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.

7:00pm PST

Words With Heart

Monday January 27, 2025 7:00pm - 8:30pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

The Gathering has always been about words—words that reflect land, words that reflect work, words that reflect our worlds. And it’s about how those words are shared in the company of others, turning moments into memories and expression into connection. Start the 40th with a quartet of rooted performers who will make you sing, laugh, think, and feel. Their timing is impeccable. Their insight is eye-opening. And their words have heart. Join reflective rancher Darrell Holden, compelling cowman Terry Nash, skilled songster Ed Peekeekoot, and pensive poet M.L. Smoker as they reflect what’s at the heart of the Gathering.

Sponsored by Baymont by Wyndham Elko

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

Monday January 27, 2025 7:00pm - 8:30pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

7:00pm PST

Nevada On My Mind

Tuesday January 28, 2025 7:00pm - 8:30pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

From the Ruby Mountains to the Owyhee Desert, from the Humboldt River to the Jarbidge Wilderness, from the hot springs to the quakies, Nevada’s expanses leave an imprint on a person’s soul. Cowboy poet Ross Knox earned his stripes on the Great Basin’s big outfits. Katie McCall-Owen was raised on the Silver State’s remote ranges. And, special guest Richard Elloyan lives and sings at the edge of Nevada’s dark starry skies. Together, in Elko, they bring you an evening of entertainment that sparkles like a buckaroo’s breath on a sunny winter day.

Sponsored by Thunderbird Motel

Artists & Special Guests

Richard Elloyan

Richard Elloyan is a singer, songwriter, poet, and performer of unique wit and imagination. Richard grew up in the historic mining town of Virginia City and uses his love of the state, its rich history, and its magnificent vistas as a constant source of inspiration. Richard has performed... Read More →

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 →

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 →

Tuesday January 28, 2025 7:00pm - 8:30pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

7:00pm PST

Kicking Up a Ruckus

Wednesday January 29, 2025 7:00pm - 8:30pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

When you throw together a crew, this is the kind of talent you want. Wylie Gustafson, along with his die-hard band, revs up ranch rhythms with the kind of songs you can’t stop humming. Underneath a seemingly sweet ranch wife surface, poet Yvonne Hollenbeck’s rabble-rousing spirit makes for spirit-rousing poetry. And, cool-as-a-cucumber Dave Stamey stirs up a frenzy when he lets out a yippee-yi-yo. When the “Rebel Rouser” joins forces with the “musical Charlie Russell” and the “American original,” you’ve got a crew that’ll kick up a ruckus and get the job done right. Like any good cowboss, you just need to show up and enjoy yourself.

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 →

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 →

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 →

Wednesday January 29, 2025 7:00pm - 8:30pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Auditorium 700 Moren Way, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

11:00am PST

Andy Hedges

Thursday January 30, 2025 11:00am - 11:45am PST

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Artists & Special Guests

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 →

Thursday January 30, 2025 11:00am - 11:45am PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Music Stage

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

11:00am PST

Finding Your Place

Thursday January 30, 2025 11:00am - 12:00pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry/Prose, Music

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 →

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 →

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 →

M.L. Smoker

Thursday January 30, 2025 11:00am - 12:00pm PST
Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

11:00am PST

Have I Told You About My Horse

Thursday January 30, 2025 11:00am - 12:00pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

Thursday January 30, 2025 11:00am - 12:00pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

1:00pm PST

Crittering

Thursday January 30, 2025 1:00pm - 2:15pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

From the loyal cow dogs who assist us in our daily work to the ornery cows who insist on spicing up our days, critters loom large in our lives. Every rancher has encountered a creature worthy of immortalization in verse…and some worthy of a choice curse. Critters make us laugh and they make us cry. If there’s one thing that unites DW Groethe, Darrell Holden, Betty Lynne McCarthy, Jonathan Odermann, and Dick Warwick, it’s critters. From laughable observations to humorous run-ins, these poets share stories, and snortles, inspired by the non-human occupants that skitter through their days.
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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 →

Darrell Holden

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 →

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 →

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 →

Thursday January 30, 2025 1:00pm - 2:15pm PST
Elko Convention Center - Auditorium 700 Moren Way, Elko, NV 89801, USA

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

1:30pm PST

Let Me Show You How It's Done

Thursday January 30, 2025 1:30pm - 2:15pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

Poetry/Prose, Music

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 →

Ed Peekeekoot

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 →

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

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

1:30pm PST

Don't Touch My Hat

Thursday January 30, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm 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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

Thursday January 30, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

4:00pm PST

Wild Women

Thursday January 30, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm PST

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

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 →

Patricia Frolander

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 →

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 →

Thursday January 30, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm PST
Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

4:15pm PST

Collaborative Cowpokes

Thursday January 30, 2025 4:15pm - 5:00pm 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 →

Darrell Holden

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 →

Thursday January 30, 2025 4:15pm - 5:00pm PST
Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Poetry & Music, Day or Deluxe Pass

