H-1- HC: I've spent my life trying to tune into the true
spirit of cowboy music.
I like to scan the bands for impossible signals, so far
off they fade in and out like unanswered questions.
The fancy harmonies of Hollywood cowboys were great. ...
But like all 50,000- watt commercial stations you wonder
how genuine the message is.
Sound: Carson Robison and the Buckaroos "neath the
western soil, on the lone prairie... hi--o --"
H-2- I play in the Deseret String Band. For 30 years we
thought if we just reached back far enough....
Sound: Deseret String Band "I am a Mormon Cowboy..."
H-3 - ....back to something spun out on a 1927 radio wave,
we'd find the essence.
Sound: "Utah is my home, Tucson, Arizona is the first
place I did roam. And then into El Capitan...."
H-4 All I know is that the blare of the modern world has
almost drowned out the thing I love best about cowboy music,
the way it feels grounded straight down to the center of
the earth.
I remember picking up the most ancient cowboy song ever.
It had the feeling but it ended too soon.
Sound: "Western Pioneer" I am a roving a cowboy,
the saddle is my home, I'll always be a cowboy, no difference
where I roam. I like the noble heroes my help I'll volunteer,
and I'll always be of service to the Western Pioneer....
and I won't sing more before dinner."
H-5 I'll never forget tuning to that beacon of heart when
I first heard Buck Ramsey sing... He was one of many working
cowboys I met who lived their songs and poems..
"The Last Roundup" by Buck Ramsey
H-6 I invited a bunch of these folks to Elko, Nevada in
1985 and the Cowboy Poetry Gathering began. Since then it's
turned into a sagebrush arts movement across the West
It took me years even to know how to frame the right question.
I still feel sort of stupid asking it... but here goes...
Montage: why, why, why,
Waddie, why does the cowboy sing?
H-7 HAL: Maybe a better question is, why don't astronauts
sing... why don't cab drivers have their own music. Or why
aren't there accountant or school teacher or golf pro songs.
MUSIC: Hal compose
H-8 HAL: So I cast off on a journey, a pilgrimage really,
visiting a handful of cowboy singers across the West, all
in the middle of winter, the time when things slow down
on the ranch
Music - up
H-9 HAL: Larry and Toni Schutte and their kids Jon and
Riata ranch out in a big open valley near Oasis, Nevada.
Sometimes you need to start close to home and these folks,
though they live 50 miles away from our little ranch, are
considered neighbors out here.
SOUND: Schutte#3 @26-morning birds, cows
Schutte#3 @20:25-L- Praise you lord for the beautiful day
and fellowship around this table and your hand upon the
work…no harm or injury to anybody. Lift up to Jesus'
name…amen.
MUSIC: Schutte5 @37:30-41:30 Cowboy Waltz
#3@ 32:34- L- Catcha horse for mother
H-10 HAL: The Schutte's days are filled with an ancient
rhythm of seasons and husbandry. They warm up the horses
instead of warming up a cars engine before going to work
MUSIC: Schutte5 @37:30-41:30 more cowboy waltz / ends
H-11 HAL: Larry & I like swapping tunes. When we started
the Cowboy Poetry Gathering he was one of the main guys.
As the whole thing became popular a lot of the talented
cowboys began traveling and performing-- after all, there's
a high to being on stage and the money doesn't hurt when
your drawing cowboy wages. But from the first Larry turned
down most invitations. I've always wondered why.
*25:20-L- Well I'm doing what I want to do, but I wanted
to stay with my family…that's it. The rest of it can
fly. I wanted to raise kids, and I wanted to be with that
woman. And we're doing what we wanted to do out here…just
blessed to have. Little piece of country, do what we wanna
do. We don't make no money, but here were are enjoying the
sun. 10 bucks an hour; I'm happy with 3 bucks an hour.
Schutte#7 @36:42 (trim)
T-So you're headed towards the butte with everything?
L-We're going right up the bottom, once we leave that well.
