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

Saturday February 1, 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

Saturday February 1, 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

Saturday February 1, 2025 8:30am - 9:00am PST

Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Saturday February 1, 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

Doris Daley

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 9:45am PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 9:45am PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Poetry/Prose, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

9:00am PST

Badger Clark: Poet Among the Pines

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am 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
Thu. Jan 30 | 3:15pm-4:15pm
Fri, Jan 31 | 11:30am-12:30pm

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am PST
Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Film, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

9:00am PST

Why the Cowboy Sings

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am 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.

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am PST
Western Folklife Center - Black Box Theater 501 Railroad Street, Elko, NV, USA

Film, Free

Ticket Type Free

9:00am PST

Growing Up at the Gathering

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Artists & Special Guests

Riata Brown

Riata Brown was born, raised, and wed in the high deserts and ranches of northeastern Nevada. Growing up in a family steeped in music and cowboy culture, Riata learned to sing and play alongside her father Larry Schutte, one of the original performers at the National Cowboy Poetry... Read More →

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 →

Terri McCall Knight

Terrill Anne McCall Knight, known as Terri, grew up sharing poetry at small community gatherings and the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, where she first found her voice. Over the years, she recited at larger events in Prescott, Arizona, and Alpine, Texas, but after the loss... 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 →

Chaz Mitchell

Born and raised in rough-and-rugged northern Nevada, Chaz Mitchell grew up cowboying alongside his father, the well-known cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell. Known for making custom hats that express the personality of the owner, Chaz built his first hat during a workshop at the National... Read More →

Saturday February 1, 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

Huevos Rancheros Christmas

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am 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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

9:00am PST

Dusty Vaquero

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PST

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

Artists & Special Guests

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PST
Elko Convention Center - Auditorium 700 Moren Way, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

9:00am PST

Music Open Mic 7

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

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

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Open Mic, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

9:00am PST

Creeks & Communities

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

How do creeks function for us? For the things we care about? By focusing on water, plants, soils, and landforms, we’ve learned that some plants grow tremendous root systems that withstand floods, slow water to build floodplains, and protect soil to create a sponge. Ranchers Agee Smith and Steve Boies, Nevada Range Program Lead Kathryn Dyer, and riparian Extension Specialist Sherman Swanson will use photos and videos to tell firsthand stories showing how water-loving plants grow in response to the movement of wildlife and livestock. While each ranch is unique, they all demonstrate the benefit of animal movement in supporting healthy creek ecosystems and creating abundance.

Hosted by Dave Voth

Sponsored by Northeastern Nevada Stewardship Group

Artists & Special Guests

Steve Boies

A native Nevadan, Steve Boies is a rancher and cattleman with operations near Wells in the far northeastern corner of the state. Steve understands the issues family-run cattle ranches face today. In addition to representing ranching on the Sagebrush Ecosystem Council, he serves as... Read More →

Kathryn Dyer

Kathryn Dyer is the Range Program Lead for Nevada Bureau of Land Management (BLM). With nearly 20 years of experience in BLM offices across California, Nevada, and other western states, she has focused her career on topics such as Outcome Based Grazing, Targeted Grazing, and other... Read More →

Agee Smith

Fourth-generation Nevada rancher Agee Smith brings his forward-thinking approach not only to the family business but to collaborative stewardship efforts around the region. Agee is the managing partner of the Cottonwood Ranch located in the remote O’Neil Basin of northeastern Nevada... Read More →

Sherman Swanson

Sherm Swanson is an emeritus professor at University of Nevada, Reno, where he worked as a rangeland and riparian scientist, teacher, and extension specialist. He led the interagency and stakeholder consensus-based process for the revisions of the Nevada Rangeland Monitoring Handbook... Read More →

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Talk/Discussion, Free

Ticket Type Free

9:00am PST

Wiegand Gallery & Gift Shop

Saturday February 1, 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!

