FEATURING: Wylie Gustafson, Phill Laubacher, R.P. Smith, Dave Stamey.

Sometimes all you can do is laugh when life launches you tail-over-tea-kettle and you can no longer tell whether it’s you or the world that’s on its head. Poets Phill Laubacher and R.P. Smith join musicians Wylie Gustafson and Dave Stamey on a heros’ journey back to seeing daylight. Expect tales of the kind of lumps and bumps (and hard work) that lead to those transcendent pearl snaps of cowboy wisdom. We can’t guarantee you’ll be transformed, but as some folks say, you get back what you put out to the universe. We say, “Let ‘er buck!”

Hosted by Kent Reeves.

From the 41st National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

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PLAYLIST

Wylie Gustafson
"Stranded on a Gravel Road"
"Cowpoke" (words + music by Stan Jones)
"Cowboy Vernacular"
"Raven on the Wind"

Phill Laubacher
"Oops"
"Love Gone Wrong" (poem by WIll Vogel)
"Joe"
"Wild Willy's Chili" (poem By Will Vogel)
"Riding Drag"
"On the Way to Elko" (poem by Roy Smith)

R.P. Smith
"Parade (Ode to the Volunteers)"
"Personality Conflict"
"Bareback"
"Ready For the Ride"

Dave Stamey
"The Rodeo Parade"
"Let Me Sell You a Dream"
"The Blue Light Motel"
"Mojave Moon"

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Wylie Gustafson
Conrad, MT
Wylie Gustafson is an American original. He was born into a fourth-generation ranching family on the empty sprawl of northern Montana. A singer, songwriter, rancher, horseman, and world-famous Yahoo! Yodeler, Wylie has led the musical outfit known as Wylie & the Wild West for over three decades. With over 50 performances on the Grand Ole Opry, plus appearances on “Conan O’Brien” and “A Prairie Home Companion,” Wylie has spread his authentic brand of American music to a broad range of audiences. Raising a family, working with horses, doctoring cattle, changing wheel lines, baling hay, and repairing broken-down equipment keeps him grounded.

Phill Laubacher
Montague, CA
Phill Laubacher has been called a “rancher in remission”—he’s mostly retired, but still trims a few horses enjoying the chance to get paid to visit with his friends. A rancher, horseshoer and trimmer, car salesman, carpenter, logger, and Vietnam veteran, Phill is also a poet. It was during his logging camp days that he first began learning poems not fit to repeat. Now, he enjoys bringing humor to real life (and to listeners) through his own, slightly more seemly, poetic repertoire.

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. He hosts a weekly radio program and online podcast "Homegrown."

Dave Stamey
Orange Cove, CA
Dave Stamey has been a cowboy, a mule packer, and a dude wrangler. Now, he is one of the most popular western entertainers working today. He has made it his life's work to celebrate the rural American West with songs that capture the life of the modern cowboy. In the past two decades, he has recorded 14 albums of original music, traveled hundreds of thousands of miles, and performed thousands of shows doing just that. He lives in the farthest northeastern corner of Tulare County, California, where the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains begin just outside his back door.

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Filmed in front of a live audience at the Elko Convention Center’s Laurena Moren Theater on Jan. 31, 2026.

Made possible by Blach Distributing and by the multitude of staff, artists, volunteers, and community members working behind the scenes to make this show happen.

Brought to you by the Western Folklife Center, using story and cultural expression to connect the American West to the world.
www.westernfolklife.org

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