T-Okay. All righty.///
L-Well you're late.
T-(laughs) that's cause you're yakking. (Rides away…)
L-Well…
T-(starts singing, in mic) Ridin old Dan, leadin Old Paint…(laughs)
MUSIC: Pilot DAT#1@ 1:44:15 La Primera / WTCS1/2 @12:13
/ Schutte#8 @31:58
Larry: A horse'll teach you preservation. They're the most
incredible animal the lord made cuz they're so forgiving.
You learn something from every one of them.
BIT MORE MUSIC
J- Yeah nail him! (Hal misses / laughter)
///36:45 L- It's amazing the man can feed himself.
H-12 HAL: The Schutte's have always worked on remote ranches
far from school and town. When the kids were young Toni
had a choice to make.
ACT: FAMILY BITES-Tony2 / SchutteDAT#3 @32.00- ///33:24-
I was terrible in school and I remember when I went to the
schoolboard and told them I was going to teach the kids
at home, and they said, "Well you know, Tony that's
not a really good idea." But I thought, you know, if
the Lord wants this family to stay together then He's going
to help me and He did! I remember the first day John was
reading the old McGuffy readers? He was sitting at the kitchen
table and read the first page and his face just lit up and
he tore out of the house and went running down the hill,
"dad, dad, I can read, I can read." And I thought,
you know, if they'd a been in town I'd a missed all that.
MUSIC: "Nevada" Riata singing from CPG
H-13 HAL: Riata and Jon, both in their mid twenties, remind
me a lot of their folks when I first knew them. Reata, like
her dad, has a passion for singing and even performed solo
at the Gathering last year.
H-14 Toni is an artist and has passed that skill on to
Jon. Though he'd rather be thought of as a roper and cowboy,
art has always come naturally to him.
DAT#3 @26:45-T- He was like 3 years old and he was drawing
then. He just, it's like he has a photostatic memory, he
can just, you know he's out there working all the time and
he comes in and he just you know (makes sound effect for
quick drawing) and he's got it done and it's just pretty
amazing.
MUSIC: Riata finishes "Nevada" / applause
H-15 - HAL: The Schuttes are an inspiration to me, the
way they live with each other, and the way they live on
the land. But for them inspiration resides somewhere else.
ACT: Spiritual Bites-Larry10 / DAT#2 @1.25.04 L-I can do
nothing on my own. Unless the Lord is in control of all
things, which is, everything is His anyway. You're just
here being the steward, so you've got to take care of what
there is. If you want to be a sluggard and stay in the house
you don't deserve it and it'll get taken away from you.
But He has blessed us. Everyday you ask for just the guidance
on how to go about it. What do I need to go check? And it's
always there. He's always being the big patron. That's all
we've got.
MUSIC: "Sing Halalujah" Church singing from Schutte
#1 @24:30
H-16 HAL: This has been a time of big changes for Reata.
When I first visited she was working for her folks on the
ranch. Within a year she moved to town, bought a house and
started a massage therapy practice. Though she doesn't know
it, here at church, she's about to get married and move
back to a ranch.
H-17 Jake Brown is the cow boss on one of the big outfits
north of Elko called the Spanish Ranch.
Schutte#1 @13:50- H- So Jake, when did you look at Riata,
and say 'hey that might be someone to hang out with'
J- Probably 4 or 5 years ago..but I thought oh she's probably
out of my league
R- laughs- See we thought the same thing about each other.
J- I'd just say how are you and leave it at that.
H- Things move slow sometimes
R- It's alright..it's been perfect timing so..///
Schutte#2 @11:20- H- do yo think either one of you could
ever… have you ever dated city kids…(uh huh) what's
it like?
*R- Awful. They don't have any idea how to relate to us.
They thought I can wear the pants, and I can wear the boots,
and I was like that's not where it's at..you don't have
a clue how I was raised. It's so much more than the looks
(laughs)///
Schutte#2 @40:32-
H- What do you want your kids to take from what's in your
life.
