Bud was orphaned at the age of fifteen and found a home in Red Lodge, Montana as a working cowboy. Bud retired from the Army while stationed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and returned to the cattle business. He and his wife Joan, own the Single Star Ranch in Hereford Arizona, raising Angus cattle. After hearing cowboy poetry on Montana's Centennial Cattle Drive in 1989, Bud tried his hand at writing it. He fills his verses with the hard times, great pride, tongue-in-cheek humor, and satisfaction that comes with living the cowboy dream. He has appeared at various gathering and venues around the country, including a private performance for the Attorney General of the United States. His published works include 'Dry Lightning' and 'Lightning and Angels'. He has also recorded a CD. Bud is just one of the best we have ever heard and we’re sure you will agree.

A love for western music and chuckwagon food brought the original Copper Creek Wranglers together in l991. The names and faces of the group have changed over the years but the purpose is still the same. They hope to preserve for future generations the sound made famous by many entertainers such as the Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Bob Wills, Marty Robbins and others.

The group is made up of Floyd Robertson on guitar and vocals David Anderson on fiddle; Howard Blevins on guitar, banjo and dobro; Pat Barsch on bass and Patsy Robertson on vocals. This seasoned Western band loves to play and meet other people who like Cowboy music and poetry. They can be contacted at 575-538-2973.

http://www.coppercreekranch.cc

Eddy Harrison had been writing and performing western music for most of his life. He got his first guitar at the age of 14 and began performing at clubs and coffee houses. He has written over 100 songs, some of which have been recorded by other artists such as Red Steagal and Cliffie Stone. He has appeared at Cowboy Gathering and Western Music festivals all over New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. He is a member of the Western Music Association and the Academy of Western Artists. In his spare time, he builds custom guitars.

Jim is a native Texan, a student of the West and a life-long devotee of all things cowboy. His award-winning songwriting, guitar-picking and unique vocal style keeps him in demand as a performer on the Western music circuit as well as at house concerts, coffeehouses, schools and libraries throughout the West. Jim has produced seven Western albums, three award-winning children’s character education videos and recently, his first Western novel, Rustler’s Moon, which came out in May of 2009. The second novel in the Jared Delaney series, Colorado Moon, will be released in the spring of 2011. His seventh Western album, Feels Like Home to Me, was released in September of 2010. He lives in Corrales, New Mexico with his wife and two dogs, Waylon and Jessie.

http://www.jimjonesmusic.com

Jim Wilson is a native Texas who was born in Austin and raised in San Antonio. For nearly 30 years, he served as a Texas Peace Officer in Denton and Crockett Counties. In 1988, he was elected Sheriff of Crockett County (Ozona), Texas, and served in that capacity until his retirement from law enforcement in 1996.

Wilson began playing folk and country music while he attended Texas Christian University, in the 1960s. However, his earliest musical recollections were of his father singing the old cowboy songs, such as “Leaving Cheyenne” and “Streets of Laredo.” With the emergence of contemporary cowboy music in the 1980s, Wilson naturally returned to his musical roots.

In May of 2002, Jim Wilson released his first album, Border Bravo. Recorded in Lubbock, Texas, and produced by Andy Wilkinson, Border Bravo is a collection of cowboy songs and border ballads that focus on the American Southwest and the changing frontier. Wilson co-wrote three of the album’s songs, and carefully selected the rest to tell some tales of the border country, one of the last frontiers. In November 2003, BORDER BRAVO received the award for “Best Traditional Album” from the Western Music Association.

Jim Wilson performs across the country at western music festivals, house concerts, and ranch barbecues. He is an active supporter of the Western Music Association and has served on the board for several years, holding the position of vice-president when his term expired in 2003.

http://www.sheriffjimwilson.com

Doug and his wife Cathy run a full time farrier business in Lemitar, New Mexico. They also have a small hay farm, raise Paint horses, and run a few cows. Doug's two greatest loves, after his family, are fine horses and good music.

Arizona singer/songwriter Jon Messenger brings to his audiences a hearty stew concocted from the influences of an eclectic musical background. Influenced by everything he’s heard, he likes to say, “I play what I can, and what I can’t, I want to learn.” Jon’s original Folk and Western tunes have been well received by audiences at festivals and gatherings throughout the West, and these songs reflect Jon’s love of the West and the American Cowboy.

Bringing a unique approach to today’s Cowboy and Western Music, Jon’s vocal and acoustic guitar stylings blend together to bring to all his audiences a haunting and authentic portrait of cowboy life, past and present. Interspersed with the fine Western Music are some wonderful selections of Cowboy Poetry, some by traditional authors, and some original poems from Jon’s pen.

http://www.myspace.com/jonmessenger

Lynn Stokes is cowboy poet and story teller. He grew up in Del Rio, Texas and studied at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. He now makes his home with Barbara, his wife of fifty-five years, on a ranch near Pipe Creek in Bandera County, Texas. In his younger years he was a bull rider but he says his accomplishments in the rodeo arena would not cause anyone to remember his name unless they were a historian compiling buck-off records. He said he could have been a real star, but back then nobody was making rodeo blooper films. In his stories and poems you’ll find happiness, love, humor, nostalgia, and even a little sadness, pretty much like the everyday life they’re based on. Having been in the horse business for many years, and racing horses and mules, he says he supported this and many other bad habits by being a pretty good trader, dealing in horses, cattle, trucks, equipment, and just about anything else of value, and occasionally no value at all. His motto is: “If It Isn’t Fun Let’s Don’t Do It".

Mike does a little cowboying at local ranches and then turns the people he meets and things he sees into cowboy poetry and songs. Known as "New Mexico's Enchanting Cowboy", he has a way of putting people as close to being in the saddle as words and music allow. Find more about him at:

http://www.enchantingcowboy.com.

Pete and Dianne Kennedy are the founders and organizers of this Gathering. Dianne will act as our Emcee while Pete performs original and classic cowboy poetry. They have been devoted fans of cowboy poetry and music since they attended their first Gathering almost 20 years ago. Both have performed at Cowboy Gatherings in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas.

The farther you live from what some people consider civilization, the more self reliant and innovative you have to be. You have to admire a guy who enters a field and actually creates his own genre by making a musical instrument with which to conquer a niche that any other mortal is afraid to even challenge. That is exactly what Washtub Jerry has done. He is the only “tub-bass” player in the field of cowboy entertainment today. Not only that, he may very well be the hardest working man in the business. Go to any show where Washtub is performing and you’ll find performers lined up to get him to play backup bass for them. I have yet to see him turn one of them down. In addition, he understands more about music theory than any music teacher I know and can illustrate it to you on his unique instrument with the skill of a philharmonic surgeon. And, to top it off, Wash was named "1999 Instrumentalist of the Year" by the Western Music Association.

http://www.washtubjerry.com