All performances will be held at the beautiful
                                          Robert Hawkins Amphitheater
                                           Bartley Ranch Regional Park
                                                   Reno, Nevada

                                                                      Friday August 22, 2008
                                                         Doors open at 5:30pm
                                                   Performance starts at 6:30pm

 John Tyson - As a reporter for KOLO News Channel 8, John has exposed rural Nevada like no one else can.  He travels an average of 3,000 miles every month in search of stories that reflect the best of Nevada's true character for his special reports John Tyson's Journal.  John is a former working cowboy, state brand inspector, and locomotive engineer, who knows Nevada from the sagebrush level.  John will be our master of ceremonies for both Friday and Saturday.
 
Local Talent starts the evening out while you are getting settled in your seats


John Chandler - is widely regarded as one of Americana Music’s premier singer-songwriters and one of the country’s best western authors. Just ask national publications like American Cowboy, No Depression, Dirty Linen, Persimmon Hill, Cowboy Magazine and True West. Or newspapers ranging from the Los Angeles Daily News to the Denver Post. A seventh generation Coloradan, Jon’s western novels, songs and poems serve to keep the frontier ethic passed down from his ancestors alive.  For more information on Jon Chandler visit his website at www.jonchandler.com 

Pat Richardson - was born and reared on ranches in several states, had seven different last names (claiming that his dad was a cow thief), and went to 13 different grammar schools where he says he managed to learn nothing but how to shoe horses, ride colts and work cows.  Pat was a professional saddle-bronc and bull rider, and also drew cartoons for the Rodeo Sports News and created pen-and-ink western art that he sold throughout the West.  Now semi-retired in Merced, California, the multi-talented Pat is a popular cowboy poet and humorist, who has been invited eight times to perform at the Elko National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and was named the 2004 Academy of Western Artists' Cowboy Poet of the Year.  His book, Unhobbled, won the AWA's 2004 Will Rogers Medallion Award.  He can be reached through his website at www.poetpatrichardson.com

Waddie Mitchell -   From his earliest days on the remote Nevada ranches where his father worked,  Waddie was immersed in the cowboy way of entertaining, the art of spinnin’ tales in rhyme and meter that came to be called cowboy poetry, a Western tradition that is as rich as the lifestyle that gave birth to it.  Within his stories, told in a voice that is timeless and familiar, are the common bonds we all share, moments both grand and commonplace, the humorous and the tragic, the life and death struggles and triumphs that we each recognize.  And yet, Waddie presents his material with personal insights and the lessons learned during his life spent as a buckaroo.  More about Waddie Mitchell at www.somagency.com

                                                        Saturday, August 23, 2008
                                                  Doors open at 5:30pm
                                           Performance starts at 6:30pm

John Tyson -As a reporter for KOLO News Channel 8, John has exposed rural Nevada like no one else can. He travels an average of 3,000 miles every month in search of stories that reflect the best of Nevada's true character for his special reports John Tyson's Journal. John is a former working cowboy, state brand inspector, and locomotive engineer, who knows Nevada from the sagebrush level. John will be our master of ceremonies for both Friday and Saturday.

Local Talent starts the evening out while you are getting settled in your seats

Pat Richardson - In 2003 Pat was voted "Academy of Western Artists" Cowboy Poet of the year and in 2004 his new book "Unhobbled" won the prestigious Academy of Western Artists Will Rogers Medallion Award, and was runner up for Book of the Year. Pat has two award winning CDs "Pull my Finger" and  "B.Y.O.S." (Bring Your Own Sheep).  In 2004 Pat won a first place buckle in the "Team Roping" song lyrics, and also the first place buckle in the poetry contest he entered with Yvonne Hollenbeck, who also won a buckle.  More information about Pat at www.poetpatrichardson.com

Juni Fisher - WMA 2006 Female Vocalist of the Year,  AWA  2005 Female Western Performer of the Year, WMA 2007 Song of the Year Winner, and WMA 2005 Cresendo Award winner Juni Fisher has been likened to movie director John Ford for her sweeping, epic story songs, to Stanley Kubrick for her stark, raw edged vignettes of the history of the American West. She takes her audiences by storm with her original, hard hitting, soulful lyrics. Her straightforward, on the mark vocals give voice to  the soul of this remarkable songwriter. Traditional folk music blends seamlessly with her songs of the American West, and many a listener has been moved by her unmistakably original music. Captivating performances, filled with essential marriage of crystalline guitar passages, and heart wrenching delivery are what Juni Fisher does best. More about Juni Fisher at www.junifisher.com

Dave Stamey - has been bucked off and stomped by many horses, stepped on by mules and dragged around branding pens by angry cattle of various sizes. He's ridden in the rain, in the snow, in the rain some more, in pretty nasty heat, and in feedlot pens where the air was thick and decidedly fragrant. He's even wrangled dudes.
He's an entertainer now. He finds he prefers this.  He's been awarded the Male Performer of the Year by the Western Music Association, is a three time nominee for Songwriter of the Year, and is rapidly becoming one of the most popular Western entertainers working today. More about Dave Stamey at www.davestamey.com