R- Growing up on a ranch..definitely. That's one thing I
would not give up for them…and music.
///
41:40 H- When did music ring a bell with you?
R- With my dad when I was very young… He always played
for my mom. I remember him singing love songs to her when
we were 2, and 3, and 4. An d he'd sing to us. That's my
Dad
H- He sang love songs..that's romantic.
R- Dad's a romantic, he is..(laughs) all the songs, he'd
get her wild flowers. Thats the side of dad you never knew
MUSIC: Nighttime in Nevada
H-18 HAL: The Schutte family's love for each other, for
the land and animals, and for their God, it overflows. Their
songs are a reservoir of love.
***Show Hal turning on car radio & GO's "Top Hand"
coming on.
H-19 HAL: I've decided to head east, across the country,
to visit a true-blue old-time cowboy named Glenn Ohrlin.
H-20 Glenn is revered everywhere as the man who knows the
cowboy songs of the trail drives of the 1800s. It's a long
journey and seems a little odd driving to the Ozarks of
Arkansas to find the heart of cowboy tradition.
But Glenn came to here over forty years ago when a guy
could still get into good grazing country for $4 an acre.
Ohrlin 1-Follow Hal House
H- Glenn! How you doing..good to see ya.
GO- Hi Hal…good to see ya…you made it.
(trim middle)
(Hal walks inside)
H- God what a great place…this is nice!
H-21 HAL: It sort of looks like an old western hacienda.
I've known Glenn since the 70's and bought his first record
when I was in high school.
Ohrlin7a@ 37:27GO-That's me when I was 4 I suppose. I was
born in '26 and this says '30. Here's me ridin' in 1950.
H-Looks like you're on top of the world.
GO-I tried out 9 horses that day
Ohrlin#1 @36:45 GO - that's where I broke my back in Tucson
in '58
HC - Is that you there?
GO- that's my head, body, and feet. I had the wildest spurring
lick at that time, throwing my feet way over my head and
dropping my spurs. He was just too strong. He took the rigging
away./// I got a compression fracture. That means got mashed
a little bit. Wore a cast for 3 months.
***trim the audio @ end to help it move along
H-22 HAL- Glenn remembers every scene from his personal
wild West with incredible clarity. His rodeo days seem to
resonate even more than the time he was honored by the President
for his contribution to American folk art. Though he hasn't
rodeo'd in years he still travels all over the country singing.
Our Cowboy Poetry Gathering wouldn't be the same without
him…
***CPG#4 @9:11 / CPG#5 @2:32- Boomer Johnson
***At verse "…to see him perforate 'em when he
tossed them in the air" begin "return to work"
sequence.
***song continues through montage
H-23 HAL: Glenn used to just sing for himself or his rodeo
buddies until a folklorist named Archie Green came around
in the early 60's and invited him to come to a college campus
folk festival
Glenn: Archie Green
H-24 HAL: At seventy-five, the satisfaction of a self-dependent
life keeps Glenn going way past the age when most people
hang it up and retire.
More montage....
H-25 Every song brings back memories of the cowboys and
old timers who taught him the life and the music.
Ohrlin#3 @51:31- Ollie Gilbert she's long dead now…she
had a 1000 songs written on a narrow strip of paper, like
you type up grocery prices on…the old fashioned deal.
She had a thousand songs. Then she had another strip of
paper with 1000 dirty jokes on it. ///
HC- She knew a thousand songs and a thousand dirty jokes.
GO- She sure did…You'd pick one out and say, hows this
one go?
Ohrlin#3 @54:00
***HC- So why do you think cowboys have music & other
groups don't?
GO- Well, I suppose isolation. Gee I've spent a lot of time
here just pickin' the guitar & stuff.
Ohrlin7a @17:23
Dos Arberitos.
HC- How much, how much time are you alone?
GO- Most of the time, unless I go to town for coffee. Once
in a while I hear some philosopher telling on the tube what
you oughta do to, you know, to get along with yourself.