Ticket Type Day or Deluxe Pass

6:00pm PST

Class of '85 & That Other Guy

Thursday January 30, 2025 6:00pm - 7:30pm PST

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

SOLD OUT
What’s better than friendship? Pardship, of course! And who knows what could happen when these old-school buckaroo bard pards take our stage to reminisce about the past 40 years through story, poetry, and song. (Hint: It’s going to be epic!) From before the dawn of the Gathering to clean up ’til yesterday, Dick Gibford, Ross Knox, Waddie Mitchell and Gail Steiger have seen and heard a few things, got up to all sorts of shenanigans, and shared more than an adventure or two. If you’ve ever wondered about the Gathering’s early days (or would just like to relive them), this is a show you won’t want to miss.

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 →

Ross Knox

Waddie Mitchell

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

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 →

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

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

6:00pm PST

Cowboy Schoolin'

Thursday January 30, 2025 6:00pm - 7:30pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

Whether passed down by compadres around a campfire or grandparents around a record player, cowboy schooling has its roots in all kinds of traditions. Pipp Gillette & Lloyd Wright gain inspiration from the folk heroes of music history. Hot Club of Cowtown repurpose the jazzier roots of country swing. Sourdough Slim & Robert Armstrong take on the image of Hollywood’s “singing cowboys.” And, Doris Daley casts a keen eye on how people and pop culture shape even the most bona fide of buckaroos. They’ll entertain you with lore that reveals even the “real deals” sometimes get their inspiration from TV Westerns.

Sponsored by Nevada Gold Mines

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

8:00pm PST

California Gold

Thursday January 30, 2025 8:00pm - 9:30pm PST

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

When it comes to agricultural wealth, the Golden State has its fair share. Whether you love it or love to hate it, this westest of the western states turns out happy cows and happy artists. An abundance of crops and livestock aren’t the only ranchy riches to be found between the Sierra Nevadas and the Pacific Ocean. Among California’s greatest treasures are gold-dusted songwriter Margo Cilker, jewel of a singer Trinity Seely, and precious musical resource Dave Stamey. This ain’t no fool’s gold. You’re sure to leave this show shouting, “Eureka! I hit the jackpot!”

Sponsored by Home2 Suites by Hilton Elko

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 →

Ismay

Melding the experience of taming wild horses, escaping wildfires, and birthing lambs with the mystical soundscape that nature inspires, Ismay has sharpened their musical craft over the last decade while living and working on the family ranch in Northern California. Growing up backstage... Read More →

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 →

Dave Stamey

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

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

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

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

Wylie & the Wild West

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

Betty Lynne McCarthy

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

Diehards Ride Hard for the Gathering

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

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

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

A special show of support!

Artists & Special Guests

Doris Daley

Hot Club of Cowtown

Waddie Mitchell

Brigid & Johnny Reedy

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

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

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

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

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

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

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

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

Melanie LaRue

Katie McCall-Owen

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

12:15pm PST

Pretty Good Help

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

Elko High School Performing Arts Building - Auditorium

Artists & Special Guests

Adrian Brannan

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

Doris Daley

Darrell Holden

Dave Stamey

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

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

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

1:45pm 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

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

2:15pm PST

Cow Sense

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

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Artists & Special Guests

Venessa Carpenter

Amy Hale

Trinity Seely

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

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

R.P. Smith

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

6:00pm PST

Cohorts & Collaborators

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

Elko Convention Center - Auditorium

SOLD OUT

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

Sponsored by John G. Searle Family Trust

Artists & Special Guests

Juni Fisher

Pipp Gillette & Lloyd Wright

Andy Hedges

Brenn Hill

Waddie Mitchell

Trinity Seely

Dave Stamey

Gail Steiger

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

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

6:00pm PST

Everything Old Is New Again

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

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

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

Sponsored by Alaethes Wealth, LLC

Artists & Special Guests

Kristyn Harris

Lone Piñon

Annie Mackenzie

Brigid & Johnny Reedy

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

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

8:00pm PST

Play It Right

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

Western Folklife Center - G Three Bar Theater

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

Sponsored by NV Energy Foundation

Artists & Special Guests

Adrian Brannan

Sterling Drake

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

Sam Platts & the Plainsmen

Dick Warwick

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

Poetry & Music, Ticketed

Ticket Type Ticketed

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

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

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

Lone Piñon

Lara Manzanares

Olivia Romo

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brenn Hill

Andy Nelson

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

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

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

2:30pm PST

Tall Grasses & Big Skies

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

Elko Convention Center - Turquoise Room

Artists & Special Guests

Marleen Bussma

DW Groethe

Jarle Kvale

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

Sam Platts & the Plainsmen

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

3:30pm PST

Well-Weathered

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

Elko Conference Center - Ruby Mountain Ballroom

Artists & Special Guests

Venessa Carpenter

Maria Lisa Eastman

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 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

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

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

Dick Gibford

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

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 →

Ticket Type Ticketed