St. Anthony Cowboy Poetry Gathering

As usual, we had a great time in St. Anthony again this year. Westbrook, Wayne Nelson and I stayed with Colt Angel and the jammin' started almost as soon as I got there Thursday night. Colt and I played until we were tired then we went out for a while so that I could try and find some pool games. No luck. Lots of terrible pool players out there but none had any money so I gave up and went to bed.

Friday was a blast! For those of you who don't get the allure of these Gatherings, let me tell you that the best thing about them is the people. We get to see friends who we might only see at St. Anthony each year. Like a family reunion but we don't have to put up with relatives.

John and I weren't scheduled on the Night Shows this year but we both backed up others. We'll don Anything (almost...we won't play "Achy Breaky Heart") to get up on the Night Show stage.

Saturday, Colt Angel, Kevin Peterson and I got up as the last Day Show act. I have been telling everyone that the "Western Music Nazi's"; those who insist on strictly cowboy music, were in for a shock. There are some really good rock bands who did "cowboy" songs. So we did the Marshall Tucker Band song; "Fire On the Mountain". Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

I played my flute for Gordon Peterson. I went up to the crows nest, by the spotlight, and played from there. Everyone said it gave just the right atmosphere to the poem. It was fun, too.

I was playing for a benefit in Townsend on Sunday afternoon so I left when the jam broke up at Colts...about 1:30AM. It was a fairly uneventful drive home. The elk near Cameron didn't surprise me as I'd been looking for them all along. About a dozen head on and beside the highway. I stopped in Ennis and slept for a couple of hours and got home about 8AM Sunday.

Another stellar weekend in Western Music. Another bunch of memories to take out and look at once in a while.