Parade (Ode to the Volunteers)
42nd Gathering Featured Artists
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5m 6s
R.P. tells a tale about small town parades and volunteers. R.P. Smith recites "Parade (Ode to the Volunteers)" during the "Upside Down in a Cow Town" show at the 41st National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
R.P. Smith
Broken Bow, NE
R.P. Smith continues to manage the century-old (plus some) family cow-calf ranch in Custer County, Nebraska. The fifth and sixth generations are waiting in the wings but R.P. is still trying to get a great system figured out to make the transition a little easier for them…the best he has come up with is "keep punchin’ ’til I’m planted.” R.P. wrote his first piece of cowboy poetry 37 years ago, and he has had the opportunity to travel to eighteen states and Canada since then. He hosts a weekly radio program and online podcast Homegrown.
"Parade (Ode to the Volunteers)"
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Filmed in front of a live audience at the Elko Convention Center’s Laurena Moren Theater on Jan. 31, 2026.
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