A Cowboy Christmas

On Saturday, Dec. 13, saddle-up for the fifth annual “A Cowboy Christmas” holiday concert at Prescott Center for the Arts. One of Prescott’s favorite cowboys, Gail Steiger, will host a matinee and evening concert of cowboy songs and stories, featuring The Rusty Pistols, Reno and Sheila McCormick, and of course, Gail himself!

Steiger is a songwriter, filmmaker, and cowboy who has been the foreman of remote Spider Ranch in Yavapai County, Arizona, since 1995. The grandson of revered Cowboy Poet Gail Gardner, Steiger’s acclaimed Ranch Album film, released in 1988, is recognized as one of the best portrayals of modern cowboy and ranching life on film. A CD of his music, The Romance of Western Life, earned praise from Cowboy Magazine editor Darrell Arnold, who wrote his music is “… like listening to Bob Dylan if Dylan had been a working cowboy…the lyrics are so beautifully descriptive of daily cowboy life… These are cowboy feelings, simple and profound.”

The Rusty Pistols Cowboy Band was formed in January 2011 in the Prescott area. The band is anchored by long-time cowboy singer Jim Dunham, with Bob Wood, vocalist, rhythm guitar and harmonica; Duane Steinbrink, lead guitar and vocalist; and Donn Pease playing the bass and backup singer. The primary theme of the band is to promote the life and legend of the American Cowboy. The group does perform songs from cowboy movies, some vintage country songs, and popular songs from the 1940s to the 1960s. The band has performed for dances, charity fund raising events, cowboy poetry and music gatherings, and parades representing the Arizona Cowboy Poetry Gathering – all members of the band are on the Gathering’s volunteer committee.

Reno and Sheila McCormick have been playing bluegrass, folk, country, and western music together since the 1980s. They have played in bands and as a duo throughout the western states. In the past several years they have appeared at the Prescott Folk Festival, Flagstaff Folk Festival, Pickin’ in the Pines Bluegrass and Acoustic Music Festival, and various clubs and gatherings around Northern Arizona. They performed regularly at the Blazin’ M Ranch in Cottonwood for several years.

This Saturday event has two shows, at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13.

Tickets for “A Cowboy Christmas Holiday concert” are available by calling the PCA at 928-445-3286 or at pca.az.net.

For more info, visit folksessions.com/cowboychristmas