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

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Type: Poetry/Prose clear filter
Wednesday, January 29
 

10:30am PST

Story Time
Wednesday January 29, 2025 10:30am - 11:15am PST
Elko County Mybrary
 Story Time for the wee ones (children ages 3-5).
Artists & Special Guests
avatar for Darrell Holden

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 →
Wednesday January 29, 2025 10:30am - 11:15am PST
Elko County Mybrary
  Poetry/Prose, Free
 
Thursday, January 30
 

12:15pm PST

The Bull Got Out
Thursday January 30, 2025 12:15pm - 1:15pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room
Artists & Special Guests
avatar for Yvonne Hollenbeck

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 →
avatar for Katie McCall-Owen

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 →
avatar for Andy Nelson

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 →
avatar for Tom Sharpe

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 →
Thursday January 30, 2025 12:15pm - 1:15pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room
  Poetry/Prose, Day or Deluxe Pass

1:45pm PST

Between the Silences
Thursday January 30, 2025 1:45pm - 2:45pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room
Artists & Special Guests
avatar for Maria Lisa Eastman

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 →
avatar for Amy Hale

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 →
avatar for Henry Real Bird

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 →
avatar for M.L. Smoker

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 →
Thursday January 30, 2025 1:45pm - 2:45pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room
  Poetry/Prose, Day or Deluxe Pass

2:45pm PST

Thrown but Not Broken
Thursday January 30, 2025 2:45pm - 3:45pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater
Poetry/Prose
Artists & Special Guests
avatar for Marleen Bussma

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 →
avatar for Jarle Kvale

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 →
avatar for Kye Rieff

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 →
avatar for Sandy Seaton Sallee

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 →
Thursday January 30, 2025 2:45pm - 3:45pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater
  Poetry/Prose, Day or Deluxe Pass

8:00pm PST

Now That's Classic
Thursday January 30, 2025 8:00pm - 9:30pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater
Everybody loves a classic. And, everybody loves it when reciters take the stage to honor the greats of their field. Join poets Marleen Bussma, Andy Hedges, Bill Lowman, Jake Riley, and Tom Sharpe for their favorite classic cowboy poems. They’ll take turns sharing beloved touchstones of the tradition. They’ll go rounds delivering masterpieces that still seem fresh today. And they’ll bandy rhymes that have stood the test of time. This show has cowboy trimmings and cowboy substance…now, that’s classic!

Sponsored by Stockmen’s Casino-Ramada by Wyndham
Artists & Special Guests
avatar for Marleen Bussma

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 →
avatar for Andy Hedges

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 →
avatar for Bill Lowman

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 →
avatar for Jake Riley

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 →
avatar for Tom Sharpe

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 →
Thursday January 30, 2025 8:00pm - 9:30pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater
  Poetry/Prose, Ticketed
 
Friday, January 31
 

10:30am PST

Nature Calls
Friday January 31, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room
Artists & Special Guests
avatar for Dick Gibford

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 →
avatar for Jonathan Odermann

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 →
avatar for Kye Rieff

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 →
avatar for Jake Riley

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

1:15pm PST

Grace & Grit
Friday January 31, 2025 1:15pm - 2:15pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room
Artists & Special Guests
avatar for Maria Lisa Eastman

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 →
avatar for Patricia Frolander

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 →
avatar for Betty Lynne McCarthy

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 →
avatar for Sandy Seaton Sallee

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 1:15pm - 2:15pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room
  Poetry/Prose, 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
avatar for Yvonne Hollenbeck

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
 
Saturday, February 1
 

9:00am PST

Doris Daley
Saturday February 1, 2025 9:00am - 9:45am PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room
Artists & Special Guests
avatar for Doris Daley

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

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
avatar for Patricia Frolander

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 →
avatar for Yvonne Hollenbeck

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 →
avatar for Annie Mackenzie

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 →
avatar for R.P. Smith

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

11:45am PST

Cowboy Cult Classics
Saturday February 1, 2025 11:45am - 12:45pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room
Artists & Special Guests
avatar for Katie McCall-Owen

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 →
avatar for Terry Nash

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 →
avatar for Brigid & Johnny Reedy

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 →
avatar for Dick Warwick

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

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
avatar for Darrell Holden

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 →
avatar for Jonathan Odermann

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 →
avatar for Henry Real Bird

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 →
avatar for Olivia Romo

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

1:00pm PST

Been There, Done That
Saturday February 1, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room
Artists & Special Guests
avatar for Ross Knox

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 →
avatar for Bill Lowman

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 →
avatar for Tom Sharpe

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

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
avatar for Bill Lowman

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 →
avatar for Annie Mackenzie

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 →
avatar for Betty Lynne McCarthy

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 →
avatar for Andy Nelson

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
 
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Sunday, January 26
Monday, January 27
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Wednesday, January 29
Thursday, January 30
Friday, January 31
Saturday, February 1
Duncan LittleCreek Gallery & the Gallery Bar
Elko Conference Center - Lamoille Room
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage
Elko Convention Center - Auditorium
Elko Convention Center - Cedar Room
Elko Convention Center - Gold Room
Elko Convention Center - Silver Room
Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room
Elko County Mybrary
Elko Euzkaldunak Club (Basque House)
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Room 132
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Room 150
First Presbyterian Church
Flag View Intermediate School
Great Basin College - Greenhaw Tech Arts Room 130 (Bldg 8 on map)
Great Basin College - Jewelry Lab, Arts & Music Annex (Bldg 22 on map)
Northeastern Nevada Museum
Western Folklife Center - Black Box Theater
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater
Western Folklife Center - Pioneer Saloon
Western Folklife Center - Wiegand Gallery
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