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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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

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

11:45am PST

Cowboy Cult Classics

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

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Artists & Special Guests

Katie McCall-Owen

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 →

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

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

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 12:00pm - 1:00pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry/Prose, 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

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

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 →

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