Dressed in their best jeans, cowboy hats and boots, cowboys and cowgirls from all over the Denver area came in and sat down for a few hours of song and poetry during the Main Stage Variety Show at the 25th annual Colorado Cowboy Gathering on Friday, Jan. 17.
“This is such an American thing,” Diane MacDougall, volunteer coordinator for the Colorado Cowboy Gathering said. “The only music that we really have that is American is the old west music that came from the Appalachians; those old Scottish, Irish and English drovers brought those tunes and turned them into what we have now.”
Bob Bovee took center stage as the first act who sang with the traditional howl and wail pitch of a true cowboy while he fiddled his guitar.
Group acts such as New West and Liz Masterson performed as well with artists such as Mark Gardner and Rex Rideout providing a few heartfelt homages to wrangling and old songs from the early 1900s.
But the highlights of the variety show came from the poets who recited some funny tales about cowboy life.
“We have the best poets in America here,” Jon Chandler, singer and MC for the variety show said.
Yvonne Hollenbeck and Jeff Hildebrandt performed side-splitting verse and rhyme that complemented the variety show’s ode to American cowboy heritage.
“This is my first time here because our friend said this is something you have to experience at least once,” Pat Wynne of Denver said. “I love the music; it’s a whole new perspective.”
The variety show was followed by an authentic chuck wagon lunch with the cookout set up right in the parking lot at the American Mountaineering Center.
“We get very, very, attached to these artists because we’re allowed to meet them in an intimate setting and where can you do that?” MacDougall, volunteer coordinator said. “The intimacy of being close to the artists; they love it and we love it.”
Access to recordings from musicians and poets listed in this article can be just as easily shared by using any online search engine. For a full list of performers go to: .