Sunday, January 18, 2026

Howdy everyone!

So yes, we're the Lone Star Cowboy Poetry Gathering, but what does that really mean? We've asked permission from our good friend Amy Hale (author, poet, performer, writing coach, and working cowboy) to tell you using her words.

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What exactly IS cowboy poetry?

Any healthy thriving culture has art forms that spring from that culture.

And agriculture, people growing food, is no exception, not just in the American West, a relatively new culture, but worldwide. Any time people are living a lifestyle of tilling the soil, herding animals, pulling food from the water, harvesting, and foraging, they are also telling stories, singing songs, and making poems about this beautiful brutal endeavor . . . feeding themselves and their communities in more ways than one.

It shouldn't be a surprise that the cowboy culture has a thriving vibrant group who are entertaining crowds with song, story, and poem. And they have been since the first campfire.

I often invite people to gather up their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, neighbors, friends . . . basically anyone who
** eats food **
and bring them to a cowboy poetry gathering.

Yes, come to be entertained. We are a very entertaining group! Ask us! We will tell you. Bring your nostalgia for an earlier era, for the time you hung out with your grandfather on a family farm. But also, come hang out with those of us who are actively growing your food. Come get in touch with agriCULTURE, rather than agribusiness/agri-industry. Come see the faces of the people who are working, every day, for a more sustainable way to bring food to your table.

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You can read Amy's full post on Substack: https://amymariehale.substack.com/p/cowboy-poetry-gatherings
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Hope to see you, and any friends or loved ones you care to bring with you, in Alpine or Bastrop Feb. 18-21.

More soon,
Kay and Gene Nowell
Co-Chairs
Lone Star Cowboy Poetry Gathering

P.S. Here's the Alpine schedule:
https://lonestarcowboypoetry.com/schedule/2026/alpine.html
and
here's the Bastrop schedule:
https://lonestarcowboypoetry.com/schedule/2026/bastrop.html

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