The Art Box

Russ Westwood was born in Moab Utah. He was raised on a mink ranch, but spent a lot of time around horses and rodeos. He is a retired Firefighter/Paramedic. He has served as the director of the Mesquite Western Roundup for several years and performs regularly in their shows. He is an active member of the Cowboy Poets of Utah. He recently won a Championship Buckle at the 2019 National Cowboy Poetry...

As we ready for our busiest day we start with a review of our schedule and then we got lost and an angel called Marianne saved us, then graced us with some song. Sit back and enjoy as we frame up our day and listen to some music. You can find out more about Marianne Thomas at: www.mariannesongs.com

Delightful is how we would describe our time interviewing and being entertained by Doris.  "If cowboy poetry was fresh milk and the cream that rises to the top was the very best, then Doris Daley would be very rich and very fattening." So says renowned cowboy ambassador Waddie Mitchell about an Alberta ranch girl whose love of wordsmithing has made her one of North America's favourite western poet...

Fisher was raised in a San Joaquin Valley, CA farming family, and was active in 4-H and FFA. While studying Equine Science at the College of the Sequoias she rode horses for customers and was captain of the college horse show team. She rode sale pens for extra money at a local livestock sale and earned honors at Intercollegiate and Quarter Horse shows. During college she began singing big band sta...

We were so delighted when former Montana Poet Laureate Mandy Smoker agreed to sit down with us for an interview.  Mandy is the living embodiment of "pay to forward" with deep involvement in education for the underserved, her deep feeling poetry and now children's books. She describes the transmission of a poem as “rigorous juggling.” Carefully, she twines language, fuses vocabulary and in the proc...

We fell in love with Yvonne when she described herself on stage at the Opening event as a rose between two thorns. She was a busy as a South Dakota Rancher during branding, but we somehow managed to get her to sit down with us at the Art Box. Such a sweetie, Linda and I were blessed.  A little bit about her. Poet, Quilter, & Entertainer Yvonne Hollenbeck performs her original poetry throughout the...

This is it folks, our final episode from the gathering.  First a huge thanks to the Buchanan Family Band from Yerrington, NV. Besides a great show on our opening night, a super family interview they allowed us to use their rendition of "Little Brown Jug"  as our opening and in episode interludes. What a nice family and so very talented. The volunteers worked so very hard, our press liaison Karyn w...

Linda and Steve have been anxious to have Patricia as our guest, what an interesting, heartfelt chat opening our eyes to the life of a successful author and such a fine human. Thank you Patricia.   Patricia Leavy, Ph. D., is a sociologist and bestselling author. She has published over 40 books, earning commercial and critical success in both nonfiction and fiction, and her work has been translated...

Linda and Paul Villanueva visited with the Art Box at the Mesquite Library Learning Center and if one can judge by the voracity of laughter it was a smashing success. How lucky is our little town to have talents like Linda and Paul performing for us.  You can find their music and schedule at: http://mesquitecafebluesband.com and on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/mesquitecafebluesband Thanks...

WOW what a voice!!!! We just loved Kristyn's performance and happily hosted her and her grand mom on our little podcast. Check out her website: https://kristynharris.com/ Kristyn Harris is a multi-award-winning singer, songwriter, and entertainer known for her western swing spin on original and classic songs of the western and rural lifestyle. She is recognized for her powerful voice, swing rhythm...

Were we ever lucky to grab Headliner Poet Annie and her sister Megan for an Art Box guest appearance. Annie help tech us that no matter how big the star they have time to be ultra nice to everyone.  While known as the family rambler, Annie Mackenzie has her roots planted firmly at the fourth-generation family ranch in southeast Oregon, 30 miles north of the small town of Jordan Valley. She spends...

Reporting almost live from the 38th Annual Cowboy Poetry Roundup in Elko, Nevada. We are here by generous grants from Nevada Humanities, the National Endowment of Humanities and of course our own Virgin Valley Artists' Association. We are recording on the run, lots of background noise and we will do our best on the volumes.  Today we were entertained by a young group of musicians of the Buchanan f...

Thanks to a grant by the Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Art Box is going on a road-trip to The 38th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada February 1 - 4 2023. We interviewed famous Mesquite Cowboy Poet, Russ Westwood prior to going just to get in the mood for some good western fun.  Check back to your podcast app as we will be publishing episodes fr...