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:00pm PST

Other, Free

Ticket Type Free

9:30am PST

Poetry Open Mic 10

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:30am - 11:00am PST

Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

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

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:30am - 11:00am PST
Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Open Mic, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

10:00am PST

Kī hōʻalu: Slack-Key Guitar

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:00am - 12:00pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Room 150

Kī hōʻalu (to slack or loosen the key) is a genre of guitar music that originated in Hawai’i among paniolos (Hawaiian cowboys). When Mexican vaqueros visited Hawai’i to teach the paniolos how to manage the island's wild cattle, they also taught them to play the guitar. Without traditional knowledge of guitar tuning, nā paniolo loosened the strings to an “open G tuning” and this unique style was born. In this workshop, Gary & Kurin Haleamau will teach the Hawaiian “open G” tuning, similar to bluegrass DGDGBD. Using a Hawaiian song as a foundation, students will also learn finger picking and chord progression, which incorporates playing the top three strings for a bass rhythm.

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:00am - 12:00pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Room 150

Workshop, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

10:00am PST

Two-Step & Jitterbug

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:00am - 12:00pm PST

Flag View Intermediate School

SOLD OUT

If you can count to six, you’re ready to master two dance rhythms for the price of one. Glide around the room to the boom-shik-ka of your favorite two-step. This western classic will have you snuggling close to your sweetie. Then, jitterbug your heart out to the jumpier six-count beats. Whether you call it jive, lindy, or swing, this versatile dance lets you romp to western swing and rockabilly, hot jazz and sultry blues. You provide the feet and Amy Mills will show you the moves while Wylie & the Wild West show you the beat. Get two-stepping and swinging in time for Saturday’s dance. All levels welcome. No partner necessary.

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 →

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:00am - 12:00pm PST
Flag View Intermediate School 777 Country Club Dr, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Workshop, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

10:15am PST

Cowboy Poets

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am 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.

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PST
Western Folklife Center - Black Box Theater 501 Railroad Street, Elko, NV, USA

Film, Free

Ticket Type Free

10:15am PST

Indian Relay

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am 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
Fri, Jan 31 | 12:45-1:45pm

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PST
Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Film, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

10:15am PST

The Stories Behind the Art

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Join Native American artists Jack Malotte, 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.

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Storytelling, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

10:15am PST

Chronicling the Cowboy

Saturday February 1, 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 →

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 →

Forrest VanTuyl

Forrest VanTuyl is a songwriter and poet from Goldendale, Washington. Much of his work is based on years spent packing mules and cowboying in the steep, remote, alpine and canyon country of Wallowa County, Oregon. Early on, he paid for his songwriting and wandering addiction with... Read More →

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:15am - 11:45am PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

10:30am PST

Kristyn Harris

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:30am - 11:15am PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Artists & Special Guests

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:30am - 11:15am PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

10:45am PST

Rebel Rousers

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:45am - 11:45am PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry/Prose

Artists & Special Guests

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:45am - 11:45am PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry/Prose, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

11:00am PST

Jessie Veeder

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:00am - 11:45am PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Artists & Special Guests

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:00am - 11:45am PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

11:30am PST

First Came Collaboration: Managing for Riparia

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:30am - 11:45am 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
Fri, Jan 31 | 10:55-11:10am

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:30am - 11:45am PST
Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Film, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

11:30am PST

Stories from the Workshop

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Traditional artists like cowboy bootmakers, silversmiths, and the like, are most often working alone in their workshops, creating beautiful things, ruminating on their work and life, and thinking about the future of their craft. They’re full of stories of highs and lows, as well as ideas on how to keep their practices and their craft alive. Join cowboy bootmaker Morgan Buckert, and some of her maker pals, for stories about why they love what they do, and some anecdotes from their workrooms, which are sure to bring some smiles to your face, and maybe a tear to your eye.

Artists & Special Guests

Morgan Buckert

Morgan Buckert is a master bootmaker based in Hailey, Idaho, where she creates custom cowboy boots and accessories built to last a lifetime. Starting with custom patterns and the highest quality leather, she ensures every pair fits perfectly. A seventh-generation Texan rancher, Morgan’s... Read More →

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Storytelling, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

11:30am PST

Deep West & Ranch Communications

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:30am - 1:30pm 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.