Usually I recognize what they're talking about cause I've
always done it. And one of the things you do, if you live
alone, if you're not too damn far from people, just go where
they are and visit for an hour or a half hour or something
like that, and then come home.
"Heartaches by the Number "- Hootenanny
Ohrlin7a @10:39-
HC: So you've been here 46 yrs. (yeah) To some people do
you think you're still a new comer?
G-Oh yeah, uh huh.
H-Really?
G-Sure, uh huh.
H-Do you feel like you're an outsider here?
G-No///I don't feel like an outsider, but…I'll never
be exactly like some folks here, I don't guess. I never
really intended to. I kind of hung on to what I brought
with me, so…
H-Yeah. I mean, this house is very different than any other
house in the neighborhood
***(we could combine the 2 questions about GO's house{-:19})
H-But the thing is, its so much more than shelter, I mean
every time I look around, I see a painted beam, or a carved
door. Everything has art…
it's artistic. ///
GO-Yeah. Well, some places I don't know… I know, Mexican
people and Indians are artistic and a lot of cowboys are
artistic-a hell of a lot of artists, guys that can draw.
And there's a few people here that are. There's some people
that really paint nice pictures and things, but... The whole
lifestyle is, I think, right here, the least artistic of
any I've ever come across - in everyday things, you know.
It's just uh, I think it might be something to do with the
general religious idea here. That you don't enjoy things
too much, you're supposed to suffer you know.
H-Oh
GO- I know a lady up the road here who drank sour milk
so she wouldn't enjoy it too much. That's kinda pushin'
it I think, and I'm just the total opposite.
(laughs)
MUSIC: "The Cowboy" ??? call title
H-26 HAL: Glenn knows solitude but he's not lonely. I guess
that's part of the pioneer spirit -- striking out on your
own, alone. That's Glenn Ohrlin's song.
Ohrlin 7a @12:40- I just go my own way wherever I'm at,
so the heck with it.
MUSIC: ENDS
Wolfteeth Mountain Fog...
H-27 HAL: Cowboy spirit and spirituality take many forms.
I think I'll head north to Montana to visit an Indian cowboy.
His cowboy song has a very different essence.
RB#1 @20:00- HRB- (Crow)…When you're in the fog they
say you're closer to the maker. I always think of it as
being blessed.
H-28 HAL: Henry Real Bird and I were born the same summer
in two different worlds.
RB#7 @17:40- HRB sings I'm from the Wolf Teeth Mts, no
one to call my own….
SOUND: horse herd running
RB#2 @5:36- HRB shouts to J in Crow
RB #7 @ 45:37 HRB-My grandpa taught me how to ride like
that. Take me out there when I was young /// and then just
flat uh, ride him and close your eyes and then he'd whoop
that thing and and he'd just go, go jump over the sagebrush
and everything else. And you just ride him like that.///
45:28 And then going (sings in Crow///44:10-end of song)
RB#9 @21:30- My grandpa, he'd always say that uh/// the
cowboy's as close to being an Indian as you can ever be.
And I always appreciate that. (***trim laugh)
H-29 HAL: I used to think cowboys and Indians were mortal
enemies -- that was before Henry showed up at the Cowboy
Poetry Gathering. I found that like cowboys, Indians raise
cows to avoid punching a time clock. ...And, of course,
there's that shared love of horses.
Henry riding/ singing under
RB #1 @44:37 You always want to belong somewhere. And uh,
me, I've never really thought of anything else. I mean,
I just belong on a horse and and to be able to live around
the horse and I've never wanted to uh, any other, any other
way of life./// just hanging around the horse and no pressures///
that's what it's all about. You know. Any questions?
(***trim excess @ top)
RB#5 @11:50(phone rings) HRB-Good morning…Little Big
Horn College…Real Bird speaking…how may I help
you. (Speaks in Crow)
H-30 HAL: Yes, I do have a question…what is my bronc-riding
buddy doing as a college president? I knew Henry loved to
teach poetry, but head honcho?
