"The Yellowstone Song" by: Terri Taylor

I got the following message from Terri Taylor, of STAMPEDE! today. Go to the Western Folklife Center website and check it out. A really good song!

"I have a song entered in the Yellowstone/Teton Song writing contest sponsored by the Elko and Gibson Guitar and so far it's doing really good. There were over 130 songs submitted and they picked the Top 16 and put them on the website for everyone to go in and vote for their favorite.

Mine is called "The Yellowstone Song". It's basically a kids song and I've got a bunch of kids singing it with me. I would appreciate anyone's and everyone's vote! You can listen to the song as well on the site.
Thanks
Terri"

I listened to all the songs there today but I haven't voted yet. I'm leaning towards Terri's but I'm also intrigued by Mike Hurwitz and his "Ed Trafton" as well as "The Great Yellowstone Buffalo" by; Virgil Stortroen. I now have a little better appreciation of the difficulty the Folk Life Center must have faced in selecting these 16 songs from all that were submitted.

All of the songs are very good and I enjoyed listening to each...most of them more than once. Certainly the artists are top notch and even the recording quality (not a factor in the initial judging) is very good. However; I didn't feel that a lot of them had anything to do with Yellowstone! I have a few songs about Montana that I didn't enter as they aren't about Yellowstone/Grand Teton. Just general Montana. So, I focused on songs that were obviously about Yellowstone/Grand Teton and that appealed to me personally.

Mike Hurwitz' song is in the great Western tradition of a ballad about a real occurrence. Add to that the fact that it is well written and of course extremely well performed and it is a tough contender.

Virgil Stortroen has written a nice, simple story, likely also about a real occurrence. It certainly sounds like Yellowstone and especially some of the experiences I have had around there. Kind of a chuckle for me and I enjoyed it.

Terri's song is very upbeat, happy and fun and I think it is something that kids around our area just might be found singing in school and at home! That's not an exaggeration. It's a very fun song and one I wish I had thought of first!

So, anyway, go to the Western Folklife Center website and check out the whole list. Go ahead and listen to all the songs a couple of times. They are all very good and you'll have fun just doing that. Then, I guess, close your eyes and click the mouse in the voting area??!

Thanks to the Folklife Center for this idea. It has brought some great music out for us to listen to. Several that I hadn't heard before.