Saddles, stories and strings
It’s time once again to saddle up and head out to Pigeon Forge for the Smoky Mountain city’s celebration of the cowboy lifestyle. The 12th annual Saddle Up! will be Feb. 23-26 and this year the family-friendly festival will add an extra dose of storytelling and song.
“There’s a rich Appalachian heritage of storytelling, and there’s a story behind every song,” says Butch Helton, special events manager for Pigeon Forge. “The performers at Stories & Strings are going to share stories of their musical influences and play tunes that show off their individual styles. This particular group of highly talented musicians has never been on one stage together, and may never be together again for something like this, so it’s a concert that’s not to be missed.”
You’d be hard pressed to find a more talented group of bowers, pickers, and pluckers than the talented musicians and songwriters set to perform at the Smoky Mountain Guitar Shop for this inaugural Stories & Strings. Guitarist and singer-songwriter R.W. Hampton; multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Stephanie Davis; singer/songwriter/guitarist Ray Doyle; western swing fiddler Richard Chon; steel guitarist Bobby Black; mandolin player David Wilkie; harpist Keri Lynn Zwicker; stringed-instrument specialist T. Scot Wilburn. All bring a true western-music flare and sing stories Smoky Mountain folk can understand and appreciate.
Wilburn will not only perform at Stories & Strings but is also producing the show. A highly skilled string-instrument player, Wilburn performed for years with Wylie and the Wild West, including at last year’s Saddle Up!
“I picked some of my favorite musicians, some of the most talented you’ll find anywhere, for this show,” said Wilburn of the Stories & Strings performers. “It’s a good lineup of mostly instrumentalists with a few songwriters in there, too. It should be a real interesting mix.”
If you’re a western music aficionado, chances are you recognize most or all of the names in the lineup. Most of the performers have played in acclaimed western music bands through the years, some leading their own, and as solo performers. Even if the names don’t ring a cowboy dinner bell for you right off, you should know that they’ve all won a passel of music awards for either instrumentation or songwriting or both. Bobby Black even played with Hank Sr. and Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in his youth, according to Wilburn. Stephanie Davis penned a half-dozen songs for Garth Brooks including “The Gift” and “Wolves,”as well as songs for Martina McBride and Waylon Jennings, among others. Ray Doyle is an award-winning songwriter whose songs include “The Jewel” and “The Emigrant Song.” Wilkie co-wrote “Wind in the Wire” and “Cowboy Boogie,” both released by Randy Travis. R.W. Hampton has written numerous songs through the years.
Wilburn sings praises for each and every one of the Stories & Strings performers and explains that all seven are going to choose several of their favorite songs to perform. As each takes center stage, the others will play as the supporting band.
“I’ll probably play electric guitar and will mostly play a supporting role since there’s seven of us,” Wilburn said. “It’ll be a lot of fun. All these performers are just wonderful people and being with them and around them will be a joy.”
As always, Saddle Up! will include “Intimate Evening” dinner shows at two Pigeon Forge restaurants Thursday evening; multi-musician concerts Friday afternoon and evening (as well as the following Monday night); a competitive chuckwagon cookoff beginning Saturday morning; a Cowboy Dance Saturday night; and a chuckwagon breakfast Sunday morning followed by Cowboy Church.
Saddle Up! mainstay Kent Rollins will again add his authentic cowboy culture to the proceedings. An award-winning poet/humorist/chuckwagon cook, Kent regales audiences with his pithy, poignant tales of cowboy wisdom and will be on stage for the event’s headline concerts at the Tennessee Shindig Theater.
“Cowboy poetry is not all bad grammar and just talking,” Rollins said. “You can relay a part of life and a way of living with it. Going east of the Mississippi, it’s a chance to share something with people who may not know what all’s goin’ on in the cowboy lifestyle.”
Rollins knows whereof he speaks. The Oklahoma native was raised on a ranch in the Sooner State near the Red River and now lives just the other side of the waterway and across the state line in Byers, Texas. He’s been doing poetry/storytelling performances for about two decades.
Rollins, who has won more awards for his cowboy cooking than you can shake a stick at, will also cook up some tasty vittles at his chuckwagon every day of Saddle Up!, as well as at the Intimate Evening dinner show at Mama’s Farmhouse Restaurant and at Cowboy Church.
“Saddle Up is a big event with a great following,” Rollins said.
Saddle Up! will be held February 23-26 in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. For more information, call 865.453.8574, 800.251.9100 or visitmypigeonforge.com/events_winterfest_saddleup.aspx