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:30am - 1:30pm PST
Western Folklife Center - Black Box Theater 501 Railroad Street, Elko, NV, USA

Film, Free

Ticket Type Free

11:45am PST

Learning From the Land: Women in Ranching

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:45am - 11:55am 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
Fri, Jan 31 | 10:45-10:55am

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:45am - 11:55am PST
Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Film, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

11:45am PST

Sourdough Slim & Robert Armstrong

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:45am - 12:30pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Artists & Special Guests

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:45am - 12:30pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

11:45am PST

Cowboy Cult Classics

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:45am - 12:45pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Artists & Special Guests

Katie McCall-Owen

Terry Nash

Western Colorado beef producer and acclaimed poet Terry Nash knows how to draw you into his poetry. His tales are of the West not seen from the highway or from the rodeo bleachers. Terry lives the life he writes about, and he’s the master at showing it to you. He and his wife Kathy... 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 →

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 11:45am - 12:45pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Poetry/Prose, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

12:00pm PST

Hot Club of Cowtown

Saturday February 1, 2025 12:00pm - 12:45pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Artists & Special Guests

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 12:00pm - 12:45pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

12:00pm PST

Thought Is Like a Cloud

Saturday February 1, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry/Prose

Artists & Special Guests

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 →

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 →

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 →

Olivia Romo

Saturday February 1, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry/Prose, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

12:10pm PST

Cowboys Without Borders

Saturday February 1, 2025 12:10pm - 1:40pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

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

Northeastern Nevada Museum - Pass Required
Fri, Jan 31 | 1-2:30pm

Saturday February 1, 2025 12:10pm - 1:40pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Film, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

12:30pm PST

Pipp Gillette & Lloyd Wright

Saturday February 1, 2025 12:30pm - 1:15pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Artists & Special Guests

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 12:30pm - 1:15pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

1:00pm PST

Dave Stamey

Saturday February 1, 2025 1:00pm - 1:45pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Artists & Special Guests

Dave Stamey

Saturday February 1, 2025 1:00pm - 1:45pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

1:00pm PST

DW Groethe

Saturday February 1, 2025 1:00pm - 1:45pm 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 →

Saturday February 1, 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

Been There, Done That

Saturday February 1, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Artists & Special Guests

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 →

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Poetry/Prose, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

1:00pm PST

Whip Law

Saturday February 1, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Since about 2017, downtown Reno, Nevada, has been punctuated with the small, supersonic cracks of homemade bullwhips. Join radiomaker Fil Corbitt for a live audio podcast presentation digging into this phenomenon, and what happened when the city moved to ban whips in downtown Reno. Originally aired on Fil’s podcast The Wind, and nationally on Snap Judgement, “Whip Law” dives into ideas of craft, community, and homelessness through a western noir search for Reno's master whip maker.

Artists & Special Guests

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Silver Room

Talk/Discussion, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

1:00pm PST

Ranch Family Show

Saturday February 1, 2025 1:00pm - 2:15pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

Horses may be glamorous and flashy, galloping long distances and smoothly jumping barriers to get us where we’re going. But mules, with their fortitude and bullheadedness, take us all the places we’d never get without provisions and patience. Some say horses are smoother, while mules are smarter. Some say horses are more ready, while mules are more steady. We say, sometimes you need a bit of both. Juni Fisher, Brenn Hill, Andy Nelson, Kye Rieff, and Sandy Seaton Sallee bring you an entertaining, equine-heavy afternoon of music and verse in tribute to mules and horses, and the places they carry us.

