2025 8:00pm - 9:30pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Auditorium 700 Moren Way, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

8:00pm PST

Play It Right

Friday January 31, 2025 8:00pm - 9:30pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

SOLD OUT
The West is not all cows and blue skies. Those cows and blue skies represent opportunity, and some western-made opportunities are more upstanding (and legal) than others. From legendary mischief makers to gritty escapades, take a walk on the darker side of cowboy life. From saloons to dance halls, gambling dens to more notorious establishments, there is a lot of vice, and virtue, lying in wait. So, take a chance and roll the dice with gritty songstress Adrian Brannan, honky-tonking musician Sterling Drake, scoundrel-loving band Sam Platts & the Plainsmen, and folly-finding poet Dick Warwick. Afterall, you are in Nevada.

Sponsored by NV Energy Foundation

Artists & Special Guests

Adrian Brannan

Sterling Drake

Steeped in the traditions of roots music, songwriter Sterling Drake’s journey has taken him from the Big Cypress of south Florida to the mountains of western Montana and everywhere in between. With a penchant for honest storytelling, Sterling weaves his own perspective into the... Read More →

Sam Platts & the Plainsmen

Dick Warwick

Friday January 31, 2025 8:00pm - 9:30pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

10:00pm PST

Saloon Session: Matt Robertson

Friday January 31, 2025 10:00pm - 10:45pm PST

Western Folklife Center - Pioneer Saloon

Artists & Special Guests

Matt Robertson

Friday January 31, 2025 10:00pm - 10:45pm PST
Western Folklife Center - Pioneer Saloon

Music, Free

Ticket Type Free

10:00pm PST

Friday Night Dance

Friday January 31, 2025 10:00pm - 11:59pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

It’s no big secret that cowboys love to dance. Some show up and show off. Others sidle in and quietly listen. Whatever your style, the Friday night boogie with Hot Club of Cowtown will make you smile. The band revs up the room with their trademark sounds. A bit of bass, a lick of guitar, a little fiddle, and a whole lot of rhythm and groove. Stretch them weary bones, step up to the dancefloor, and swing the night away.

Sponsored by NV Energy Foundation

Artists & Special Guests

Hot Club of Cowtown

Friday January 31, 2025 10:00pm - 11:59pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Dance, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed