When Waddie Mitchell was asked to perform on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," a neighbor received the phone call and drove 40 miles to deliver the message to Mitchell. He turned down the invitation because it was calving time.
"It always amazes that anyone would come see me," Mitchell said. "Every interview I do, someone asks my why this genre or what is cowboy poetry."
Mitchell is on tour making a stop at the nexStage Theatre on Friday, May 7, at 8 p.m. and will perform with valley singer-songwriter Bruce Innes as a special guest. Tickets are $25 and available at Sturtevants in Ketchum and Hailey and at the nexStage Theatre in Ketchum.
In 1984, Mitchell helped organize the internationally recognized Elko Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev. where he gave his first public performance. Mitchell didn't think anyone would be interested but he thought it would be a good party for the weekend. The first Cowboy Poetry Gathering was set for a cold, snowy weekend in January, one of the only times Mitchell and his fellow cowboys were free from ranch duties. Over 2,000 people showed up.
"The Cowboy Poetry Gathering is a designated national gathering," Mitchell said. "We have done 26, and it's still going. I have been a part of it since the beginning."
Mitchell said he was looking for a reason to come to Ketchum because he has friends living here, and it's on the way to his cabin in Montana. He is based in Elko, Nev. and lives off the grid on a solar system ranch where he can't see another human being.
"I can't listen to a poetry album, and I hate to say that," Mitchell said. "But the live spoken work and the emitting emotion for a performance is important and natural. People like live entertainment. Live story telling is as natural as breathing. It's how we communicate."
Mitchell has produced a series of critically acclaimed recordings for Warner Bros. Records and for the Western Jubilee Recording Company. His poem "That No Quit Attitude", commissioned by the Cultural Olympiad, gained great notoriety during the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
Mitchell said the cowboy has been fading away for a 100 years and his generation of cowboys is being replaced by kids who are better horseman with more talent.
"It's amazing because a few people saw a need to start doing clinics, and information on cattle genetics is more available," he said. "We use to live enclosed lives."
Mitchell can perform up to 200 poems, all of which live in his head and can be recited at any given time. He said he has no set list and never knows what his show is going to be.
"It's all over the place and the show is as special as every audience," Mitchell said. "I look forward to doing it."
Sabina Dana Plasse: splasse@mtexpress.com
Waddie Mitchell will take the nexStage stage on Friday, May 7, with Bruce Innes for an evening of cowboy poetry and music. Photo by
