Words of the Old West: Poetry gathering keeps cowboy heritage alive

Riders in the Sky have been doing it "The Cowboy Way" for 33 years now. They just completed their 6,000th appearance, have been to every state in the Union and are out "beating the bushes wherever we can," said Ranger Doug in a telephone chat from his home in Nashville.

Their purpose is to carry on the great tradition started by the Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and others of the cowboy music genre.

"We're trying to keep the music alive, keep the appreciation for it alive," Ranger Doug said.

Riders in the Sky will be in Salt Lake City to kick off the 16th Annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Buckaroo Fair with a concert Monday night at Abravanel Hall.

The rest of the festival will take place in Heber Valley, Tuesday through Sunday, Nov. 2-7, with other top Western entertainers, including Suzy Bogguss, Ian Tyson, the Bar J Wranglers, Sons of the San Joaquin, Red Steagall, Hot Club Cowtown, R.W. Hampton and Wylie & the Wild West.

Riders in the Sky, made up of Ranger Doug (Idol of American Youth), Too Slim (A Man Aging Like Fine Cheese), Woody Paul (King of the Cowboy Fiddlers) and Joey (the Cowpolka King), will combine with the Utah Symphony for the concert, something they are excited about.

"We just finished working on an album with the Nashville Symphony, and we're looking forward to working with the Utah Symphony," Ranger Doug said.

There's something great, he said, that comes from "the marriage of the sweeping melodies of Western music and the beauty of the orchestra. It's like being in the middle of an old Western movie. You get that wonderful sound that makes it both a physical and emotional experience."

There are important values in that time and music that are still relevant to our time, said Ranger Doug. Every form of American music "has its own valid reasons for existence. Our form is perhaps not as widely known, but we are proud of the grand tradition and of keeping it alive. We feel like keepers of the flame, if you will."

And that's exactly what the Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Buckaroo Fair is all about. What began 16 years ago as a one-night gathering of friends has grown into a full week of entertainment in seven venues, featuring entertainers from all over the country. It has become one of the largest and is considered by many in the field to be one of the best gatherings of its kind in the nation.

"We don't want people to forget the cowboy heritage that established not only Utah but the West," said event founder Tom Whitaker, a retired businessman who is now a rancher and farmer in the Heber Valley.