What happens when you cross a Swiss yodel with an English poem? You get a cowboy song, better known as western music.
It is hard to believe that a simple cowboy song, sung to lull the restless longhorns in the 1800’s would evolve into the music we enjoy today. Where did these songs come from, and is it possible that such a beginning could have such a profound result?
These songs, ballads and poems would be shared around the campfire and passed on in the memories of the cowboys. Many of the songs, such as “The Old Chisholm Trail,” “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” “Streets of Laredo,” and “Home on the Range,” were passed on from cowboy to cowboy and their writers are unknown. The music had a flavouring of Mexican music and the smoke of a thousand campfires on the open range. Because of its origins, it was usually accompanied by instruments that were not only portable but also durable: guitars, fiddles and harmonicas. Early cowboy music was said to have three tempos that were influenced by the horses that played such an important role in the cowboy’s life: walk, trot and lope.
The popular Cowboy Dinner Show will explore the origins of cowboy music in a fun entertaining way this summer at the Historic Okeefe Ranch. Rob Dinwoodie, producer and host of the show with his troupe of musicians, singers and actors will once again bring this tradition to the stage every Friday night in July and August. The show is a mix of music and drama depicting the theme of cowboy music and its origins of poetry, cowboy style.
Dinwoodie and his accomplished trio comprised of Dixon Zalit and Kevin Bader will take you through the story of “Songs of the Cowboy” in both song and the humour audiences have come to enjoy. Hear songs that came out of the cattle drive era and how they have influenced the contemporary songs of today.
The theatrical part of the show introduces some of the characters that may have lived during this romantisized era. Actor Jason Armstrong plays the part of a British immigrant poet, while Gabriella Bright plays the part of an cowgirl in the wild west. As part of the Cowboy Dinner Show, historian, author and cowboy poet, Ken Mather brings the history to iife through his stories and poems of the west. Hear the local history of how drovers brought cattle through the Okanagan to he goldfields in the 1800’s and with them the ryhmes and songs of he cowboy.
The evening starts off with stagecoach rides on the authentic BX Express that took many passengers to the goldfields of BC along the Cariboo Road. The always popular roping demonstrations and lessons are enjoyed by young and old alike as these cowboys and cowgirls try their hand at this skill.
The Cattleman’s Club restaurant serves up the dinner cowboy-style while guests enjoy the stage show. The evening would not be complete without a cowboy campfire under the stars where guests sing and wind up their evening with stories and “Songs of the Cowboy”.
Related: The best kept secret of a cowboy
Related: New season coming to O’Keefe Ranch
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