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 →

Brenn Hill

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 →

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 →

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 →

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

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

1:00pm PST

Bring Them Home

Saturday February 1, 2025 1:00pm - 2:30pm PST

Northeastern Nevada Museum

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
Fri, Jan 31 | 9-10:30am

Saturday February 1, 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

Line Dance (Beginner)

Saturday February 1, 2025 1:00pm - 2:30pm PST

Flag View Intermediate School

Do you feel like you have two left feet? You don’t need elegance, just a willing spirit for this beginner line dancing workshop. Jeff Cunningham will have you kickin’ and stompin’ to the music with simple steps. You will build on these steps to create choreographed movements for different line dances. Jeff is adept at teaching students with little to no experience. He will have you ready to jump in and move with the group at the rodeo, country bar, or any of the many occasions that embrace line dancing. This is an opportunity to learn to dance and get your heart pumping, with or without a partner.

Artists & Special Guests

Jeff Cunningham

Jeff Cunningham was born in Ely, Nevada. After a successful 54-year career as a carpenter, he transitioned to teaching line dance in 2017. Upon his return to Elko County, Jeff has become an active and valued volunteer at the Western Folklife Center. His classes encompass a diverse... Read More →

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

Workshop, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

1:45pm PST

Lone Piñon

Saturday February 1, 2025 1:45pm - 2:30pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Artists & Special Guests

Lone Piñon

Saturday February 1, 2025 1:45pm - 2:30pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

2:00pm PST

Ranch Parenting 101

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:00pm - 3:00pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Artists & Special Guests

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 →

Jessie Veeder

Wylie & the Wild West

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:00pm - 3:00pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

2:00pm PST

On the Trail of the Jackalope

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:00pm - 3:00pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

In this romp based on his book On the Trail of the Jackalope, Great Basin Desert writer Michael Branch (author of Raising Wild, Rants from the Hill, and How to Cuss in Western) takes us on an entertaining and enlightening road trip to the heart of an American legend. Mike’s story spans from the horned rabbit’s origins in rural Wyoming through the many forms of jackalope art that keep this hybrid creature alive in western American folk culture. The talk also reveals that actual horned rabbits exist in nature, and explains their connection to the iconic mythological jackalope of folklore.

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:00pm - 3:00pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room

Talk/Discussion, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

2:00pm PST

Rancher-to-Rancher—Interactive, Entertaining, Regenerative Rangeland Management

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:00pm - 3:30pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Rancher-to-Rancher team member Kent Reeves, along with Buffalo Kin, Amy Hale, Lara Manzanares, Deanna Dickinson McCall, Henry Real Bird, Brigid & Johnny Reedy, and Sean Sexton, bring you an entertaining and interactive session about regenerative rangeland management using peer-to-peer learning, holistic thinking, simple demonstrations, and audience participation. Between poetry and music from people who steward the land, we’ll learn more about “how to see” soil health and healthy ecosystem processes (water cycle, carbon cycle, energy flow, biodiversity). And, we’ll cover practical ideas to address drought, productivity, range and pasture regeneration, fire, water quality and quantity, and profitability. All while having some fun!

Artists & Special Guests

Buffalo Kin

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 →

Lara Manzanares

Henry Real Bird

Brigid & Johnny Reedy

Kent Reeves

Kent Reeves is a rangeland ecologist, packer, cowboy, and nomad based in California. He is the co-founder of The Soil Carbon Coalition’s Rancher-to-Rancher Network, an organization that guides land stewards on listening to the land and to one another. Kent has been a featured poet... Read More →

Sean Sexton

Sean Sexton grew up on his family’s Treasure Hammock Ranch, where he lives and co-manages a 700-acre cow-calf and seedstock operation with his son. He and his wife Sharon reside on the ranch in a home they built by hand. Sean spends much of his time writing poetry and prose, and... Read More →

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:00pm - 3:30pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Talk/Discussion, Free

Ticket Type Free

2:15pm PST

Trinity Seely

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:15pm - 3:00pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Artists & Special Guests

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:15pm - 3:00pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

2:30pm PST

Tall Grasses & Big Skies

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:30pm - 3:30pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

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 →

DW Groethe

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 →

Jonathan Odermann

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:30pm - 3:30pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

2:45pm PST

Who Says Cowboys Don't Rock 'n' Roll?

