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

9:30am 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

10:15am 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.

Films show multiple times. See schedule for other showings.

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.

Films show multiple times. See schedule for other showings.

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

11:30am 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

Films show multiple times. See schedule for other showings.

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

12:15pm 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

"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 →

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

12:45pm 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.

Films show multiple times. See schedule for other showings.

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

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.

Films show multiple times. See schedule for other showings.

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

1:15pm 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

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

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

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