RB#5 @16:25 HRB- The paper is freedom, the paper is freedom///
this is what writing's all about…to me. ///18:18- You
don't have to be afraid of anything…that's your paper.
/// You can have anger in there if you want, and beautiful
feelings,(fade under Hal) and joy and you can have happiness
and you can have peace…whatver you want there.
H-31 HAL: It's almost like a wild bronc ride, following
Henry's poetic thought process as he takes students along
for the ride.
RB #5 @57:24- I was at the racetrack and uh, they had me
down as a trainer and uh, /// this old man, Jimmy Door,
he's one of my clan uncles and he come over and uh, Jimmy
(not English), Jimmy what are you doing? Usually you don't
come to the racetrack I said. And he said yeah, (not English).
Driftwood I am like, my hearts weigh I can't do I'm catching
a ride. That's what he said. And so I, at that time uh,
I, I liked it so much I gave him uh, $5.00 even though I
could have bought drinks with it, I gave him the five and
asked him if I could use those words. (Not English) and
he said yeah. 58:20 Give it, I give you those words. (Not
English). I give you those words and still ask for good
thoughts for you. /// 7:00:02 so I uh, I thought about that
driftwood. In life, me, I've been floating all over the
place and man I'm not, I'm not really into it sometimes.
And then it just, it, it, it just sets me down here and
then picks me up and takes me around./// 7:01:44 So anyway,///
(Recites poem - Driftwood Feeling).
H-32 HAL: I wonder how Henry prepared for this new job.
He swings his briefcase with the same ease he rides a horse.
RB #5@ 1:20- (*** trim the top)
10:29-HRB: I've had a lot of trainers to be here, uh, from
my grandfather and then uh,/// (***lose reference to BIA
officials) I've had college professors and rodeo coaches
///10:50 Uh, and there, a lot of them are horse people and
so uh, and, and on a horse, you get the horse ready to,
to uh, pay attention and then you bring it along to where
you can ride and then you can get it too, just like this
picture here. Uh, you have just the a rawhide strap in his
mouth and you can get that horse to do anything you want.
/// And that's the communication that I'm talking about.
/// And so horses, you take care of the horse before you
took care of yourself. And so if somebody that has been
around horses comes into a position like this here, the
people come first.
"Lone Star Woman. Hrb on horseback/ desolves into
horse on edge of river through smoke
HC- So tell us where we are…
HRB:Oh, you're over here uh, you're on the west bank of
the Little Big Horn.
HC:Right here this is the Little Big Horn?
HRB:Little Big Horn right there yeah. And that uh, that's
Medicine Tail Cooly on up there./// And Custer come down
the flat here, tried to cross the river here and then the
story is he went down and the rest of his men were chased
on up to uh, Custer Hill there.
H-33 HAL: I'm honored to be invited to the Real Bird sweat
lodge. A sweat lodge is outdoor sauna full of prayer and
observance. Sort of like a Crow Indian song, I can appreciate
it but I'll never know the depth of tradition I'm being
led into.
(***Trim the top)
RB #3 @54:13
Now today, my little brother, we're going to bring one of
our uh, clan, clan uncles in and have him pray today and
that's what we're working on. ///Here, we uh, therapy in
a way. Where we're free to talk anyway we want(Car driving
by) and it stays here and so we last in the men, we pray
and everything but we laugh not. Just forget about the problems
of the world for awhile and that's the fire that we have
here. And we welcome everybody. You know. We're going to
gather some, get some water here..
(walks over to get water)
H-34 HAL: Henry lives the rituals that have been handed
down from his ancestors. But he doesn't stop there. He uses
poetry to explore back to a time before there were even
words.
RB #4 @31:52- HRB I wanted to go as far back in time as
I can and to describe it and it to come back and so then
uh. 32:04 At one time, a long time ago, when silence was
not a word. There was nothing but air (unintelligible).