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:45pm - 3:45pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Artists & Special Guests

Doris Daley

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 →

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 →

Kye Rieff

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:45pm - 3:45pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

2:45pm PST

Cowboy Songs

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:45pm - 4:00pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

SOLD OUT

Join Michael Martin Murphey and a bevy of special guests for this live re-recording of Murph’s quintessential album, Cowboy Songs. First released in 1990, Cowboy Songs (Vol. 1) was a 21-track round up of new hits like “Cowboy Logic” and good ol’ classics like “Goodbye Old Paint.” The first cowboy music album to go gold since Marty Robbins, its success spurred the creation of the Warner Western imprint on the Warner Bros label. Love for cowboy music may ebb and flow among mainstream audiences, but Murph—and his Elko audiences—are steadfast admirers, making the Gathering the ideal place to recapture the album. Warm up your clappers and tune up your yappers—you might just hear yourself on the live recording.

Sponsored by Carole Anderson

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 2:45pm - 4:00pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Auditorium 700 Moren Way, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

3:00pm PST

Line Dance (Advanced)

Saturday February 1, 2025 3:00pm - 4:30pm PST

Flag View Intermediate School

Step up your line dancing skills and learn some moves you can take home to your local honky-tonk. Sherry Hooper will guide you through more intricate turns and steps, starting with step-by-step instructions, before kicking it up a notch by adding fast-paced music. Sherry’s classes are always lively, fun, and full of line dance favorites like “Kick the Dust Up,” “Aww Naw,” “Flatliner,” “If You’re Going Through Hell,” “Any Man of Mine,” and more. Best suited for students who have some previous dance experience, either line dance or other.Boots not required.

Artists & Special Guests

Sherry Hooper

Sherry Hooper grew up in Colorado in a family that loved music and dancing. A resident of Elko for over 10 years, Sherry is an active and enthusiastic volunteer at the Western Folklife Center. Her western line dance classes are a popular offering at the bimonthly Let’s Dance! program... Read More →

Saturday February 1, 2025 3:00pm - 4:30pm PST
Flag View Intermediate School 777 Country Club Dr, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Workshop, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

3:30pm PST

Well-Weathered

Saturday February 1, 2025 3:30pm - 4:15pm 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 →

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 →

Gary & Kurin Haleamau

Saturday February 1, 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

Highlights of the Open Mic

Saturday February 1, 2025 3:30pm - 5:00pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

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

Saturday February 1, 2025 3:30pm - 5:00pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

4:00pm PST

How the West Is Sung

Saturday February 1, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Artists & Special Guests

Juni Fisher

Kristyn Harris

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 →

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

4:00pm PST

It Didn't Seem Funny at the Time

Saturday February 1, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Artists & Special Guests

Bill Lowman

Annie Mackenzie

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 →

Andy Nelson

Saturday February 1, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Poetry/Prose, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

6:00pm PST

Bellyaches & Heartbreaks-A Humor Show?

Saturday February 1, 2025 6:00pm - 7:30pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

Making a living in agriculture isn’t for the faint of heart. Nor is it for the humorless. Some days the ups and downs happen with the intensity of a bucking bronc buzzed by a bee. To keep cool while the ranch tests your good nature, it helps to find a little humor in the crises. So, cinch up your sunny disposition and join lovelorn troubadour Doug Figgs, witty wordsmith Yvonne Hollenbeck, self-effacing sonneteer Jarle Kvale, playful poet Jake Riley, and genuine jokester R.P. Smith for an evening that will have both your heart and your sides aching with hysterics.

