Western singer/songwriter Dave Stamey will headline a posse full of entertainers scheduled to perform at the Cache Valley Cowboy Rendezvous from Thursday, Mar. 14 to Sunday, Mar. 17 at the Cache County Event Center (Image courtesy of Facebook).
CACHE COUNTY – Singer/songwriter Dave Stamey will headline the entertainment at the 2024 Cache Valley Cowboy Rendezvous on Saturday, Mar. 16 at the Cache County Event Center.
The annual week-long event to promote Utah’s rich western and agricultural culture through music, poetry, art, dance and education will be held Mar. 11 to 16 at locations throughout Cache Valley, including the classrooms of local public schools.
Stamey will share the spotlight on Mar. 16 with American icon Wylie Gustafson, who will has been cited by critics of modern county music as “the coolest cowpoke around.”
Before becoming a favorite of local rendezvous audiences in previous years, Stamey was a cowboy, a mule packer and a dude wrangler. But he is perfectly willing to admit that he prefers performing to being stomped by angry horses.
Over the years, Stamey has collected numerous honors, including being named the “best living Western solo musician” for four consecutive years.
The Western Music Associated voted him Entertainer of the Year seven times, Male Performer of the Year seven times and Songwriter of the Year five times. Stamey also received the Will Rogers Award from the Academy of Western Artists and his “Vaquero Song” has been hailed as one of the greatest Western songs of all time.
He was inducted into the Western Music Hall of Fame in 2016.
Stamey will perform on the Cowboy Rendezvous stage at 7 p.m. on Mar. 16 at the Cache County Event Center. That show will also feature the talents of the “SaddleStrings,” a cowboy band from Hooper, and the storytelling/cowboy poetry of Jo Lynne Kirkwood, who hails from Sevier County.
Tickets for Stamey’s concert can be purchased at www.cvcowboy.org.
Earlier that same day, Gustafson will take to the rendezvous’ stage at 2 p.m. to perform a heartfelt concert of music featuring his ethereal style of High Plains yodeling.
When not performing, Gustafson leads an authentic cowboy’s life tending livestock on his ranch near Conrad, Montana.
“Forget everything you hate about modern Country,” one critic said after watching Gustafson wowing a crowd. “This guy is old school cool.”
In addition to honors for his performances, Gustafson has an equally impressive record as a professional cowboy. The accomplished horseman was won titles from National Cutting Horse Association; was inducted into the Montana Pro Rodeo Wall and Hall of Fame in 2017; and joined the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2020.
Gustafson will be joined by songsmiths Tony and Carol Messerly performing their quirky brand of music as “Manystring & Co” and the “Harwood Family Poets,” a three-generation storytelling clan from Sevier County.
In a new addition to the schedule of events, singer/songwriter Ned Ledoux will perform a concert on Thursday, Mar. 14 to kick off the Cache Valley Cowboy Rendezvous events. The son of performing artist and rodeo champion Chris Ledoux, the younger Ledoux is well-respected for his high-energy shows that feature a blend of western music with the rock and roll influences that he acquired in his youth.
In addition to headlining his own shows, Ledoux is also renowned for touring with the late Toby Keith, Aaron Watson and Garth Brooks.
The Ned Ledoux concert at 7 p.m. on Mar. 14 will also feature Canadian songstress Trinity Seely and self-proclaimed “cow-losopher” Mark Munzert, hailing from – wait for it – upstate New York.
Also performing free concerts during the cowboy gathering are musicians Clinton and Sarah Carter as “Carter Junction;” balladeers Chris Mortensen, Clive Romney, Doug Fliggs, Jon Chandler, Kenny Hall, Ty Pebley and Zach Martinez; the father-daughter duo David Anderson and Jenny Lynn Bradford; funny lady Kristen Lloyd, AKA Krazy Ani; and cowboy poets Colt Blankman, Thatch Elmer and Sam DeLeeuw.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation, many of those musicians and poets will be here starting Mar. 11 to provide educational outreach to Cache County schoolchildren in the form of high-quality western music and poetry sessions.
The rendezvous schedule will also feature “open mic” amateur musical and poetry performances; a cowboy poetry contest; a family dance featuring music from “Sagwitch Basin Boys” on Friday, Mar. 15; a western-swing dance contest; a light buffet dinner; and a western-themed church service on Sunday, Mar. 17.
While many of the rendezvous’ events are free to the public, event organizer Dale Major says that tickets to the featured concerts and dances can be obtained at www.cvcowboy.org
A full schedule of the Cache Valley Cowboy Rendezvous events can also be found on that website.