Voices of the West

We paid a visit to Tombstone on Friday, March 14th, to check out the Tombstone Book Festival. Lots of Western authors were there as well as a lot of visitors to the Festival and the Town to Tough to Die. We caught up with authors Bill Markley and Doug Hocking. Also at the event was Longmire author Craig Johnson and show favorite Jerry "Geronimo" Martin.

Stuart Rosebrook, executive director of the Sharlot M. Hall Museum in Prescott is our guest. Sharlot came to Ariona in the late 1870s and took a shine to the Arizona Territory. She was an activist, a politician and the first woman to hold an office in the Territorial government. She was one of the proponents of statehood for Arizona.

Noessa Higa joins us to talk about her documentary film, " Man in the Can ." She chronicles the life of a rodeo clown who is working in the lesser known rodeos and is trying to make it to the big time. Fascinating story!

Cowboy Code films and the Code itself is the topic of the Movie Saturday that streamed live from the White Stallion Ranch near Tucson.

Western Writers of America author Scott Smith joins us. He's the son of former WWA President Cotton Smith. Scott has branched out on writing his own western novels. You can find them here . His first novel is "Vengeance Wears a Star" and can be found at his website.

Western musician Red Steagall joins us. He talks about his 50+ years in western and country music, being a cowboy and the organization of his annual Cowboy Gathering, his radio show and his television program Learn more here .

John Carney of Carney Custom Creations joins us for the hour. He is a master craftsman in restoring saddles–speciifically Bohlin Saddles. He talks about the history of saddles and the different types of saddles.

Four our Movie Saturday show, we continue with last month's topic--Great Western Books turned into Great Western Movies. Western Writers of America author Michael F. Blake joined us by phone. In studio Bruce Ash joined us to talk about his picks.

Author Lance Dorrel joins us for the hour. His latest book is The History They Tell: Oral Histories from Native American and First Nation Peoples regarding the Battle of the Little Bighorn . You can find the book at Amazon.com . The book is a collection of oral histories from the Native American point of view.

Tombstone Film Festival co-organizer John Marrs joins us to talk up the Film Festival happening January 23-26. He and Travis Mills of Running Wild Films started this event three years ago.

A bunch of nuggets to start out 2025.

It's our Movie Saturday program for the last show of the year. Western Writers of America author Michael F. Blake joins us to talk about the great western books that have been turned into great western movies. Among the books and movies-- Shane, True Grit, Monte Walsh and others.

Wytsie de Vries joins us from Canada. He collects western and cowboy memorabilia and has quite the etensive collection of movie goodies and television items.

This hour we talk about perhaps one of the most important people of the Old West--Bernardo Miera Y Pacheco. He was a cartographer, artist, sculpturist, astronomer and worked in many other disciplines. He was "stationed" in New Spain (New Mexico) and mapped the territory into the Four Corners area and up to The Great Salt Lake. His maps helped guide new settlers to the region. He also was c...

Former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell joins us for the hour. He served in Congress as a Representative for Colorado and later as U.S. Senator. As a Native American, he chaired numerous committees in Congress, But, he also is a jeweler and a judo master and told us bunches of stories about him growing up.

We talked with Egan "Butch" Artichoker about his book, "The Complete Series." Butch is a member of the Ogala Sioux Tribe. His Lakota name translates in English as "Praying Eagle." The book highlights four stories that emphasize the primary virtues of the Lakota--Bravery, Wisdom, Generosity, Fortitude. Unfortunately the book is no longer available.

Tess Howie joins us the for hour. She's the producer of a documentary called "Feek's Vision." it's about C.E. "Feek" Tooke. In the 1930s he revolutionized bronc horse breeding for rodeo competition. The film, produced with her husband Ken Howie to show how bronc horses were bred for that particular rodeo performance. Watch the movie here .

Henry C. Parke joins us for our Movie Saturday program. Parke is the author of "The Greatest Westerns Ever Made and the People who Made Them." The book chronicles films and TV westerns from the silents to talkies. You can find the book at Amazon.com .

Lilian J. Rice in the 1920s designed Rancho Santa Fe, a neighborhood in the San Diego metro area. The neighborhood was planned around the environment with its buildings complementing the environment. Author and biographer Diane Welch researched Rice and wrote a book about the short life of Rice.

Film Festivals abound in October! Up next to talk about is the Wild Bunch Film Festival being held in Tucson, Arizona October 23-27. It is THE film festival for independent producers in the Western genre.

Our guest for the hour is Steve Latshaw. He's a film historian and works to restore films. He's also part of the 2024 Lone Pine Film Festival, which starts 10/13. Steve is also a screenwriter, producer and director of a number of films--mostly B sci-fi films but a couple of westerns thrown in there.

For our Movie Saturday program, we talk about Hollywood's Humble Maestro--Russell Garcia. His granddaughter, Kristy Corwin, joins us. Garcia was a child prodigee regarding music. He composed music for a number of westerns including Rawhide .

Our guest is Ben Lee. He runs the Camp Verde School near Sedona, Arizona. His great grandfather author Yan Phou Lee. He came to America in 1872 to pursue his eduction. On the way east, his train was robbed by the James Gang. Lee talks about his great grandfather trying to assimilate in the American culture.

Pat Garrett, the lawman that captured and killed Billy the Kid, was found shot to death along the road near Las Cruces, NM Territory. The question is who actually killed Garrett and why. That's what we explore in this episode.

Lettie Irons Connell joins for the hour to talk about her family's history. Her great grandmother was an interpreter for Sitting Bull. Her entire family is dedicated to telling their family's history. Lettie also served as a police officer and she is now a Veterans Service Officer with the American Legion Auxiliary in the Camp Verde, Arizona area.