When silence was and not a word. There was nothing but air
that's black and all shadow and dark night. And then it
was old man coyote that came up and howled. And then going
on like that. But, but on that on there what, I'll never
forget that it must have been about two in the morning I
thought ///when silence was and not a word. 32:38 So, so
I got in the car and went over to this friend of mine and
I woke him up and uh, he let me in and told him Duane, I
got it. This is it. I mean, I went as far back as I can
now. And he said that it was. A beautiful. It's beautiful.
I mean, you got it. /// And so I just go out and search
for thoughts and rhymes and just move around like that.
RB#4 @2:57 HC: I wanted to ask you one thing. Um, you know,
before I came up here I don't think I understood your poems
very much but when I came up here it just sort of seemed
like your poems were an extension of, you know, your prayers
and your songs and sort of everything. Is, I mean, how would
you differentiate between your poetry and just your everyday
life?///
HRB- This is part of it..this is part of it. ///12:56, There's
really no difference, no distinction anywhere as far as
uh, thinking and moving along with uh, writing and uh, just
like I've got that one for, that I've done for Wally. I
was just down over there in the summertime and I say this
uh, the wind was moving the ash, ash trees there and the
shadow there was, there was a, the sunlight and it was moving
around in there and that's when old Wally had that heart
attack. He had it what about July or so? Somewhere in there
and this was about August when I was over here. And so I
wrote him...///19:35 And today, as I let go a hoolahan into
the dawn among a silhouette of horse heads held by rope
coral. But then that day was many winters ago. To good horses
you are drawn. I have asked that you ride the best of beautiful
words to create images of life's reflections filled with
feelings of reality.Winters many, may you ride the best.
As sunlight moved in the wind among the shadow of an ash
tree, I gave the sweat lodge a drink and the absence of
memory and old feelings sprouts in the charred remains of
life. It is customary that I have no doubts. Wishful thoughts
and prayers through dreams strive for peace in our souls.
May you ride the best through the four different grounds
upon our sacred Mother Earth.
H-35 Hal: Henry Real Birds entire life, every word, is
a poem and a prayer. He is a cowboy Indian. But deep down
he sings the song of the food gatherer.
Henry's tells me about his ancestors and their ceremonies
to entice herds of buffalo to the cliffs edge. It's almost
as though he were there.
RB#7 @50:57-HRB I can still hear, hear the thundering of
the hooves. And trembling, trembling through me and I am
one with my Mother Earth. My heart beats one with my Mother
Earth. From the many hoof beats. As the buffalo shoot out
of the horizon to ricochet off /// the fences of smoke.///
In between uh, the last pile of rocks where urinate the
virgin girls. The, the best of what th\e Shot Boulder Mountains
and the Bighorn Mountains and the Wolf Teeth Mountains have
to offer.And the buffalo jump off and then we just, and
then we bloody the water. And then we, we have, we put the
best of food in our mouth and grease the edges of our, of
our mouths and when our dogs are eating good, we to are
eating good. I am a food gatherer. That's who I am.
HC driving down road, puts S Davis CD in player
H-36 HAL: As I leave Henrys ranch I realize how ancient
and universal the song of the food gatherer is.
There's so many easy answers to why the cowboy sings ---
like cowboys have too much time on their hands' or they're
tricked into singing by the rhythm of their horses' canter.
Maybe they hear too many coyotes howlin at the moon.
H-37 Now I'm off to make my final visit to a songwriter
named Stephanie Davis. She moved back to Montana a half
dozen years ago after a stint in the country music fast
lane of Nashville.
MUSIC: Prairie Lullaby
SD#1 @38:38- SD- There's just something very satisfying
about feeding these things///39:43- I'm doing something
useful and practical…feeding something that's waiting
for its breakfast. They're glad to see me…and seeing
what new babies were born during the night and everyday
the sky looks different here. Little things you notice-you'd
think it would be the same every day, but it's totally different
every day.///
(pause)
SD#1 @43:15-Everybody has the feeling of being home when
they're where they belong. Even if it's not necessarily
where they were born. The minute I drove up the road here…it's
a funny thing I had my dad and half the family looking for
a place for me & I told them what I was lookin for me,
and one day my Dad called me and said ' I found your place.
