Andy Hedges

Andy Hedges is a songster, reciter, storyteller, guitarist, and collector of cowboy songs and poems. The son of an Italian schoolteacher and a rodeo cowboy turned preacher, Andy was born in Lubbock, Texas. He grew up in the small community of Tokio, Texas, where his family paid rent on an old farmhouse by looking after a few head of cattle. It was there that Andy fell in love with traditional music by listening to his father’s cassettes of cowboy songs.
Andy’s vast and varied repertoire includes classic cowboy poetry recitations, obscure cowboy songs, dust bowl ballads, and blues. He also hosts a podcast, Cowboy Crossroads which features in-depth interviews with fellow musicians and poets. Andy has performed many times with folk legend Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and the duo’s performance at the 60th Newport Folk Festival was named one of the “10 Best Things We Saw” by Rolling Stone.

Waddie Mitchell

From his earliest days on the remote Nevada ranches where his father worked, Waddie was immersed in the cowboy way of entertaining, the art of spinnin’ tales in rhyme and meter that came to be called cowboy poetry, a Western tradition that is as rich as the lifestyle that gave birth to it. Within his stories, told in a voice that is timeless and familiar, are the common bonds we all share, moments both grand and commonplace, the humorous and the tragic, the life and death struggles and triumphs that we each recognize. And yet, Waddie presents his material with personal insights and the lessons learned during his life spent as a buckaroo.

Waddie has performed internationally with television appearances ranging from The Tonight, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, TNN, The History Channel, PBS, and BBC, Waddie has also been featured in People, Life, New York Times, USA Today, Fortune, National Geographic, Wall Street Journal and the Official Program for Super Bowl XXX, along with numerous other appearances, performances, articles and books.

Ed Ashurst

Ed Ashurst is the author of twelve books. He is also a working cowboy who has ridden and gathered cattle and horses on over seven thousand square miles of the American West, accumulating over fifty years of experience as a big ranch cowboy. He currently manages a large cattle ranch in southeastern Arizona. He has also been involved in producing rodeos and horse shows, as well as horse sales, and has competed in the rodeo arena for over fifty years. His books are about his life's experiences covering different aspects and scenes that race across his vivid memory and water a fertile imagination. All that he has written originates from stories that are well worn from being told many times. Ashurst believes that storytelling is an art form that is no less important than painting or sculpting, and people say that his books read as if the storyteller is there in person.

Brigid & Johnny Reedy

Brigid & Johnny are a sister and brother duo from Southwest Montana whose unique style and sensibility energizes the wildly eclectic music they play and write. From Cowboy tunes to Western Swing, Rhythm, and Blues to the Unclassifiable. Both Brigid and Johnny are currently full-time students at the University of Montana Western in Dillon, MN, where Johnny is studying English and Music while Brigid is pursuing a double-major in English and Natural Horsemanship. Brigid & Johnny have recorded two albums together, Handmade (2018), and most recently, Next ‘Go Round (2020). Their enthusiasm and passion for music propel their ever-evolving sound forward.

Gail Steiger

Gail Steiger comes from both a ranching and songwriting background. While growing up, he worked on his father's ranchea and later worked full time on the Cross U and Spider Ranches in Yavapai County, AZ for several years.

In 1987, Gail, along with his brother Lew and friends he had worked for and with made a film about cowboys called Ranch Album which was released as a national PBS special. The film was awarded a CINE Golden Eagle.

Since 1995, Steiger has been foreman of the Spider Ranches, and he continues to work part-time with Lew on various film and multimedia projects. He sings songs and tells stories at cowboy poetry gatherings around the southwest.

Gail has traveled with the Western Folklife and is working on a documentary project about cowboys around the world. Recently, the State Department invited Gail to travel to Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to work with the US Embassies in Kabul and Ashgabat to connect American cowboys with Afghan and Turkmen horsemen and herders.