Sponsored by Blach Distributing Co

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 →

Yvonne Hollenbeck

Jarle Kvale

Jake Riley

R.P. Smith

Saturday February 1, 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

I Held You as a Pup

Saturday February 1, 2025 6:00pm - 7:30pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Love has lasted a lifetime for these pairs. From the first moment they met, they were bound together. By blood or by love, there’s a special connection that forms between generations. One minute, one begins as a mentor holding a baby. The next, that baby is holding them steady. The roles switch back and forth as they bring each other guidance, mentorship, fresh eyes, and new perspectives. Adrian Brannan & Dick Gibford, Dave & Tris Munsick, and Jessie & Gene Veeder honor their lifetimes of shared craft, shared advice, shared admiration, and that greatest gift, shared time together. Join these bonded pairs for an evening of music, poetry, and rapport that’ll hold you close and help you grow.

Sponsored by Red's Ranch

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 →

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 →

Dave & Tris Munsick

Jessie Veeder

Saturday February 1, 2025 6:00pm - 7:30pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

8:00pm PST

Be The Poem, Be The Song

Saturday February 1, 2025 8:00pm - 9:30pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Close out the 40th by gathering in the spirit of the Gathering’s essence, by gathering for the good and the true. Here, the creative possibilities are endless. The inspiration of everyday people is epic. The poetic expressions become a medium through which we envision, and enact, new possibilities for the communities that feed us and the communities that are fed. Join musicians Margo Cilker, Sterling Drake, Lara Manzanares, and Ed Peekeekoot, along with all the “old ghosts and young cowpunchers” that haunt these halls, to soak up the artistic life and to conjure the next 40 years.

Sponsored by Alex Benna & Chrissy Menicucci Benna

Artists & Special Guests

Margo Cilker

Sterling Drake

Lara Manzanares

Ed Peekeekoot

Saturday February 1, 2025 8:00pm - 9:30pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

8:00pm PST

Cow Trails & Cowboy Tales

Saturday February 1, 2025 8:00pm - 9:30pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

Isolated in the vast backcountry for large periods of time, entertainment for cowboys consisted (and still consists) of spinning yarns, crafting poetry, and passing the time in song. These compadres recreate the creative recreation and cultural production of the cattle trail. Dom Flemons provides sustenance around the campfire with his songster lore. Ross Knox drives tradition with his poetic stylings. Matt Robertson wrangles the musical wilds with his bronc scholarship. Trinity Seely keeps the crew in high spirits with her whistling ways. And, Gail Steiger refuses to let a verse straggle behind. They’ll transport you to the space where the oral tradition we know as cowboy poetry began, in the cow camp and along the cow trail.

Sponsored by The Nature Conservancy-Nevada

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 →

Ross Knox

Matt Robertson

Trinity Seely

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 →

Saturday February 1, 2025 8:00pm - 9:30pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Auditorium 700 Moren Way, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

9:30pm PST

Saloon Session: Sam Platts & the Plainsmen

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:30pm - 10:30pm PST

Western Folklife Center - Pioneer Saloon

Artists & Special Guests

Sam Platts & the Plainsmen

Saturday February 1, 2025 9:30pm - 10:30pm PST
Western Folklife Center - Pioneer Saloon

Music, Free

Ticket Type Free

10:00pm PST

Saturday Night Dance

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:00pm - 11:59pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Get in one last dose of dancing before the 40th comes to a close. Dancers and wallflowers alike can’t resist the supremely danceable sounds of Wylie & the Wild West. So, get on the floor and give it your best spin, shake, and shuffle. If you’re better at busting broncs than busting moves, don’t worry, Wylie’s got enough moves of his own to keep you entertained. This is the place to fling off your troubles, recharge your soul, and store up that Gathering spirit to carry you through the rest of the year. Come one, come all, and close out the 40th with this cowboy ball.

Sponsored by NV Energy Foundation

Artists & Special Guests

Wylie & the Wild West

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:00pm - 11:59pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Dance, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

10:30pm PST

Open Jam

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:30pm - 11:59pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Looking for another way to join in the musical fun? Come jam with fellow musicians and Gathering-goers in a session where everyone is welcome!

Saturday February 1, 2025 10:30pm - 11:59pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Jam, Free

Ticket Type Free