Saving songs from extinction -- Old West Music Show Wednesday

Thursday, April 3, 2008
Cowboy storyteller/singer Rex Rideout, with friend Sonia Caldwell, check out Gary Ginther's sculptor "Prairie Bull," at the Museum of the High Plains in McCook. The Indian word for prairie bull is "tatanka," pronounced "ta-tonka." (Lorri Sughroue/McCook Daily Gazette)

The culture of cowboys -- their music and stories -- is going the way of buffalo: nearly extinct.

Rex Rideout of Conifer, Colo., is keeping cowboy history alive and will appear at the Old West Music Show at the Fox Theater Wednesday, at 7:30 p.m.

Admission is a free-will donation that will go toward renovations being done at the Fox.

For Rideout, a noted historian of music and songs from the 19th century Old West, McCook is the perfect place for the event because of its rich history, he said.

"This area is very rich in cowboy history so it's a natural spot to do this," he said. "Not everyone has a history like this."

From 1879-1882, massive cattle drives moved about six million head of longhorn cattle along the Great Western Cattle Trail, up from San Antonio,Texas through Nebraska, on the way to the Dakotas. Cowboys moved the cattle, in herds of 2-3,000, about 10-12 miles per day over the rough terrain.

Herding cattle was lonely, dangerous work, with exposure to the elements -- the cowboys used no tents but practically lived on their horses -- the constant threat of stampedes and the demanding nature of the work. Most cowboys didn't last past the age of 25, with a few trail bosses toughing it out to age 35, Rideout said.

The songs Rideout will perform will be the same ones that cowboys used to sing at night to soothe the cattle or to mask startling noises that could spook the cattle to stampede. He'll also recount stories that will describe the way of cowboy life on the plains.

The cowboy culture is important to preserve, Rideout maintained, as a way to connect a community to its past.

"Storytelling is what sets us apart from animals," he said. "It's what keeps people together."

Rideout has been re-creating cowboy history for the past 25 years and agreed to make a special appearance the Fox show at the behest of his friend, Sonia Caldwell.

Caldwell now lives in McCook and first met Rideout when they both worked at the Molly Brown House in Denver, re-creating "living" history.

Rideout has performed his music and storytelling in many venues, playing a 1900's banjo and other instruments, including the mandolin, fiddle and piccolo, to name just a few.

The Fox Theater is planning several other shows in the near future, including a Gospel music show in May, a country western music show in June and an "Elvis Presley" show in July. The McCook Senior High graduating class of 1978 also has booked the theater for a reception at its reunion.

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