Photo by Barbara Richerson
Families are a big part of the Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Here Cody, Chuck and Hallie Milner entertain the crowd.
Keeping it Real at the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering
by Phyllis Dunham
Sissy: “You a real cowboy?
Bud: “Now that depends on what you think
a real cowboy is.”
T
hat now-iconic exchange
between actors Debra Winger
and John Travolta in the 1980
movie Urban Cowboy says a mouthful,
indeed. The founders and organizers of
the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering,
held in Alpine at Sul Ross State Uni ver -
sity every February, certainly have their
definition of what a real cowboy is and
what a real cowboy poetry gathering is as
well. Over the last 25 years they’ve estab-
lished and honed a gathering whose per-
formers are, in the organizers’ opinion,
the genuine article – people who live the
lifestyle and bring authentic Western oral
and musical tradition to the table.
Whenever and wherever real cow-
boys came together in the Old West, sto-
ries and gear were swapped, guitars and
harmonicas and fiddles appeared and
maybe a little dancing occurred. The
songs, poems and tales performed at
today’s cowboy poetry gatherings were
10
Cowboy Poetry logistics
The Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering will be held Feb. 25 through 27 this year on the
campus of Sul Ross State University in Alpine. Daytime sessions are free and open to the pub-
lic. Chuck wagon breakfasts are available in Poets’ Grove near Kokernot Park on Saturday and
Sunday morning for a nominal fee. Tickets are available for special evening events. For a full
schedule and information on lodging log onto www.texascowboypoetry.com.
born of those campfire get-togethers on
the range and along the trails. The
authentic cowboy oral tradition – a tra-
dition that event organizer, Nelson
Sager, believes is well worth preserving,
has found a home and a voice in Alpine.
Sager says the cowboy poets of yester-
year and those of today are all still say-
ing the same thing in their different voic-
es: “This is my life, and I like it.”
A Sul Ross professor whose specialty
is British literature, Sager initially
became involved in the Alpine gathering
because of his appreciation for cowboy
poetry as a folk-art form – much the way
the organizers of the first modern cow-
Cenizo
First Quarter 2011
boy poetry gathering in Elko, Nevada
began their event. Outsiders heard
about the prototype get-together, organ-
ized by folklorists, and decided they
wanted in on the action as spectators. A
movement was born. Two years later, in
1987, the world’s second modern cow-
boy poetry gathering was established in
Alpine and has been going and growing
ever since.
While the Elko event is now a week-
long festival featuring merchandise,
booths, workshops and performers of
many cowboy-related ilks, the Alpine
organizers pride themselves on the
authenticity of their artists and perform-
ers. According to committee member
Pam Cook (the organizers refer to them-
selves as a committee rather than a
board), they want only performers who
“love the cowboy life and live it every
day.” She admits that keeping the event
so closely tied to the tradition has its
cons, but the pros include having a less
circus-like atmosphere, offering the day-
time sessions free to the public and
involving the local community – the
cowboy way.
Community involvement comes in
the form of individuals and hoteliers
and their offers to make rooms available
to the artists who gather from all over
the western United States and Canada.
And it includes the many locals who
fund the various sessions and workshops.
Community involvement is also inher-
ent in the efforts to introduce younger
audiences to cowboy music and poetry
through a young poets’ competition in
local schools. Sul Ross students partici-
pate, too. Committee member Ida
Hoelscher, who works for student sup-
port services at the college, has been