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| The Big Bear Valley Gathering is proud to present the
rip roaring, leg slapping, hoot and hollering, of our performers who
will be filling the Performing Arts Center with songs, poetry and
music. This 400-seat theater has only excellent seats and our performers
love entertaining in this terrific mountain center. |
 Belinda Gail and Curly Musgrave define synergy. The combination of their individual talents and careers has brought a powerful performance dynamic to Western Music that has drawn attention and raves of critics and fans alike. No small wonder. Belinda Gail, through her breathtaking performances, has earned the Western Music Association's award for "Female Performer of the Year" for an unprecedented four consecutive years. Other awards and nominations confirm her energy and appeal as a performer. She is a giving and inspirational entertainer whose show is captivating, compelling and unforgettable in the best sense of the word. She truly is "America's Western Sweetheart"
Curly Musgrave has been dubbed "One of the finest voices to come down the trail in a long, long time" and "One of the most innovative and influential singer/songwriters in Western Music today." He's been named the Western Music Association's Male Performer of the Year' and Songwriter of the Year and the Academy of Western Artists' Male Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year.
Belinda and Curly infuse electricity, energy, enthusiasm and versatility into their performance. This is reflected in dynamic arrangements of original and traditional Western music as well as Gospel, and Traditional Country songs. Audiences truly enjoy their lively and humorous banter on stage. Both are skilled and articulate yodelers and routinely bring audiences to their feet with harmony yodeling and songs that run the gamut of emotions from tears to hilarity.
Make this dynamic and versatile duo a refreshing addition to your event. Their remarkable talents and synergy on stage will delight you and your audiences. A Western writer and critic said, "When you put Belinda and Curly together, it's like 2+2=6!" Fans and peers alike describe the performance and energy in one word: MAGIC !!! For more about Belinda and Curly go to... www.belindagailsings.com and www.curlymusgrave.com
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 Cowboys and Indians Magazine has called him "The Charley Russell of Western Music." Dave has been a cowboy, mule packer, a dude wrangler, and is now one of the most popular Western entertainers working today. He has been twice voted 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 the Western Artists. He has delighted audiences in fourteen states, and finds that he prefers this to being stomped by angry horses. Dave lives in Nipomo, California and bets you don’t know where that is.
www.DaveStamey.com
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 I consider everyone a friend until proven otherwise; a philosophy that would go a long way toward solving the world’s ills if everyone thought likewise.
That sentence written by Dennis Gaines probably says it all, but here's his official bio:
Dennis Gaines calls himself a cowboy poet, humorist and storyteller, a vocation that rates with bawdy house piano player in terms of prestige and respectability. Nevertheless, having survived an epic childhood which found his parents playing hide-and-seek all over the world, and Dennis always finding them, he was allowed to matriculate to the seventh grade, after which he found himself seeking ungainful employment in the oilfields of the world and ranches of the West. He frequents assorted gatherings and may be spotted at conventions, private parties, banquets, gunfights, chili cookoffs, hangin's, hitchin's, trail drives, campfires, rodeos, soup kitchens, dude ranches, horse sales, casinos and dogfights. He has never been seen in the company of lawyers, politicians or other such outlaws.
Through all of it, he has tried to preserve some of what is good about cowboy culture and its heritage, with an emphasis on humor, tradition and perhaps even a little bit of nostalgia. Gaines was a Texas State Representative Poet at the Western Folk Life Center's National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, in 1990 and returned in 1991, 1992, and 2007.
In July 2004, Dennis Gaines received the Academy of Western Artists' Will Rogers Award for Best Cowboy Poetry CD, for Son of a Gun Stew and In July 2000, Dennis Gaines received the Academy of Western Artists' Will Rogers Award for Cowboy Humor.
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 Les was raised on a family ranch in the remote Northwest corner of Colorado. He kicked around the Western slope of Colorado breaking and trading horses, announcing rodeos, and working as an auctioneer. These experiences along with working ranches and feed lots in California and Colorado not only provided inspiration for his songs and poetry but also allowed him to raise his three kids pretty much "the cowboy way."
Les Buffham is widely recognized as one of the premier cowboy entertainers and considered by many to be the best cowboy poet writing and performing today. His antics onstage combined with his spontaneous humor, his poignant poetry and his a cappella melodies make you appreciate the life of a real cowboy from a different perspective. Les Buffham is an award winning Cowboy Poet, Storyteller, and Western Music Songwriter. He was presented the Academy of Western Artists prestigious Will Rogers Award for Cowboy Humorist, Storyteller and has shared the Best Song of the Year Award with co-writer Michael Fleming of New West for "Below the Kinney Rim." The song also received the Western Music Association's Award for Best Song, Songwriter. Les states "He’s Just an ol’ Cowboy"…
www.lesbuffham.com
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 The Big Bear Cowboy Gathering is so honored to have Dave Bourne with us again to kick off each performance with his very entertaining saloon piano music.
Dave have been playing piano professionally since his first job in the Calico Saloon at Knott's Berry Farm in 1958.
He has produced a series of CDs called "Saloon Piano" featuring authentic melodies of the old west. His latest CD, "19th Century
Favorities And Rarities" features Dave on piano, cornet, alto horn, tenor horn, sousaphone, and banjo.
QRS Music has released his Saloon Piano Vol. I for their player pianos. His music can be heard extensively on the HBO series "Deadwood," where he can also be seen as the piano player in the Gem Saloon.
Dave will be playing his saloon piano, melodies from 1845 to 1910, at all three of the Performing Arts Center shows and will also
perform at the Big Bear Valley Historical Society on Thursday. |
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 Gary Allegretto was honored this year with True West Magazine's "Best of the West Award", saying"... This harmonica wrangler has a versatile technique that is sure to impress the cowboy hat off your head."
