Cowboy Music & Poetry

October 24–26, 2025

What is Cowboy Music and Poetry?

Emerging from ranching and cowboy traditions, cowboy music and cowboy poetry are quintessential components to an authentic Western experience. Cowboy poetry is realistic, often romantic, and paints a picture of real-life events, experiences and lessons learned through the Western way of life. Though open to preferences of the artist, poems usually rhyme and feature metered stanzas. Sometimes humorous, sometimes factual, it’s pure storytelling and an artform all its own.

Likewise, cowboy music share many of the same principles, just in a different artform. Cowboys often spent evenings gathered around the campfire, plucking guitar strings and softly crooning ballads inspired by real life. Both cowboy music and cowboy poetry are unique ways to showcase cowboys’ daily routines and challenges, the relationships they hold dear, partnership shared with their animals and the land, and preservation of the authentic Western lifestyle and its values.

Red's Poetry Career

The “Official Cowboy Poet of Texas” since 1991, Red Steagall has authored a number of cowboy poems throughout his career. He likes his poems to have a message, sharing the cowboy code and other values in an entertaining way everyone can appreciate. Among his most famous—and favorite—poems is “The Fence That Me and Shorty Built:” 

I called myself a cowboy, I was full of buck and bawl. I didn’t think my hands would fit Post augers and a maul. They sent me out with Shorty And the ranch fence building crew. Well, I was quite insulted And before the day was through, I let him know that I’m a cowboy. “This ain’t what I do. I ain’t no dadgummed nester, I hired out to buckaroo.” He said, “We’ll talk about that son, When we get in tonight. Right now you pick them augers up. It’s either that or fight.”

See our artists

Featured Musicians and Poets

We’re thrilled to welcome these talented artists to the Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering! Each one brings a unique voice to our celebration of Western heritage. Click on an artist’s name to learn more about their story.