Show #3924

First, let me tell you all a little bit about the Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival. The Festival is held the last weekend in March at Melody Ranch in Santa Clarita, which is about an hour north of Los Angeles. Melody Ranch is familiar to all of you, even if you aren't aware of it. Originally owned by Gene Autry, the ranch is a movie and television set- you've seen it in Gunsmoke, Blazing Saddles, Unforgiven and Tombstone, among many others. It's only open to the public one weekend a year for the Festival, otherwise it's still a working movie set. There's an extreme sense of deja vu walking down the main street - oh, yeah, I remember that! Look! That's where Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little had their jail! That's where the Earp boys walked out to the gunfight at the OK Corral! That's where they fought in the saloon! It was amazing! And, to add to it all, many of the people attending were dressed in authentic Old West attire. You could tell they lived for this weekend - their hair, clothes and demeanor were all from the Old West. It was like walking into a movie.

Paul Zarzyski opened for our boys. He's a cowboy poet, and recited a few poems, the first about pie, the last about going fishing with his father. He was quite good, actually, and I expect to see him around more.

But on to the concert! Number 3924 in The Riders in the Sky concert career took place in the Melody Ranch Theater at 4:00 p.m. on March 28, 1999. I got tickets as soon as I heard they were coming, but I was still way over on the Too Slim side, about six rows back. Still, it was a good view since it was a pretty small venue, about 1,000 people. The theater is very basic, cement floor, old wooden walls, kinda rickety folding chairs to sit on, but I didn't care! It was sold out, of course!

I saw two armadillos (or are more than one termed armadilli?) Set up on the speakers. The electric campfire was lit (this is apparently always Slim's job) and they started up. But then in the middle of a joke, Slim's microphone failed. Fortunately, there was another close at hand, and they went on and finished the joke.

The song list was as follows:

Texas Plains
That's How the Yodel Was Born
Wahoo
Cool Water
Palindrome (some new palindromes were added - neat!)
Farr Away Stomp
Malaguena (beautiful, as always)
Sioux City Sue (with the senior citizen with the hangover joke)
The Andrew Lloyd Weber Parody - Slim's working on an addition to it - broke Doug up something awful!
The Night Riding Song
Hoop-De-Doo
Rawhide (and Bowlin')
Cowboy Camp Meetin'
Cherokee
Questions - a little kid one the 8-track - (How'd you get your name?) - but the best question was, how come you have so many kids when you’re always on the road? - Answer - We take every opportunity! Arms of My Love

Joey playing something REALLY FAST on his accordion - Woody harassing him on the fiddle, and Doug keeping up with him on rhythm guitar - Doug was playing so fast his hands were a blur.

Roy Rogers medley - Pecos Bill, Blue Shadows on the Trail, Old Santa Fe, Don't Fence Me In, Navajo Trail (Joey singing), Skyball Paint, and Happy Trails. Happy Trails was fun because Woody invited everybody to sing along, which we did. But then he said,

"Oh no, I was only kidding!".
There was no encore, I think because their's was the last show of the weekend and the last shuttle bus left at 6:30, and all those autographs needed to be signed.

Well, they got a standing ovation and we all filed out. The Mercantile was across the way at the "Boarding House", and the line was already really long by the time we got out of the theater, so we decided to go get something to eat. We turned and walked around the corner to where the tents were set up to sell food, and practically ran into Doug! (He looked great - black pants, black and red shirt, red, black and white boots -- and still thin.) Anyway, we each grabbed barbeque tri-tip sandwich and a soda, wolfed them down, and by the time we were done, we got at (almost) the end of the line waiting for autographs. I had brought two of my older CD's (Cowboys in Love and The Cowboy Way) to have signed, because all of my others already are! They were sitting at a table set up outside on the wooden sidewalk (right to left, Woody, Joey, Doug, and Slim). I said hi to Woody, moved along and said hi and thank you to Joey, told Doug that I thought that his version of La Malaguena was the most beautiful I'd ever heard. He said that I mustn't have heard Los Panchos do it - that's who he learned it from - I asked if it could be found, if it was still around, and he said it was recorded in the '58 or so, so was a bit difficult to find. Have any of you ever heard it? I also kind of apologized for bringing old CD's to sign, but he said that "Cowboys in Love" was his favorite, too.

I said hi to Slim, forgot to inquire about little George, and then we were off into the sunset. All in all, a delightful afternoon. I hope they come back there next year!

Cath