Cowboys And Sweethearts

The post title is the theme of this year's Cochise County Cowboy Poetry & Music Gathering and salutes the fact that Sunday is Valentines Day. The festival started last night and continues thru Sunday but the best part was today...a totally free performance. Today's performance is very much like the one I attended (and paid for) in the Denver area, last month. Seven different rooms with three or four performers each, performing around a theme. Sessions ran for fifty minutes each and went from 10 am until 4 pm. It was a great time. A number of the performers I had seen last month but there were many more that I had never seen, or even heard of. That's part of what I love about this entertainment. I'm always discovering new talent...well, not new to most of the people but new to me.

One of the things that attracted me to this event, in addition to the fact that I would be in the neighborhood anyway, was that Joni Harms was performing. Last year while The Bride and I were here with Guitar and Pic-E, I bought one of her cds and really enjoyed it. I liked it so much that I bought another online and then told myself that I'd love to see her in person. Today was my chance. Not only is Joni a fantastic singer but she is a real cowgirl and lives and works on the family ranch that her great grandfather homsteaded in 1870. How's that for western roots? She has a fantastic voice and was named Female Western Vocalist of the Year in 2003 and has all kind of other awards for her skill and talent.

Before I get carried away with the festival I have to tell you that I went to the festival with an interesting person...and friend. When I first started reading blogs, and especially blogs related to full timing RVer's, I stumbled on Lloyd Treichel's blog, www.wandrin.us. Lloyd has been full timing for a number of years and his mantra is "Keep The Balance". That resonates with me and so I started to read his blog regularly. This past September he was in the Denver area and we met for coffee and conversation. It was a great meeting and I enjoyed his company. We agreed that if our paths crossed again we would get together...and it just so happens that he happened to be in the Benson, AZ area...and that he enjoys cowboy poetry and western music. Done deal, we met this morning, renewed our acquaintance and enjoyed the event.

So in addition to seeing some of the great talent I had seen last month I "discovered" several other great talents. If you're not tolerant of western music skip the rest of this post. The Tumbling Tumbleweeds are a great group. Five guys who obviously have theatrical training. Not only did they have great voices, harmony, etc. but a great stage presence and very entertaining. All of them were young (aw hell, even if they're 50 they look young to me) so I really had to wonder how all this talent got together one day and said, "Hey, let's get together and make our fame by doing Western music."? However they came to that decision is fine because I enjoyed the benefit of it today.

The other "discovery" was the group "The Desert Sons". This was a group that really enjoyed and sang songs similar to the Sons of the Pioneers, Cool Water, Along the Navajo Trail...Classic western stuff and they did it extremely well. What can I say, I now own one of their cds as well.

So, it was a great day. I've decided to stay one more day here because I still haven't gotten in to Ft. Huachuca to see (once again) the old calvary museum or the Military Intelligence museum...No nasty remarks from my brothers here. Tomorrow I'll do both and then on Monday head for Tuscon for a day or two.

Thanks for visiting.