' And I got on a plane and came out to see…crossed
the cattle guard and immediately knew it was my place…I'll
take it! It felt great and it still has that feeling, I'll
come home from a trip and it feels great.
44:02- H- so you're a writer..you know a lot of people
think..manure? ///
SD- It's the smell of home for me, it 's the smell of when
they cut the hay, the different seasons mean different chores,
the whole life is tied in with the weather. When you live
in a city so far removed from the land, I found that it
robbed my soul. I was disoriented.///41:24 I'm writing stuff
like I've never written..a whole new style of writing. It's
like I'm writing down what I'm hearing instead of trying
to make something out of nothing
MUSIC- "Crocus in the Snow" in progress
SD#2 @4:40-- I think I was born rhyming words. I remember
early 3 or 4 yrs old…I opened the refrigerator and
I was rhyming all the vegetables…I was just rhyming
all the time I don't know where it came from …probably
drove my family crazy. And I grew up about 30 miles from
here.///10:43- My grandparents homesteaded just over the
hill here, and they had a beautiful ranch, and the sheep
mkt bottomed out in the 40's and they had to sell it for
a pittance, I suppose a lot of families that lose their
places and move off of them have that feeling of being displaced
and I think I noticed that throughout my family.
12:25- H- So is moving back here reclaiming that in a way?
SD- it's the most beautiful ironic fairy tale for me. When
I was 5 yrs old I told my parents I'm gonna live on a ranch
and I'm gonna play music. And of course they thought that
was funny & I did too. I never saw how that could possibly
actually happen…
///5:13-. And I sure didn't think you could make a livin'
at it. It just was something I had to do. I remember I told
people I'm gonna move to à Nashville and they said
you're crazy, don't do it, it's impossible, including my
own family. They said have you lost your mind completely.
And I had probably 300 dollars to my name & this old
Datsun B210. Just moved there didn't know a soul and had
no idea. Just a few terrible songs.
H-38 HAL: Stephanie was the starving songwriter for years
before talent and gamblers luck finally paid-off. No one
was more surprised than she was when success hit.
SD#2 @ 9:11- I got my first check and I took it to the
bank and I tried to deposit it in the automatic deposit,
and it rejected it because I had only about 9 dollars in
my acct & they thought it was some fraud, and I had
to go into the bank and prove that it was a legitimate income.
9:34- H- What song was that?
SD- That was from Wolves, the song that I wrote that Garth
Brooks recorded.
MUSIC: "Wolves"
"January's always bitter, but Lord this one beats
all
The wind ain't quit for weeksnow, drifts are 10ft tall
I been all nite drivin heifers closer in to lower ground
And I spent the morning thinkin'bout the ones the
wolves pulled down.
Charlie Barton & family stopped tday to say goodbye
He said the bank was takin' over, the last 2 years was
just too dry. (music continues under)
SD#2 @9:40-. It's a song about a guy losing his ranch,
and I never thought anybody would be interested in it Nashville-wise.
I just wrote it for myself and it was the farm crisis of
the 80's were going on here and that was on my mind,
H-39 HAL : "Wolves" is a lightly veiled story
Stephanie's family knew all to well. Sometimes you can't
write by the formula. It has to be mainlined from the heart.
