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- A Cowboy Christmas
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- Western Folklife Center Media
A Cowboy Christmas celebrates the holiday with memories, music, and poetry of people who live and work in the isolation of America's outback. Some of the stories and songs are family traditions passed down through the generations while others are new works inspired by Christmas on the lonely range. This program features poets Baxter Black, Waddie Mitchell, and Native American singer and comedian Vincent Craig.
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Piece Description
A Cowboy Christmas celebrates the holiday with memories, music, and poetry of people who live and work in the isolation of America's outback. Some of the stories and songs are family traditions passed down through the generations while others are new works inspired by Christmas on the lonely range. This program features poets Baxter Black, Waddie Mitchell, and Native American singer and comedian Vincent Craig.
2 Comments
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Review of A Cowboy ChristmasI really can't tell you why I like this piece, but I do. I really do. It's sleepy in a good way. It's soothing, it's interesting, and Baxter Black shows up in the first 7 mins. That's enough for me to know this is a winner! At first I thought the narrator was a bit sleepy and I was going to tire of that quickly. But then I kind slipped into this carb induced half sleep. How can I tell you this is a GOOD THING. This way: This is the perfect piece of radio to air at 10 or 11 pm on Christmas night when the relatives are gone, the kids are bed and sugar plums are dancing in your head. Your listeners all snug in their cozy leather country and western recliners from Ethan Allen will relax with no clatter. Enough of the jokes. The interview segments with real life cowboys are sweet. The music is true cowboy. And remember, that is much much different than country..any brand of country. And it just makes this piece so authentic you can smell the reindeer droppings on the pure driven snow. It conjures up so many pictures. All without talking at or down to the listeners. We get nice talks with children, neighbors and old friends. All of these segments paints such visuals in the listeners mind. Oh Heck, I am going to sit my butt down at 11 pm on Christmas light with the tree light bright and a single malt and listen to this show and feel that all is right in the world as long as producers like this create radio we all need to be reminded of a part of America that we must not forget. I heartily encourage any news or American AAA station to air this Christmas night. |
Broadcast History
Originally broadcast on Public Radio International in December of 1995.





Glenda Flewharty
Posted on December 21, 2006 at 01:06 PM | Permalink
Review of A Cowboy Christmas
A wonderful piece of Americana! The program is an engaging blend of song, story, and poetry. Some might find it a bit too sentimental and romantic, but I liked the way it evoked empty spaces, sparsely occupied with small humans who found comfort in both the land and in family and community.
To those of us with experience of the vast, stark beauty of the American West, the program is a kind of anthem to what we love. For others, it is a snapshot of a way of life that is, of course, shrinking as the world grows small and moves faster.