Proud to be called a "Harmonicowboy", Gary Allegretto has a diverse background that has included stints as a backcountry forest ranger, firefighter, and ranch hand throughout the Western states. Along the way there’s always been a harmonica within reach in his pickup, rucksack, saddlebag or vest pocket and a song in his heart. Gary’s acclaimed work as a singer, songwriter and musician has captivated audiences at many cowboy poetry and western music shows and festivals and carried him to places around the globe. In addition, he’s conducted his unique and popular harmonica workshops at music conferences, festivals, guest ranches, and events across the country. In fact, after folks saw Gary’s jaw-dropping performance last year in Big Bear, his harmonica workshop sold out!
Gary’s recent CD "Harmonicowboy" has received rave reviews from radio DJ’s, magazines, and prominent folks in Western music. His music has also been featured in the soundtracks of films and commercials and he has received awards for his playing. Hohner, the world’s top harmonica manufacturer, endorses him. All the same, Gary’s favorite way to play is still around a campfire circle with his cowboy friends.
Of worthy note, Gary is also the founding director of Harmonikids (www.harmonikids.org), a 501(c)3 non-profit music therapy organization that gives harmonicas & lessons to special needs children internationally after all, that’s the "cowboy way".
For more info please visit www.myspace.com/harmonicowboy
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 As a cowgirl singer/songwriter and native Californian, Nancy has enjoyed performing throughout the State at many Cowboy Poetry and Western Music events. She has always loved cowboys and the music which reflects their lifestyle and heritage.
Nancy was honored in 2007 by the Western Music Association when nominated for two awards for her first CD, "Cowgirl’s Lullabye" which included one of her original songs "Chisholm".
One of Nancy’s favorite talents is yodeling! Her Dad used to put her between his skis when she was two years old he would yodel all the way down the hill and she would do her best to yodel back. Since then she has developed her own style and it’s something not a whole lot of native California girls can do.
Her songs reflect her love for the West and all things close to her heart like kids, dogs, horses and all the critters that God has put on this earth. Nancy says she is blessed to have the God given talents she has and loves to share them with others. |
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 The Cross Town Cowboys record and perform original and traditional Western music. The boys believe very deeply in the positive power of music to inspire. It is the band’s sincerest wish to help return Western music to the forefront of American culture. The band hopes to lend a hand to our fellow countrymen in the return to the values set by our cowboy heroes. The Cross Town Cowboys are out to "Save The West," one good cowboy and cowgirl at a time.
A life long student of music, Dusty possesses a deep appreciation of early American music - from Folk roots to Tin Pan Alley to Western. Beginning as a young boy sitting at the piano with his Grandad - a singer/songwriter in his own right - Dusty has developed a musical style that embodies the spirit of the Old West. He embraces the wholesome values and honorable character that define the Cowboy Way. Most nights you will find this singing cowboy crooning softly with his guitar on his knee and his dog at his feet.
When asked about his nickname, this is the only explanation "Buff" ever will give: "When I was a kid they kinda hung that name on me. It seemed to fit....… Bryan just stuck. It’s even on my driver’s license now". Once a rock musician, Buffalo Bryan rejected the rock n’ roll lifestyle to get in touch with his "inner cowboy". Western music is as much a part of "Buff" as any limb of his body. He finds strength and inspiration in the examples set by his cowboy heroes. Roy, Dale, Gene, Hoppy and all the rest have left us a great legacy of values and morals. Buffalo Bryan endeavors to live by their example every day of his life. Buff has been a bass player most of his life. Recently he started playing the banjo saying, "I wanted to try something a little lighter and easier to carry around. I should have weighed it first!" At least now he has a wealth of old banjo jokes to run into the ground.
A lifelong fan of traditional American music, Robby has always loved the crisp, clean sound of acoustic guitar. Inspired by artists Merle Travis and Leo Kottke’s thumb-pick playing, their style has rubbed off on him a big way. His playing blends well with Dusty’s flat picking, and the complex simplicity of western music. This cowboy lives by the golden rule and has a lot more picking to do. GITTY UP!!
www.crosstowncowboys.com
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 Miles is the only child of famous writers Glendon and Kathryn, and a writer himself. At the age of six in East Lansing, Michigan, he was composing rhymes and a few years later illustrating his own comic books. Perhaps it was inevitable after being force-fed the classics of English literature while still in short pants that he became a writer in this little family nest of authors. Miles began writing scripts while teaching film history and screenwriting at Scottsdale Community College. His author father allowed him to adapt his latest novel, a Western entitled The Shootist, on spec. Book and screenplay sold in a package to Frankovich Productions and Dino de Laurentiis, and the subsequent film starring John Wayne launched Miles into Hollywood's orbit.
For the past few years Miles has written a bi-monthly Western movie review column for The Roundup, the official magazine of the Western Writers of America, and occasionally free-lanced articles for The Arizona Republic, The Los Angeles Times, and Persimmon Hill, the quarterly magazine of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. One of these articles, "The Duke's Last Ride, the Making of The Shootist," won a Stirrup Award from the WWA as the Best Article to appear in The Roundup in 1994. Miles is a member of the Western Writers of America, the Writers Guild, and the University Film and Video Association. Miles lives in Playa del Rey, near the airport and beach, where he enjoys body surfing, bike riding on the beach path, as well as riding horses occasionally and hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains. At the Big Bear Gathering Miles will be having a program which will include film clips of the Shootist and he will tell the back stories to John Wayne's last movie. He'll also be available on Sunday when the Shootist will be played at the theater and to reveal more stories about the filming of the movie. Be sure to fit this into your schedule.
www.milesswarthout.com
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(Coming Soon)
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