SD#2 @15:45-H- You talked about what a good learning experience
Nashville was…but also it came to be oppressive, can
you talk about how it messed with your life. ////
SD- The nature of Nashville is that it's a factory of music,
it's an assembly line and I signed on to work at a publishing
company as a staff worker, and that means it's a big machine
that needs to be fed. I was a cog in a wheel allegedly writing
songs for other people. But that's not what I set out to
do in my life. I set out to write songs about things I cared
about, /// and the little voice in me kept saying 'this
isn't right, this doesn't feel good' but I would still make
it go into that cubicle and write a song for so-and-so who
needed one, and I needed the money and I would try to write
something and they weren't even that good. I just didn't
feel good about what I was doing,///
*TRIM17:35- And for me when I moved back here, I was so
burned out that I didn't have anything to say. I could hardly
make myself look at my guitar. My little spirit which is
kind of like a little child inside, was just cowering and
shaking from the abuse I'd hurled at it by making it do
something it didn't want to do. This change of location
and approach to writing..I cannot tell you what a difference
it is. It's a joy just to come out here and just fool with
words, and that's how it's supposed to be-it's supposed
to be fun!
MUSIC: end of "Wolves"
" Lord keep me from being…the one the wolves pull
down."
22:55- H- Tell me about your neighborhood.
SD- This is a wonderful place to live. It's a bunch of
Finnish and Norwegian immigrants…a lot of 4th generation
Montana farmers & ranchers. ///
You'll meet them…we'll go play a concert and you'll
see what I mean. They're just the salt of the earth.
SD#3 @53:17- They're so stoic and tough…jeez a hail
storm can come and ruin their entire crop of wheat and they'll
just shrug and say 'well next year.' They don't whine..and
if that was a person from the city who just lost their year's
income, they would say more than next year, I think.
H- that just catches in my throat to hear it.
*SD- It does. 54:49 There's a lot of beauty…/// The
wind and the weather to me carve out a lot of beauty to
the faces here that I never noticed when I was growing up
here, but after growing up and coming back, you become part
of where you live. It chisels you and shapes you and your
sense of humor is carved out of the wind and weather and
time of the year, and the chores, and it's beautiful. è
SD #4 @51:25- Sylvia's prayer: Dear Lord we thank you for
this food and let us have a good time tonight and enjoy
each others company. We ask this in Jesus' name…EAT!
SD#5 @3:00- (people applaud for SD)
SD- Thanks everybody for comin' I'm honored that you took
time to come out. /// And I'm so proud to be here. More......
SD#5 @33:58- "Somethin 'bout Montana"
H -40 HAL: The feeling of community flickers bright like
the candles that line the window sills of the White Bird
School. Stephanie weaves a spell spun from heartfelt songs,
swing tunes and even some down-to-earth cowboy humor.
Stephanie: "Spotted Ass" thanks you. applause
SD: I moved here about 4 or 5 years ago, after just getting
beat up by the music business, and I picked that place up
there where I live cuz it's at the end of the road, &
I wanted to hide from the world and lick my wounds, but
you guys didn't know that, and you came up with casseroles
and taught me to run the tractor and plant pickles and plant
gardens & you didn't know it, but you were really nursing
me back to health. And I don't know if I ever really said
thank you for it, but I'm saying thank you right now. Here's
a song, it's a new one.///33:32- And I'd like to send it
out to everybody that does what they do for a living even
when it doesn't make sense or pay. Gee I guess that's everyone
here (laughter)
SD#6 @6:36- SD- Well this has been so fun, we've got one
last tune for you & we really need you to sing on this///7:20-
And I just wanna thank you again…a special thanks to
Sue & Sylvia for ram-rodding the food. What a wonderful
place to live & I'm honored to live here and call you
friends and neighbors.
D#6 @7:51- "Home on the Range"
H-41 HAL: Home on the Range is an anthem of sorts. Most
people know it and it's been the finale to countless nights
around the campfire. It's about the western spirit of hope,
living the good life.
H-42 I have to admit there's lots of reasons cowboys sing.
Glenn Ohrlin inherited his song from a line of horseman
going back to the trail drives. But it's not just tradition,
there are new songs for the West, grounded in its land and
people. We're always rewriting the verses.
H-43 I keep thinking how Waddie Mitchell answered my question
with a question, "Why does the frog croak? Maybe its
just that obvious, cowboys sing because its natural for
them to sing. But, that brings up a bigger question, why
don't more of us have a song?
