THE 16TH ANNUAL MONTEREY COWBOY POETRY & MUSIC FESTIVAL IN MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA TO BE HELD NOVEMBER 21, 22 & 23, 2014
Don’t miss the 16th Annual Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival and Cowboy Art & Western Marketplace at the Monterey Conference Center, One Portola Plaza in Downtown Monterey from Friday through Sunday, November 21, 22 and 23, 2014 (www.montereycowboy.org).
The Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival is a popular annual event for all ages. It celebrates Monterey's contribution to our western heritage with cowboy poetry, music and a first class Cowboy Art & Western Marketplace. The festival brings together people from all over the United States and Canada to enjoy and learn more about the "cowboy way of life," including its culturally diverse history, including the Vaqueros and Californios and the Mexican and Spanish traditions, plus its current values and cowboy culture. The Festival's outstanding 2014 performer line-upincludes multi-award-winning performers - the best of the best: Juni Fisher, Dave Stamey, Cow Bop and many others to be announced. Tickets will go on sale on June 1, 2014.
The festival has many shows scheduled over the three days plus a fabulous Cowboy Happy Hour with Meet and Greets with some of the performers on Friday night. There is also a Late Night Jam Session on Friday night, a Saturday Night Dance with a Best Dressed Cowboy and Cowgirl Contest, the Cowboy Art & Western Marketplace, a Vaquero Breakfast, Silent Auction and adult Open Mic. There is a special Sunday morning Cowboy Church, which benefits The Salvation Army and features many of the top performers of the weekend. There are different performance sessions throughout the weekend that fits everyone’s schedule and interests, with a great mix of cowboy music and poetry. Come out and celebrate the “Cowboy Way of Life” in a comfortable indoor setting in beautiful downtown Monterey!
About the Cowboy Art & Western Marketplace:
The Cowboy Art & Western Marketplace features over two dozen artisans that offer an array of interesting items for Christmas gifts and collectors, including outstanding Western art, photography and books, clothing, (hats, jewelry, handmade boots, belts, purses, jackets, etc.), custom and antique saddles, Navajo blankets and much more.
About the Cowboys in the Schools Program:
The Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival also coordinates the popular “Cowboys in the Schools Program” with a special educational event that will be held at the Carmel Valley Trail and Saddle Club in early October, 2014 for hundreds of visiting schoolchildren. During the school year, volunteers work with local educators to introduce the concept of Cowboy Culture and the influence of the vaquero to a diverse group of elementary school students. This "Cowboy Way of Life" program helps to teach youth self-esteem, ethics, values, writing, art and history. Young people also participate in the "Open Mic" event during the festival weekend. Monterey County has a long historic cowboy tradition that is celebrated at the Festival events.
Sponsors are now being sought to underwrite the costs of the Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival.
For more information about the Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival, to become a valued sponsor, or a volunteer, visit the website at www.montereycowboy.org .
About Festival’s Award-Winning Performers:
Juni Fisher
Juni Fisher is a highly respected Singer, Songwriter, Entertainer, Horsewoman. Born in the San Joaquin Valley of California, Juni Fisher spent her early years training horses, as well as working on cow-calf operations. She now tours the country full time, delighting audiences with her original songs, storytelling, and guitar playing. She is the winner of dozens of awards including:
- 2011 WMA Entertainer of the Year
- 2006, 2009 & 2011 WMA Female Performer of the Year
- Multiple Song, Album, Songwriter of the Year awards
Dave Stamey:
Cowboys and Indians Magazine has called him “the Charley Russell of Western Music.” Western Horseman Magazine has declared his “Vaquero Song” to be one of the greatest Western songs of all time. In 2010 True West Magazine named him Best Living Western Solo Musician.
Dave Stamey has been a cowboy, a mule packer, a dude wrangler, and is now one of the most popular Western entertainers working today. He has been voted three times Entertainer of the Year, three times Male Performer of the Year and twice Songwriter of the Year by the Western Music Association, and received the Will Rogers Award from the Academy of Western Artists. He’s delighted audiences in twenty states, and finds that he prefers this to being stomped by angry horses.
Cow Bop:
Mix swingin’ grooves, thrilling riffs, sweet and hot vocals, western sensibilities and tons of fun and you have only begun to describe Cow Bop. Formed in 2003 by internationally-acclaimed guitarist Bruce Forman, the cowboy jazz and western bebop band has toured extensively throughout the world, exciting audiences with their unique brand of music. Along with Bruce Forman on guitar, the band features PintoPammy on vocals, whose talent and experiences range from big band swing, old-time country and musical theater, and mutli-instrumentalist David Wise, whose sax and trumpet playing takes you from the streets of New Orleans to the hottest and coolest jazz. Put that on top of a rhythm section of Alex Frank, bass, and Jake Reed, drums, that are as swingin’ and rockin’ as rodeo bronc, but as sure-footed as a prized pack mule and you get Cow Bop. Along with numerous appearances at esteemed nightclubs and concert venues throughout the world, Cow Bop has also been featured at the Montreal & Monterey Jazz Festivals, the Sisters Folk Festival, as well as the Elko, Heber City, Monterey and Santa Clarita Cowboy Gatherings. For an extra treat, check out Bruce’s guitar work featured in Clint Eastwood’s Academy-Award winning film, Million Dollar Baby.
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